Elise Cranny goes home DEVASTATED - Doesn't make it to NCAAs. What's up with America's former teen phenoms?

You left out Sarah Baxter.

She didn't even run PAC 12s this season

PrZ wrote:

She didn't even run PAC 12s this season

Who didn't? Both Baxter and Cranny did.

Baxter

05/14-05/15/16 Pac-12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships Outdoor 5000 F 16:47.46 16

Cranny

1. Cranny, Elise SO-2 Stanford 4:17.72 10

She ran 411 at Stanford like a week before.

I was wondering what was up with her tonight as well. She looked really bad going backwards in a hurry with 250 to go.

Cranny did not run pac12s this season

Ummm, 110F at 5pm.

High school does not equal college or beyond. History tells us this time and time again.

According to Lauren Fleshman's QOD from a few days ago this is normal for young female athletes (i.e. hormones).

Not sure if that applies to 18 year old African steeplechasers though.

messi wrote:

Ummm, 110F at 5pm.

Was the temperature different for the other runners??? This is not a critique of Cranny. This is a critique of your point.

Furthermore, the OP is selling his own point short. She did not just not make it to nationals. She was second to last. Hopefully, she bounces back. Maybe she will run at USATF nationals? Has she qualified?

True.

2651 wrote:

Cranny did not run pac12s this season

Super great coaching in High School is bound to leave kids not improving a ton after that. If they ride it out they can usually be good.

College tracksters run one or maybe two dual meets, an invitational or two then go for regionals and nats. Not enough meets. They should start earlier and find more meets to compete in.

Elise Cranny

Stanford [JR] 4:33.60

Horrible time

give her a break WTF

former cain fan wrote:

PrZ wrote:

She didn't even run PAC 12s this season

Who didn't? Both Baxter and Cranny did.

Baxter

05/14-05/15/16 Pac-12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships Outdoor 5000 F 16:47.46 16

Cranny

1. Cranny, Elise SO-2 Stanford 4:17.72 10

She ran 411 at Stanford like a week before.

are you dense? Even the dates that you copied and pasted show baxter ran it last year (in fact she has not raced at all in 2017 according to all-athletics). Cranny also did not run Pac 12s this year.

Meanwhile Karisa Schweizer who never even won a state championship in high school continues to improve and impress. The situation with the athletes you described is not new. There is a price to be paid for pushing too hard too soon and not taking the long view.

Stop with the great coaching in HS and blah blah blah.

The coaching in HS was not great, it was too much too soon, coach trying to ride a great athlete is what it really was and usually is. Rarely works out for the athlete.

former cain fan wrote:

PrZ wrote:

She didn't even run PAC 12s this season

Who didn't? Both Baxter and Cranny did.

Baxter

05/14-05/15/16 Pac-12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships Outdoor 5000 F 16:47.46 16

Cranny

1. Cranny, Elise SO-2 Stanford 4:17.72 10

She ran 411 at Stanford like a week before.

Might want to review what year we are in. Join us when you catch up.

To much too soon wrote:

Meanwhile Karisa Schweizer who never even won a state championship in high school continues to improve and impress. The situation with the athletes you described is not new. There is a price to be paid for pushing too hard too soon and not taking the long view.

I agree with the above.

Ping and others who are among their state's top runners at an early age may or may not continue to improve. I have been watching the progress of Michigan's top high school athletes that last 4 years. Some girls seem to run their best times their first two years of high school and then suffer from one or more injuries. Some that made it to the top national meets their senior years of high school then struggle with injuries once they move on to college teams. Some that were 5th or lower in the state during their high school years go on to national level success in college while the state champions have gone through two years of college without scoring in the conference championships much level reach a national level of success. MSU and Michigan both have runners who I assumed would be on the cross country travel team long before now who have not do so. They have runners who I thought would have scored in the conference meet by now but have not. I am not placing blame with the runners or the coaches. It is with my prior lack of understanding of how hard it is to continue to improve and stay healthy at the same time. I have learned how many are injured and how hard it is to get back to a prior level of fitness after a serious injury. My child's own high school coach did not understand this. I had several talks with him about the need to readjust goals the season following an injury. I thought he was pushing too hard too soon after an injury. The loss of a month or two of normal training during the off season due to injury means the athlete may need to have a primary goal of slowly increasing their training during the next season rather than the goal of getting back to prior weekly mileage along with running 4 events at each track meet with the end of season goal of making it to one of the top national end of season competitions. It may take 3 to 12 months to get back to their prior levels.

All these women may find success at college level of competition but it may take several years. Others may never find it for one reason or another. The same is likely true of the men. I have talked with the father of a DI runner several times regarding his son's struggles with injuries. I've learned that if a runner is not competing I can just assume they have a minor or major injury. One of Michigan's top high school runners from several years ago signed with an out-of-state college team. She may have competed in one or two cross country races her freshmen year. I have not seen anything more in 3 years. I would like to see a study of say the top 25 distance runners in each state that would followed their success or lack their of during high school and college. I wonder how many of the top ones go on to the level of college success others assumed they would have and how many of those say 10th to 25th may have surpassed the success of the top say 3. I was never a top state or even regional runner in high school but have enjoyed getting back to running after taking off nearly 3 decades. I have enjoyed some level success in my age group in running half marathons and marathons. I too have suffered with my own injuries. I have been on pain medication for the last 6 weeks and do not now when or if I will be able to resume my running much less run Boston or any race again. I went about 16 months prior to my current injury without missing more than two days with injury and I was grateful. Prior to that I had two injuries within about 6 months which sidelined my running for a total of about 9 months. A co-worker who struggled for years before qualifying for Boston was surprised by my time at Boston and my BQ at my first marathon. He asked what was my next goal after Boston. I said I was registered for Chicago. But now I am grateful to once again to be able to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. I think Chicago is out of the question for this fall. My running goal now is just to be able to run once again some day.