Tostenson chose arguably the best coach for milers in the country, but now he has to live in nasty Seattle, versus Kitchen gets the altitude boost in Utah and also has an incredible coaching setup.
All legitimate medal threats spend majority of their time at altitude so you're fighting an uphill battle if you choose to be at sea level all year as a distance runner.
I don't have the impression Cole Hocker spends the MAJORITY of his time at altitude. But I could be wrong.
The former teammates in high school were both very close in terms of PR’s in high school, but since entering college Kitchen has emerged as the better runner and have been taking big leaps while Tostenson has been staying stagnant. Why is that? Obviously they chose different schools but there has to be something bigger than that.
High School PR’s:
Tostenson: 1:48.8/3:36/3:57/7:57/14:15
Kitchen: 3:59/7:55/8:33/13:53
College:
Tostenson: 24:31 8k(xc), 111th at XC regionals, 1:50/3:59/8:03
Kitchen: 23:11 8k(xc), 5th at XC regionals, 32nd place All-American at XC Nationals, 7:36/13:19