Tayvon Kitchen earns Big 12 Runner of the Week honors

IRVING, Texas — Sophomore Tayvon Kitchen was named Big 12 Runner of the Week after leading the No. 7 BYU Cougars to a win at the John McNichols Invitational.

TAYVON IS THE BIG 12 RUNNER OF THE WEEK 💪 pic.twitter.com/txWm7aTR67

— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) September 23, 2026

Kitchen's time of 23:23.1 on the 8,000-meter course was good for third-place overall in a talented field that included five 2025 All-Americans. His performance propelled to the Cougars to thier second win as many meets this season.

This is Kitchen's first time earning the Big 12 weekly honor during cross country season as he earned the honor once during the 2026 indoor track season, when he was named the Co-Men's Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week on Feb. 18.

He joins teammate Hunter Kitchen as the only runners currently on the team to have won the award for cross country.

Kitchen packed up with his BYU teammates at the front of the race early and never fell back. Much like he did when he made headlines in the 2025 NCAA Championship race, he continued to push the pace and lead the entire field at the 5,000-meter split. 

Shortly after that split, a small group of four runners, including Kitchen, began to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Kitchen fought back and forth for position in that group before ultimately crossing the line in third place, just 2.4 seconds behind the race winner.

Kitchen's time was also the second-fastest ever by a BYU runner on the LaVern Gibson 8,000-meter course. His time trails only Olympian Conner Mantz, who ran a 23:20.8 at the 2019 Pre-Nationals meet.

BYU runners on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course (8,000 meters)

Runner	Time	Year
Conner Mantz	23:20.8	2019
Tayvon Kitchen	23:23.1	2026
Josh Rohatinsky	23:30.7	2005
Miles Batty	23:42.2	2010
Kip Kangogo	23:45.9	2002

Kitchen and the Cougars are back in action on Oct. 9 to compete at the Nuttycombe Classic.