Standing outside the athlete's gate at last months PIAA State Championships in Shippensburg, soon-to-be Methacton grad Ryann Krais was immediately recognized by virtually every athlete who walked by. Many would ask to have their picture taken with her. All who asked would get their wish. Krais is that kind of person. Gracious. Generous. Friendly.
Krais gets a 41.20 PR on Saturday in the competitive 300 hurdles
- photo by Alan Versaw, ColoradoRunners, a MileSplit US affiliate
Fast forward two weeks, and with the scene shifted west to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Great Southwest Classic, the recognition factor didn't seem to diminish much according to her coach Rob Ronzano. "Coaches, parents and athletes came up to me all weekend and said how great it was to see her compete."
That kind of recognition probably makes Krais a bit self-conscious. She is not the center of her own universe. In fact, she's exactly the opposite... seeking out competitors to offer her congratulations - win or lose. And it is that selfless attitude that has drawn even more fans than her accomplishments in the sport.
But it all starts with talent. And what she does with that talent is to work hard, dream big, succeed wildly, falter occasionally, and always to learn from each experience and move on in an effort to improve.
Her near-US record 5522 in the heptathlon at Great Southwest is no exception. PRs. Near-miss PRs. Another win... followed by a brief acknowledgment of the accomplishment and then a nearly immediate re-focus on improving the things she can to make her next opportunity an even better outcome.
Krais said after the competition that her biggest improvement in the heptathlon over the last two years when she set the U.S. sophomore and U.S. junior records of 5142 and 5377, respectively; is her consistency. While she achieved two PRs on the first day, she was most pleased with the consistency in her marks in even her weakest events.
The UCLA-bound Krais got off to an incredible day one on Thursday, exceeding the first day point total set in 2006 by the US record holder Shana Woods, by 79 points at 3379. The results were made even more remarkable considering that Krais had spent the travel day making two extra stops because of connection problems, missing some meals, and then missing her luggage until the next morning.
No problem.
It helps when the first event on the schedule is one of your best. Earlier this season, Krais had set a big PR of 13.50 in the 100 hurdles. But at the state meet, with a brisk wind at her back, she had clipped the 8th hurdle and gone down.
Entering the start at Great Southwest, the wind was from one direction one moment, then another direction the next. The official results tell of a 4.4 mph wind at the back. But Krais says it was indeed, swirling – one hurdle in her face, and the next from the back. "It was crazy. I went a little slower, trying to be cautious, because in the hep, the worst would be a fall." Her 13.93 was her 5th best of the season, and gave her 988 points. A solid start.
The high jump is an event in which Krais says she is finally starting to feel a little more comfortable. She won the league title clearing a PR of 5-8, and coming in at 5-0 at Great Southwest, she cleared every height from there through 5-2, 5-4, 5-6 and 5-8 on the first attempt. Krais requested an attempt at 5-9, but the rules call for specific increases, so 5-10 it was. "My first two were sloppy, but the last one felt smooth," Krais says. But her last attempt gave her confidence for the next opportunity. "I clearly clipped, but I could do that in the future. I am finally starting to arch." 891 points.
The shot put is one of the two events that Krais says most frustrate her at this point in her career. (The other is the javelin). Krais knows that consistency comes from confidence and confidence comes from successful repetition. Confidence means an athlete has to spend less time thinking about technique and mechanics, and more time simply competing. She feels she has reached that level in at least four of the seven events, and gained a lot of confidence in a fifth (high jump).
But her Southwest Classic shot put was probably her best series ever in the event, with all three throws over 31'. Her 33-09.50 PR came on her second throw. 549 points.
Day one closes with the 200, and pure speed has never been a question with Krais. But again, she says the wind was a factor, with it in the face at the start, and then indirectly at their backs in the straight. The officials results read 4.3 mph, but Krais' time of 24.31 reads PR. "I didn't know I was moving that fast," she says. 951 points. 3379 through four events.
After day one, Krais was not only ahead of record pace, she was ahead of her own goals for the events, having exceeded 5-6 in the high jump, 32' in the shot, and gone under 25 seconds in the 200.
Coming into day two, Krais says she got an adrenaline push from her first day. "It was a good day.... so you have to keep it going."
The long jump is one of those events that Krais considers a strength. But it's also one of those that with just three opportunities, can be the end of a great competition. Just as with the shot, Krais was consistent, going over 18 feet on each, with her 18-10.50 last attempt as her best. The mark was about 2" less than her competition goal. 774 points.
The javelin is an event that Krais will eventually embrace. Coach Ronzano said that once she can use her speed and hit the block at the end of the run, she'll be fine. They didn't count on a lot of points, but the 104-11 was about 3 feet less than they had hoped for. 514 points.
When Krais first started competing in the multis, she wasn't sure she'd ever welcome the 800. And while she still doesn't welcome it, she now has the confidence she can run "what I need to run, and no faster."
She always wants to know the time she needs and the pace she needs to set before the race, and this 800 was no different. What was different was the altitude. And the 800 is long enough that it will have an effect on those new to its pressure (or lack of). Krais hit the 400 target, but with an opening 200 that was too fast, and a subsequent 200 that was too slow. By the time she hit the closing 100, she was really feeling the effects. "At the end I was dying, really tightening up the last 50," she said. Her 2:17.71 was under a second over what she needed for the all-time mark. 855 points.
She could see the clock and knew the time she had to hit, and knew right away she had missed the record. Eleven points isn't a lot, and in the hep, it can be measured in not just seconds, but inches as well.
"It would have been nice to get it this weekend. Now I have to do it all over again," Krais said. Still, 5522w is #2 all-time.
But you sensed that while slightly disappointed, she was already calculating exactly where could make up the difference the next time she gets the chance.
Krais closed the three day competition with another PR – this one in the 300 hurdles. Facing two of the top in the event in the US (Jacquelyn Coward of Tennessee and Donique Flemings of Texas), Krais was happy to be in lane 3 "where I can see everyone." What she saw was Coward miss a step on the 2nd hurdle and go out. "She (Coward) said after the race that the hurdle came up too fast and she had to go opposite," Krais relates. That left Flemings, and according to Krais, the two were about even halfway through the race. But on the 6th hurdle, Krais "took a big stutter" and then had to play catch up from there.
"I'm not usually a good leaner, and usually don't get those kinds of finishes, but my timing must have worked out right this time." Krais was credited with a PR of 41.20, with Flemings just a hundredth of a second back. It left her undefeated in the 300 hurdles over her entire prep career. "It's not that big a deal," Krais says. "I mean, everybody should lose a race so you have something to look to improve."
As she moves from the prep scene to the collegiate ranks and on to what she plans to be world class competition, it is her attitude of deflecting the accolades that will make fans and friends of nearly everyone she meets and with whom she competes.
Some day in those coming years, Krais may look back on her near miss of the national heptathlon record at this weekend's Great Southwest Classic as a major step in her track career. But that's in the future.
For the dwindling weeks of that prep career, Krais hopes to run the 400 hurdles at the USATF Junior Nationals in two weeks in Columbus, Ohio; then take another crack at the US heptathlon record at Junior Worlds in Poland in July. In between, she'll race the 400 hurdles at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR.
She probably won't be recognized as readily in those venues. But it's early in this athlete's career. Very early.
