By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
On March 11, Westwood resident and University of Rochester (NY) senior Samantha Kitchen won All-American status in the indoor mile at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track National Championships at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Kitchen’s efforts throughout the course of the 2016-2017 regular season as well as her performance in Naperville allowed her to finish the season with the No. 4 overall ranking in Division III for the 1500-meter, as well as the No. 10 overall ranking in the 5K for outdoor track.
The former Wolverine ran a collegiate career best time of 4:55.02 to finish in fifth place in the 1500-meter, and was just .02 seconds shy of fourth. Kitchen broke her previous best time time of 4:56.50 at the Boston University Valentines Day meet in February by almost a second and a-half.
During her time at Westwood High School (2010-2013), Kitchen earned four letters in both indoor and outdoor track and field. When Samantha wasn’t running on the track, you could find her kicking the ball around on the pitch as she played three years of varsity soccer for Westwood High, in the library as a member of the Academic National Honor Society, or running outdoors, where she earned one letter in cross country.
Kitchen’s incredible efforts and leadership to the rest of her Wolverine teammates during her high school days did not go unnoticed, as she was named outdoor track captain during both her junior and senior years, as well as indoor track and cross country captain as a senior. After being awarded All-TVL honors three times in both indoor and outdoor track, and once in cross country, Kitchen went off to attend Rochester University following her graduation from Westwood High in the spring of 2013, where she emerged as a standout star on both the school’s indoor and outdoor track teams.
Congratulations to Samantha Kitchen on these incredible accomplishments throughout her four years at WHS and her four in upstate-New York.
