FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Tayvon Kitchen finished eighth and the DMR team took sixth on the first day of the NCAA Indoor track and field National Championships Friday afternoon.
In his first collegiate track and field national championship appearance, Kitchen finished on the podium in eighth in the 5000-meter championship race coming across the line in 13:47.29. The true freshman, who led the race for a small portion, locked in his second All-American honors in the last six months after placing 32nd at the NCAA Cross Country national championship in late 2025. The Central Point, Oregon product holds the No. 2 all-time BYU record in the event at 13:19.17.
Kitchen was joined by senior teammate Creed Thompson in the 5000m race who finished 15th in a time of 14:04.64. The Lehi, Utah product, who holds the No. 3 all-time BYU record in the event, finalized his indoor track and field career with the second-team All-American performance.
"Just to make it to the national championship in the 5000m is very difficult, so to have two guys in it with Kitchen and Thompson was huge." Director of BYU Track and Field Ed Eyestone said, "Coming off of the Big 12 Championships both Kitchen and Thompson got the flu, so to perform as well as they did with some lingering effects of their illnesses was impressive to see."
Carter Cutting took sixth in the prelims for the mile coming across the line in 3:56.72 qualifying him for the finals taking place in the afternoon of Saturday, March 14. The BYU school record holder in the event also took first in his heat fist bumping Trent McFarland of the University of Michigan as they crossed the finish line.
"Carter won his heat after running a really smart, tactical race." Eyestone said, "The mile is all about positioning and sometimes the best guys don't advance. So to get him advancing while looking so powerful was great. He's definitely one of the guys to watch in the final tomorrow."
The Distance Medley Relay group featuring Cutting, Jonah Heimuli, Brayden Packard and Isaac Hedengren finished on the podium in sixth overall finishing in a time of 9:25.81. The relay squad finished five spots ahead of their regular season ranking after going into the event ranked 11th.
Ben Barton finished the first four events of the Heptathlon in third place with 3414 points after the first day of competition. The senior set a personal record and No. 4 all-time BYU record in the long jump taking second in the event with a mark of 7.60m/24-11.25. The Bloomfield Hill, Michigan product finished fourth in the heptathlon 60-meter in 6.88 seconds, ninth in the shot put with a 13.04m/42-9.5 mark and jumped a season-best 2.06m/6-9 in the high jump to finish sixth. Barton will finish out the last three events of the heptathlon in the morning on Saturday, March 14.
Up Next
BYU finishes out the NCAA Indoor National Championships on Saturday, March 14 with entries in the heptathlon, mile and 3000-meter. Streaming will be available on ESPN+ with live results on NCAA.com