Who needs an indoor season? Cranny needed just one race for US #8 all-time 2:06.47 800

No one really knew about Elise Cranny at last year’s New Balance Nationals. But the gifted senior from Colorado quickly made a name for herself by surprising the competition with a meet record of 4:40.62 in the mile run.  

Fast forward to a year later and among other impressive accolades, Cranny was the individual winner of the Junior 6K at the USA Cross-Country Championships in February, a race that featured some top-level Division I college freshmen.

Now you can also add another national indoor title.

Opting to compete in the 800-meter run instead of defending her crown in the mile at the New Balance Nationals, the senior from Niwot produced the same results inside The Armory with a winning and nation-leading time of 2 minutes, 6.47 seconds.

Cranny dictated the pace from the start and covered the first 200m in 30-seconds flat. She hit the opening 400m at 61.5, leading a tight pack that included Michigan’s Ersula Farrow of Gross Pointe, New Jersey’s Corinne Myers of Westwood and Rhode Island’s Maddy Berkson of Classical, last year’s third-place finisher.

“(The first 400m) definitely felt faster than I thought it was,” Cranny said. “I thought we were going to be a lot faster than 30 seconds for the first 200 because it felt a lot faster. After that, I kind of fell into a rhythm and it felt good.”

The Stanford-bound runner was solo by the time she hit the 600m (1:33). Placing second was Farrow at 2:08.92, while Myers finished third in 2:09.02.

Cranny, who placed second to Alexa Efraimson at the Nike Cross-Country Nationals this past December, admitted it was a little different competing at the NBN this weekend as compared to 2013.  

“Last year no one really knew about me so I kind of even surprised myself. I had nothing to lose,” she said. “This year was like a lot different. But I am glad I was able to change it up and run the 800.”

Championship Girls 800m (View Official Results)