One was a known quantity long before the season started, the other has been making a name for himself ever since the season started. Colorado Track XC file photo/contributed photo.
This weekend’s standout performances came from Elise Cranny and Eli Hemming. By separating themselves from the rest of the field as relentless competitors, Cranny and Hemming secured their positions both as the Colorado Track XC athletes of the week and as athletes to watch in the meets to come.
At Friday’s Broomfield Invitational, Cranny, a junior from Niwot, won the individual title in a time of 18:24, establishing a lead of 88 seconds over the second-place finisher. Knowing that the Broomfield course was mainly flat, Cranny knew that this would be the perfect race to knock out a fast time and also practice a stronger racing strategy. “At this meet I wanted to get that fast time,” Cranny said, “but I also wanted to practice racing more confidently and not being afraid to go from the beginning.”
Winning by nearly a full minute and a half, Cranny relied heavily on the lead bicycle to maintain a rigorous pace and push her to the finish. “It was really helpful that they had that lead bike,” Cranny said, “I tried to stay close to it and I pictured it as a racer that I was competing against.”
(Editor's note: It's racers like this who make it difficult to find lead bikers for grassy courses. The constant push-pull of lead bike and lead racer can inflict a lot of punishment on a lead biker who isn't completely on top of his fitness. 
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Running away with another impressive win this weekend, Cranny has understandably big dreams for the rest of her 2012 cross country season. Hoping for the top place at the 4A state cross country meet, Cranny has also set her sights on making it back to Nike Cross Nationals.
Eli Hemming, Colorado Track XC’s top male athlete from the weekend, is impressing competitors and fans alike by showing enormous improvements in his performances from meet to meet. Opening his season with an 18:57 at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, the senior from Ponderosa has now drastically lowered his season best time, running a 15:34 last weekend at the Liberty Bell Invitational and now a 15:52 most recently this past Thursday at the Coronado Cougar Classic. “I have been training very hard this year so I was expecting to drop time but not by nearly as much as I did,” Hemming said. “My season so far has been going amazing. I have made a huge PR from my last year’s times and have kept injury free.”
Hemming’s most recent performance at the Cougar Classic elevates him to the elite level of 4A competitors. “I was looking for a time under 16:00 and was hoping that would get me a good place over all,” Hemming said. “I was very happy about my race. I met all of my goals and felt like I ran a smart race.”
Hemming is hoping that his trend in improvement from week to week will continue through the rest of the season.
As difficult as it is to believe, Hemming has never competed at state in either cross country or track and field. And, the road to this year’s state competition relies solely on his team. As an avid tri-athlete, Hemming will be unable to attend regionals due to the world triathlon in New Zealand. The only way he will be able to go to state this year is if his team qualifies. If his team does make it, Hemming is hoping for a top five finish. His recent performances indicate that’s a worthy goal.
Congratulations to both Elise Cranny and Eli Hemming, Colorado Track XC’s athletes of the week, for their outstanding performances this weekend!