‘One of the greatest’: New Trier’s Ben Crane takes school record, state title in final high school race

New Trier High School keeps a list of all the cross-country achievements in program history, and that list contains more stars than a Montana night sky.

And still, the Trevians’ newest star has been able to outshine the rest.

New Trier senior Ben Crane punctuated a record-setting high school resume with an IHSA Class 3A championship on Saturday, Nov. 9, at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Crane ran the race in 14 minutes 3.40 seconds, more than 8 seconds in front of runnerup Grant Schroder of Downers Grove North and the 13th fastest time in IHSA finals history.

Crane’s time is also an improvement of about 8 seconds on the previous New Trier program record, 14:14.01, which he set a week prior in the sectional race. The mark before then was Nick Falk’s 14:14.11 from 2021.

Two days after the race, New Trier coaches sent Crane — the fifth Trevians state cross-country champ and just the second (Leland Later, 2011) since 1966 — a document with details on all the Trevians’ cross-country greats and their achievements. Crane was on top of them all.

“He’s one of the greatest runners in state history,” New Trier cross-country coach Matt Sloan said, adding “I told people a couple of years ago … Ben will be the best runner we’ve had when he’s done at New Trier. He just kind of has it. There’s something special about him. He’s got it all.”

Crane, who is committed to run for BYU starting next year, said in the state race he achieved his goal of starting fast, hoping to put some space between himself and the pack.

But it didn’t quite work out that way. The pack hung with Crane for the majority of the race.

“Everyone stuck with me for two miles. It was a bit of a shocker,” Crane said. “… There was a pack of about seven of us until like 1,000 meters to go. I was ready for it.”

Down the stretch, Crane added a burst every 200 or so meters, he said, padding his lead every time before cruising to the finish line well ahead of the competition.

“It’s finally starting to set in,” Crane said three days after his state-title run. “It was kind of a surreal moment, winning it. It felt like a dream.”

Crane’s state championship follows a third-place finish in 2023 and 30th in 2022. According to Sloan, Crane trimmed his time more than two minutes from his freshman season.

Sloan said no one outworks Crane, who runs 70 miles each and every week as part of his training.

“The amount of sacrifice he’s made to be an elite athlete (is amazing), and as good of an athlete as he is, he’s a better person,” Sloan said. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid. He is the one who did all the work. It’s pretty cool.”

Led by Crane’s finish, New Trier placed sixth as a team, the program’s second best finish since 2013. The Trevians placed seventh a year ago and fourth in 2022.

The Trevians also took finishes from junior Jordan Kreiner (82nd), senior Jonah Swanson (89th), senior Joey Papanicholas (105th) and senior Walter Garrett (106th). Amid a light but constant rain, five New Trier runners set personal-bests and averaged a time of 14:57, “which is very, very quick,” Sloan said, in the finals.

“To be able to do that on the biggest stage, against the best competition, in one of the best states for distance running, is really awesome,” he said. “All the credit goes to those athletes.”

New Trier also won conference, regional and sectional championships, the second straight season they accomplished all three feats.

Downers Grove North won its second consecutive IHSA team title, tallying 83 points, safely ahead of runnerup Plainfield North (154) and third-place finisher Plainfield South (248).

Highland Park’s Dylan Dominguez recorded an All-State finish, running the race in 14:40.10 and placing 29th.

In the girls race, New Trier’s Josie Cahill raced to 12th place with an All-State time of 17:08.5. The senior led the Trevians to 18th place as a team.

The Trevians Kayla Ritchie took 66th, Margaret Canmann 144th, Sadie Abbott 173rd and Sawyer Vyas 201st.

Loyola Academy’s Jane Lynch capped her decorated high school tenure with a 62nd place finish.

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