SLIPPERY ROCK - Last year was a lost year of sorts for Erin Cranmer-Hart.

Coming off a sophomore season at Slippery Rock High School in which she advanced to the PIAA Class AA Track and Field Championships in the 3,200-meter run, she anticipated a return trip to Shippensburg as a junior.

It didn't happen.

"You could just see the look in her eyes," said Slippery Rock boys and girls track and field coach Mike Kish. "She didn't want to miss it this year."

Slippery Rock moved up to Class AAA last year and remains in that class this year. Only this time, Cranmer-Hart left no doubt she would make it to the state meet.

She advanced in both the 3,200 and 1,600, as well as with the Rockets' 1,600-meter relay, but she will run only the mile and the relay at the state meet.

To get there this year, Cranmer-Hart changed her diet, started to strategize more with coach Tony Consbruck and wouldn't take sitting home Memorial Day weekend this year for an answer.

"I try not to think about last year," Cranmer-Hart said. "It's done and over with. There was no use worrying about it. I just tried to have a positive attitude and approach to this year."

That included taking her training to the next level.

Cranmer-Hart has always been suited for distance running. She recalls her grade-school days when she would routinely beat her classmates in one-mile races.

But she's now delved deeper into the subtleties of distance running.

Consbruck made a world of difference for Cranmer-Hart.

"It was a different style," she said. "He stressed different things like diet - what you eat before a race."

Last year, Cranmer-Hart would chow down on whatever was available the day before and the day of a race, no matter what it was.

This year, she has a diet tuned for her.

A tall wisp of a girl, Cranmer-Hart scarfs down a steak and a baked potato and tops it off with ice cream for desert - all things high in carbs and energy.

She also has enhanced her strategy of running.

"I just pace myself more," she said. "Feel out the race and not just shoot off ahead and have nothing left."

That has helped Cranmer-Hart post her fastest time in the 1,600 at 5 minutes, 9.47 seconds.

Her time is the 10th fastest in the state, but most of the times are very close.

"She is so confident this year," Kish said. "She's feels real good about how she is running."

Cranmer-Hart prefers the 1,600, but she might have had a better chance at finishing higher in the 3,200 this year,

But running that event and the relay didn't jibe, so the decision was easy.

When Cranmer-Hart talks about the relay team and teammates Janelle Hartzell, Casey McCaffrey and Robin Craig, she smiles widely.

"It's exciting to go with those girls," Cranmer-Hart said. "I never would have thought we would make it."

But the relay team has knocked 20 seconds off its time in the last month and is red-hot entering the state meet.

Even Cranmer-Hart doesn't know the secret of their recent success.

"We just do it," she said. "I don't know how, but we're just all running our best."

Cranmer-Hart hopes to run her best Friday and Saturday.

I'm looking forward to the competition and the atmosphere there," she said. "There's so many people and so much energy at the state meet. It really pushes you.

"I feel like the sky is the limit for me."