LUCY CRAMER (4) COMPETES IN THE 3200m AT THE LSU HS QUALIFIER
What if I told you that on Saturday Parkview Baptist sophomore Lucy Cramer turned in not one, but TWO of the best distance performances in Louisiana history? It was all in a day's work for Cramer, who won 1600m (4:57) and 3200m (10:45) at the LSU Last Chance Qualifier.
ESPN will probably not travel to Baton Rouge to do a 30-for-30 on Cramer's performance, but it doesn't mean the legendary double is not worthy of air time.
One one hand, it's hard to wrap the mind around Cramer's historic performances. On the other, when she "is on"--like she was Saturday--she has an uncanny ability to make the epic performances look easy.
It's not easy, of course. In fact, it becomes more difficult to accomplish--especially when there is nobody in the field who can keep up with her scorching pace.
Only Benton's Kaityn Flattman has run faster in LSU's Carl Maddox Fieldhouse. Flatman, who went on to run for John McDonnell at the University of Arkansas, ran a 10:45.01 in 2008.
The time of day when Cramer finished her 3200m was 7:18pm. The Voice of Louisiana High School Track & Field for the last 50 years--Mike Boyer arrived at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse at 8am--two hours before the start of the meet, but you heard no fatigue in his voice when he strongly encouraged the Carl Maddox crowd to encourage Cramer at the end of her race.
"Come on track and field fans, get her off that back stretch!," Boyer implored.
While Cramer barely missed Flatman's fieldhouse record, former St. Thomas Aquinas runner Malia Cali--long considered to be on Louisiana's Mt. Rushmore of the greatest high school distance runners in state history--was not as fortunate as Cramer broke her 2009 meet record by seven seconds.
Cali, however, should not feel like she is alone in being erased from the Last Chance record books. Tulane's Elise Brown's meet record of 5:00.09 suffered a similar fate--just six days after turning one year old.
Like the 3200m race, Cramer (4:57.30) took no prisoners as she quickly put the field in her rear view mirror, with her younger sister Molly having a front-row seat. Molly Cramer, just two weeks removed from the best double of her career at the LSU HS Qualifier, finished second with a time of 5:08.
Cramer--if you remember--ran a 4:58 last year at the VA Showcase in Virginia Beach, Virginia. That was on a banked track. Her performance on Saturday was on a flat track. Apples and oranges.
She moves to No. 3 all-time and joins the 4:57 club which includes Cali (4:57.03), Brown (4:57.10), and LSU's Natalie Venkataraman (4:57.42).