Elise Cranny

We’re talking paydays. Primetime. Professional track.

Welcome to Grand Slam Track, launching this weekend in Kingston, Jamaica—the first stop in a brand-new, big-budget, athlete-first pro league created by Michael Johnson.

You want Olympic stars? Try Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Grant Fisher, Cole Hocker, Fred Kerley, Mary Moraa—the best of the best, signed and showing up.

You want stakes? How does $100,000 per event winner sound? Yeah.

And you want drama? It's all baked in: Racers vs. Challengers. One weekend. Two events per athlete. Only one Slam Champion.

This all kicks off in Kingston, which is basically sprinting’s holy land. If anyone’s gonna test Fred Kerley or Kenny Bednarek on their 100m trash talk, it’s the Jamaican crowd… and Oblique Seville.

We’ve got Gabby vs. Marileidy. Yared vs. Kerr vs. Hocker. Elise Cranny sweating it out after a 30:36 in SoCal, now lining up in 88-degree heat for the 5000m. Sydney McLaughlin opening her season in April. And a 1500m/800m field on the men’s side that looks more stacked than your TikTok algorithm.

So let’s get into it: the matchups, the payouts, and the storylines that’ll define Grand Slam Track.

It’s officially that time again: The spreadsheets are out and the ranking formulas are loaded. Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia have returned with the kind of number crunching that would make a tax accountant blush.

Yes — we’re talking about The Ten, and more broadly, the increasingly anxiety-inducing state of the 10,000 meters heading into the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.

Because apparently World Athletics took one look at the event and said, ‘What if we made this harder, more confusing, and fully dependent on vibes, shoe tech, and whether your country’s federation knows how to read the rankings page?’

So here we are. The women’s standard dropped to a vicious 30:20.00. The men’s remains at a world-class 27:00.00. And unless you’re from Kenya or Ethiopia—or somehow running 10Ks on the road in super shoes fast enough to melt tarmac—you’re probably counting on the whims of the World Rankings gods to punch your ticket to Tokyo.

In the U.S., Weini Kelati is still the queen of consistency. Parker Valby and Karissa Schweizer skipped The Ten entirely. Elise Cranny has re-entered the picture and Jessica McClain quietly garnered some valuable points by PR’ing by half a minute.

On the men’s side, it’s a little simpler: Grant Fisher, Nico Young, Graham Blanks, and Woody Kincaid are qualified. All they have to do is battle at USAs.

There’s still time. A 10K at Mt. SAC is coming. Maybe Pre will host a last-minute 10K.  So let’s break down who’s up, who’s down, who’s close and who’s hoping UK Athletics doesn’t screw them over again.

Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram + Preet Majithia | @preetmajithia on Instagram

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Today, the next director and head coach of the Northern Arizona University Cross Country program, Coach Jarred Cornfield, returns to the podcast. With legendary Coach Mike Smith stepping down, Coach Cornfield takes over one of the most storied programs in the country. This was announced this past fall. It's an exciting time for Jarred and the program, but he wasn't just handed this job; he earned it with years of hard work. Coach Cornfield has spent nine years with NAU, six of which were as the Assistant Coach—after starting as a Graduate Assistant in 2015. Coach Cornfield is a distance and mid-distance specialist and a terrific recruiter. The Lumberjacks have won an impressive six men's national championships since 2016. On a personal level, Coach Cornfield attended Liberty University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Sport Management and then his Master's degree in Educational Leadership. He also competed as a member of the cross country and track teams. As a college runner, Jared has PRs of 1:54.47 in the 800m, 3:55.45 in the 1500m, 4:15.33 in the Mile, 29:42 in the 5K in XC, and 32:03 in the 10K in XC. While working closely with coaching legend Coach Mike Smith, Coach Cornfield has also branched out on his own, having coached Olympic athletes like Elise Cranny this past summer in Paris for the 5,000m. The NAU program is in the best of hands, and we're excited for you to hear this discussion with one of the up-and-coming coaching stars in the NCAA. In this conversation, I tackle Coach Cornfield's brain on many different coaching subject matters, and then we dive into his news, how this role came about, the lessons he's learned from Coach Smith, his ambitions and vision for the program, and so much more. Tap into the Coach Jarred Cornfield Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. S H O W N O T E S -Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ -My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Elise Cranny is the guest-co-host of Lactic Acid for the second consecutive year. She interviews Dom, talks the marathon, her excitement for the upcoming season, what she's most thankful for, Celine Dion, deconstructed happy meals and more!

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