CROSS COUNTRY: CAL LUTHERAN FEELS LIKE HOME TO RUNNER CRANE : SHE'S HAPPY AFTER TRANSFER FROM PACIFIC.Byline: Jim Inghram Daily News Staff Writer In Andrea Crane's case, smaller was better, and almost everyone is happy about it. Crane, a junior from Palmdale, went to the University of the Pacific as a freshman and sophomore, before transferring to Cal Lutheran at the beginning of her junior year. Although the Stockton campus isn't teaming with students like some state schools, it was still too big to suit Crane's taste. ``I had the feeling I wanted to leave at the end of my freshman year,'' Crane said. ``By Christmas break my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to leave. I just wanted to be closer to home and have a smaller school atmosphere. This (Cal Lutheran) is much more to my liking.'' Crane, who was a biology major at Pacific, ran on the Tigers' cross country team. She wanted to do the same at Cal Lutheran. ``Coach (Ken) Roupe called me as a senior in high school,'' Crane said. ``So I had Cal Lu in the back of my mind and when I decided to leave Pacific and go to Cal Lutheran I called him.'' It was a call that Roupe was pleased to receive. ``Both of her parents are (Cal Lutheran) alums so I think that had a lot to do with it,'' Roupe said. ``We just benefited.'' Crane has made an immediate impact for the Regals. She has been the top finisher in each of the team's events, including a third overall finish in the Cal Lutheran Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. on Oct. 10 with a 20:34.99 over the 5-kilometer course. She was seventh overall at the Westmont Invitational on Sept. 19 with a 21:27. ``Andi has a great work ethic work ethic n. A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. work ethic Noun a belief in the moral value of work ,'' Roupe said. ``She tries to improve herself, she's into team unity and she definitely would have been captain if she had been here last year.'' If Roupe was gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. to see Crane at Cal Lutheran, her parents were ecstatic ec·stat·ic adj. 1. Marked by or expressing ecstasy. 2. Being in a state of ecstasy; joyful or enraptured. [French extatique, from Greek ekstatikos, from . ``It's great to have her close by,'' said Crane's father Don. ``It gives us a chance to see her run.'' They might not have had the opportunity had Andrea not made the decision to quit softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' and get back into running four years ago. ``I ran when I was really young,'' Crane said. ``Then I got into softball.'' She wasn't the travel-ball, wear your cleats and stirrups stirrups The footholds in a lithotomy table to bed type, but the only running Crane did during those years was on the basepaths. ``I played softball (at Quartz Hill) as a freshman and sophomore,'' she said. ``I figured I wasn't good enough for varsity after that, so I went out for track my junior year.'' It would have been natural for Crane to gravitate grav·i·tate intr.v. grav·i·tat·ed, grav·i·tat·ing, grav·i·tates 1. To move in response to the force of gravity. 2. To move downward. 3. toward sprints. Her father was a sprinter at Lynwood High and Cal Lutheran and her grandfather Clark Crane was part a world record-holding 440-yard relay team at USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. in the 1930s and a school record-holder in the 220-yard event. ``I wasn't fast enough to be a sprinter,'' Andrea Crane said. ``I stuck with distances.'' After all, her twin sister Louise - the only person not happy with Andrea's move to Cal Lutheran - has been a distance runner distance runner n. A runner who competes in distance races. for 10 years. ``My whole family runs and it gave me a chance to run with my sister,'' Crane said. ``It was a lot of fun.'' She followed up her junior track debut with a cross country one in the fall of her senior year. She earned some Golden League acclaim and headed off to Pacific the subsequent fall, along with Louise. ``Everything has worked out great,'' Crane said. ``The only bad thing is being away from my sister. We're really close and it's hard not being around her all the time.'' THE CRANE FILE Name: Andrea Crane School: Cal Lutheran Year: Junior Sport: Cross country Height: 5-foot-6 Born/Place: March 24, 1978/Loma Linda Major: Pre-physical therapy Notable: Attended the University of the Pacific as a freshman and sophomore. . . . Has a twin sister, Louise, who attends Pacific, and a brother, Clark, a third grader A grader, also commonly referred to as a blade or a motor grader, is an engineering vehicle with a large blade used to create a flat surface. Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third . . . . Graduated from Quartz Hill High in 1996. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (Color in Verb 1. color in - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" color, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour Conejo Edition only) Cross country runner Andrea Crane, who attended Quartz Hill High, has been Cal Lutheran's top finisher in each of its events this year. Andy Holzman/Daily News BOX: THE CRANE FILE (see text) |
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