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From the Fast Women Newsletter
Though Cranny’s recent 14:33 5,000m indoors suggested she had a shot at Molly Huddle’s American 10,000m record of 30:13.17, it wasn’t clear heading into the TEN whether she was planning to go for it or not. But after Cranny clicked off a couple of 72-second laps, sitting right on pacer Lucia Stafford, her intentions became clear. She went through 2K in 6:03.03, and once Stafford dropped out at 3K, Cranny even picked up the pace a bit, hitting some 71-second splits. Cranny reached 4K in 12:04.55 and 6K in 18:04.39, inching ahead of pace.
Just as a sub-30 10,000m was starting to look like a realistic possibility for Cranny, the pace caught up with her. With about 3K to go, Cranny’s splits began slowing. She reached 8K in 24:08.76 and it looked like she might be able to hang on to record pace, but Cranny split 75.40, her slowest lap of the race, on the penultimate lap, which meant she needed to run under 66.08 on her final lap to break the record. Given how much she was clearly hurting, it seemed unlikely, but Cranny found another gear and ran a 67.61. She crossed the finish line in 30:14.66, 1.53 seconds off Huddle’s record and the second-fastest performance ever by a U.S. woman.
It was an incredible performance given how little pacing help and competition Cranny had. Fast 10,000m races aren’t all that common, but once Cranny gets in the right one, sub–30 looks like a realistic possibility for her. And, as she pointed out after the race, that’s what it’s going to take to be competitive on the world stage. I can’t help but wonder if things might have played out a little differently if Cranny had run just slightly slower from 3200m to 6800m, instead of dropping most of her fastest splits. But this was an impressive jump for her—a personal best by 32 seconds.
Dom Scott initially went with Cranny but fell off pace around 3K. Even after she dropped back, Scott hung on admirably and finished second in 31:00.10, a personal best by 19 seconds and less than eight seconds off Elana Meyer’s South African record. Andrea Seccafien finished third in 31:15.78, just missing the Canadian record, which she already holds.
Natosha Rogers had a strong run to take fourth in 31:16.89, just a handful of seconds off her personal best. Millie Paladino (31:19.92) and Sarah Lancaster (31:21.75), both debuting at the distance, ran well to take fifth and sixth. Paige Stoner (31:22.55), Courtney Frerichs (31:23.13 debut), and Emily Lipari (31:24.82 debut) all dipped under the World Championships standard of 31:25.00. And Ednah Kurgat (31:32.25), Carrie Verdon (31:37.26), and Steph Bruce (31:39.39) all ran under the 31:45 qualifying standard for the USATF Championships.
It’s still rare for races in the U.S. to utilize pace lights, so they were an interesting addition to the event, but they also caused confusion. Both Lauren Hurley, the winner of the first heat (31:49.46), and Cranny narrowly beat the pace lights to the finish line, but in both cases, the lights were apparently set slightly slower than then athletes’ target times. (Results)
