The 3-mile record for New Trier cross country has been broken three times in this decade alone. First, it was Nick Falk in 2021 with a time of 14:14.11. Then, during the Sectional race this year, Ben Crane ran 14:14.01. To be the best, Crane not only had to beat out the other runners—he had to beat himself.
The senior ran 14 minutes and 3 seconds at the state meet and broke the New Trier school record by 11 seconds. With the 13th fastest time in state history, Crane managed to outrun the second-fastest runner, Grant Schroder of Downers Grove North High School, by 8 seconds.
He ran faster in that particular race than some Olympians and future national champions.
“It was kind of surreal when I crossed the finish line,” Crane said. “It’s something you think about and you dream about, but then when it finally happens, it doesn’t feel real.”
Crane’s performance did not come without its physical and mental toll. He runs about 70 miles a week and doesn’t take many days off. He understands the mental fortitude it takes to stay motivated.
“Sometimes racing gets harder because you’re kinda burnt out, but if you push through that, you’ll be successful,” Crane said.
Despite winning the state meet by 8 seconds, the race itself was by no means easy.
“State was difficult,” Crane acknowledged. “I wanted to leave everything out there. I raced so hard, I was actually sick afterwards.”
The rules of the state meet require seven runners from each school. The team with the lowest average time among the seven runners is the overall winner. The Trevians as a whole performed extremely well, finishing in sixth place and only two points behind fifth place York. At the state meet, five of New Trier’s runners ran personal best times while one other runner ran his personal best time at Detweiller park in Peoria, where the state meet is located. Behind Crane, the exact times of each runner were: junior Jordan Kreiner with 15:06.7, senior Jonah Swanson with 15:08.5, senior Joey Papanicholas with 15:14.8, senior Walter Garrett with 15:15.1, senior Cooper Hazday with 15:19.4, and senior Evan Shu with 15:31.7, according to athletic.net. Among all the teams’ runners, it was also the fastest state meet in Illinois history, overall.
Head Coach Matt Sloan, a former New Trier runner himself, mentioned that when he was in high school, 15 minutes would be all-state for 25th place. That same time would have been 66th place this year.
Sloan was very pleased with the way New Trier performed.
“They trusted the process and earned everything they achieved,” Sloan said. Some of the runners, such as Swanson, Hazday, and Chu had dropped their times by as much as five to six minutes from freshman year.
Sloan emphasized Crane’s consistency and dedication to excellence as factors that helped him succeed. Despite his hard work ethic, Crane did have some nerves before the race.
“I was 100% confident that he was going to run great,” Sloan said. “I knew I just needed to get him to the line for the gun to go off.”
When it comes to pushing yourself during a race, Sloan has done research into sports psychology and has found a key to success.
“[The key to success] is being where your feet are and staying present,” Sloan said “Realizing that negative thoughts—that everyone deals with them.”
Sloan finds that what’s very important is to ignore such thinking.
“The negative thought can come in but you don’t have to act on it, you can allow it to pass through,” Sloan added.
Despite all the accolades, selflessness makes a big difference for Crane when it comes to removing feelings of self-doubt.
“Usually I think about the team and scoring for the team,” Crane said. “If I could lower my score and help lower the team’s score, then we can place better.”
Crane is one of the four team captains for New Trier’s boys cross country team. Another captain, senior Tyler Parks, echoed Crane’s attitude about the team.
“When you put on your jersey Coach Sloan always says it’s like you’re putting on a suit of armor for the New Trier Trevians,” Parks said. “When you run, you gotta remember if it’s hurting you’re not doing this for yourself, you’re doing this for your teammates.”
Parks suffered from an injury during the season and wasn’t able to run during the Conference meet. He also dealt with a stress fracture during the entirety of his junior year.
By senior year, Parks was used to the injuries, but as a captain, it was difficult for him to comprehend the idea that he had put four years into the sport and missed the end.
Despite this, he has a lot to take away from his time with New Trier’s cross country team.
“The community that it built and the amount of life long friends I’ve made and the lessons it taught me are definitely things I never would have begun to think would come out of any high school sport,” Parks said.
Crane also won the NXR Midwest Regional 5K on Nov. 17 in Terre Haute, Indiana. With a time of 14:46.03, Crane beat some of the best young runners from neighboring states including Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. He also broke the New Trier 5k school record that was initially held by Crane himself. He and his teammates finished No. 13 overall.
Parks wasn’t surprised by any of the success of his teammates this year.
“They’ve put in so much work—Ben specifically—to see him go out there, win state, win NXR,” Parks said.
Crane recently got third place in another Midwest meet, Footlocker. Through the NXR race, Crane became the first male in New Trier’s program history to qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, which occurred on Dec. 7. Another 5K, Crane got 14th place and a time of 15:44.0, but only less than 16 seconds behind the winner. He also has another meet in San Diego, California the following weekend.
Crane recently committed to Brigham Young University for cross country.
“The athletic system we have here has really helped me become a hard worker,” Crane said. “I think it will set me up for success at BYU. Once I’m done with running, it’s a skill—perseverance, the hard work, all that culminates and it will help me in life.”