Niwot alum Elise Cranny wins national title in USATF 5K

Gracing the podium's peak is nothing new for 2014 Niwot alum Elise Cranny. Nearly one year removed from her first Olympics, she made national headlines once again on June 26 by taking first place in the 2022 USATF Outdoor Championships' 5000-meter with a time of 15 minutes, 49.15 seconds

Cranny's win came courtesy of an impressive surge in the final 2000 meters. After crossing the 3000-meter mark well behind the leaders, and in ninth place - albeit still within one second of first - she made a move that helped improve her pace considerably late in the race. When she crossed the finish line, Cranny was just .17 seconds ahead of Bowerman Track Club teammate Karissa Schweizer, who was .10 seconds faster than third-place Emily Infeld.

With it being an exceptionally warm day at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, the race was moved to the morning in hopes of avoiding the mid-90s afternoon heat. There were still concerns about the heat's effect on the runners, however, which contributed to a slow all-around start.

"As a team, we were talking and we were like, 'I don't know if anyone's going to take it because of the heat,'" Cranny said. "The first two miles were really pretty slow; I think we were on like a 17-minute 5K pace or something at one point."

It wasn't until Schweizer took charge late in the race that things got interesting quickly. As Schweizer made her move, Cranny said she was stuck on the inside of the track, forcing her to make an almost immediate response to get back outside. Cranny delivered and made up the needed ground.

"Karissa took it with about a mile to go and really strung it out and then there were just the three of us left," Cranny said. "It led to a very exciting race, a real nail-biter at the end."

Cranny, who won state titles in track and cross country at Niwot before becoming a 12-time All-American at Stanford University, broke the American indoor 5K record in February (sixth all-time worldwide) with a blazing time of 14 minutes, 33.17 seconds.

She was also previously set to compete in the USATF Outdoor Championships 10K, a distance in which she holds the No. 2 all-time American mark, but withdrew due to "fatigue issues."

Giving herself less to manage was ultimately the best move, she believes.

"It was really hard in the moment to make that decision, but after this weekend, like looking back, it was definitely the right decision," Cranny said. "I just think it allowed me to focus more on the five, (and) go all-in on one thing."

Despite her busy training and event schedule, Cranny still follows her high school alma mater closely. She remains in contact with Niwot track and field head coach Maurice Henriques and was pleased to see the program's continued success with another girls' state title. Henriques' REAL Training club - comprised largely of Niwot runners - was also winning events at Oregon's Hayward Field for the Nike Outdoor Nationals just one week prior to Cranny's race.

"It's amazing to watch them continue to dominate on the state level, but it's also incredible to see them go to these national meets and just be crushing these relays as a team," Cranny said. "They have so much depth and I think they're all working really well together. It just keeps raising the bar, which is really awesome to see."

Currently, Cranny is training at 7,000 feet above sea level in Park City, Utah in preparation for the 2022 World Athletics Championships, which has her returning to Hayward Field on July 15. Cranny said she'll be competing against many of the same runners she faced in the Tokyo Olympics.

"That's kind of the big focus right now - really (being) able to put everything that I learned into practice racing against those people again," she said.

After that, she hopes to find a few events in the European racing circuit in which to continue her distance-running career.