New Trier senior Ben Crane can’t help himself.
Despite a years-long track record featuring both remarkable consistency and uncommon achievement, Crane still routinely experiences intense bouts of prerace jitters.
When the race begins, however, any semblance of uncertainty is cast aside, and Crane finds a way to leave the competition in his wake.
“It’s actually pretty funny,” he said. “It can be a lot, but you just learn to sort of deal with it. Sometimes it’s worse than other times.
“I was super nervous before the state meet. I wasn’t sleeping well and got a cold. But you tell yourself you’re going to do great and have a positive affirmation.”
As usual, Crane did great at the state meet, winning the 3-mile Class 3A race decisively at Peoria’s Detweiller Park on Nov. 9. His time of 14 minutes, 3.4 seconds was more than eight seconds faster than Downers Grove North senior Grant Schroder’s runner-up time and was the 13th-fastest time in the history of the event. Crane, a co-captain for the Trevians, also shattered the school record by almost 11 seconds.
“That was a long time in the making,” Crane said of the state title. “It was such a rewarding feeling as I approached the finishing straight and was seeing no one with me. Everything has been clicking the past few weeks.”
Indeed, Crane’s fall agenda didn’t end in Peoria. His winning ways continued in Terre Haute, Indiana, eight days later, when he won the Nike Cross Midwest Regional meet’s 5-kilometer boys championship race in 14:46.1. That performance qualified him for the national meet in Portland, Oregon, where he finished 14th in 15:44.0 on Dec. 7.
“I was on cloud nine after the (regional) race,” Crane said. “I was super ecstatic. It didn’t sink in until the next day when I rewatched it on my treadmill. I was fifth-seeded going in, and the four guys in front of me were ranked between eighth and 17th in the nation. They’re names I’ve known, and to beat them was really cool.”
Crane, who finished third and 30th at the previous two state meets, also qualified for the Foot Locker national championship meet in San Diego on Dec. 14. At Foot Locker’s Midwest regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Nov. 30, he placed third in 15:03.3.
“I ran a couple less meets this year to keep fresh for these races,” Crane said. “It will be nice to have a break at the end of the season because I’ve been going hard for quite a while. But I’m feeling good and am not burned out.”
This span of impressive performances is something New Trier coach Matt Sloan envisioned for Crane shortly after he arrived in the program as a freshman. Crane’s talent was evident from the get-go, but achieving this caliber of success required more.
“It’s been cool to watch him mature as a runner and as a person, to see him put it all together and show so much growth,” Sloan said. “I don’t ever think I’ve seen him have a bad race. Whatever we’ve ever fed him, he chews it right up and is always focused on doing his absolute best.”
Crane said he has had that drive for as long as he has been running. He started a decade ago when his family lived in New Jersey. One of his earliest running memories was a 5K community run when he was 7 years old. Crane won the under-10 division, and his time almost would have paced the under-14 race, he recalls.
“That’s when I realized that running was something I was good at and that I wanted to keep doing,” he said.
Crane did keep running, but he had to do so in the Netherlands, where his family moved when he was in fourth grade. He attended a British school that didn’t have a cross country team during his first year in Europe, but running at an event at the end of the school year gave him a familiar feeling.
“I wasn’t too good at other sports, and that reinstilled my feeling that I was a good runner,” Crane said.
For his last two years abroad, Crane attended an American school, which did have a cross country team. By the time his family moved to Chicago’s northern suburbs before he started high school, Crane was well on his way to developing his full-fledged commitment to excelling in the sport.
“Cross country is a sport where it helps to become comfortable being uncomfortable,” he said. “Workouts can be painful, and sometimes it’s hard to keep going.”
Crane does keep going — at a breakneck pace.
“People know that Ben is a good runner, but I think they get caught off guard by how dominant he is,” New Trier senior co-captain Joey Papanicholas said. “When you see up close how hard he works, it shows how much this means to him. And outside of running fast, he’s just as good of a teammate. That side of him is what I respect the most.”
Crane, who is also a two-time state qualifier in track with three top-10 finishes among the 1,600-meter and the 3,200-meter runs, estimates he has taken off about seven days in 2024. That count includes a three-day respite in the spring when he had mononucleosis.
“I have a fear that people will outwork me, and if that happens, I’ll regret it,” Crane said. “When you’re running, you have two choices — the easy or hard way. I’m always going to take the hard way.”
That helped Crane draw interest from numerous college programs. He accepted an offer from Brigham Young, and having that decision in the rearview mirror has lifted a weight off his shoulders and allowed him to fall back on the affection he has for running.
“Once I start running, I really enjoy being outside, even if it’s in the winter in the slush,” he said. “I’d go crazy if there were no more competitions.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
