By Jesse Welte
He’s not Brian Brohm, nor will he ever be considered a Heisman candidate, but junior Cory Thorne has made a name for himself as one of the premier runners nationally in cross country.
He was an integral part of the 2007 men’s cross country team which brought the University of Louisville its’ first Big East title in the sport, and a school record ninth place finish at the NCAA championships two weeks ago.
“It was a real honor for the entire team and it brought a real feeling of pride to the University of Louisville,” said U of L head coach Ron Mann. “It’s an indicator of where the men and women’s teams are headed in the future.”
Much of Mann’s praises belonged to Thorne. The junior from Portsmouth, NH finished in 35th place overall at the NCAA championships with a time of 30:34.7. He was rewarded for his performance by being named an All-American for the first time in his career, following up his achievements as both an All-Big East and All-Region runner this year.
“It wasn’t really a surprise to me because my goal at the beginning of the season was to get All-American,” Thorne said. “I’m a race kind of guy. I want to win really badly. I just go out there and run and I use race day as the pay off.”
Thorne has been nothing short of a spectacular runner throughout his entire career, including both high school and college. He was a four-time state champion at Portsmouth High School and was ranked as one of the top 20 runners in the country his senior year.
To Throne, it just made sense to continue his career at U of L where he saw great promise and potential with the way the athletics department was going about shaping the future of the cross country program.
He credited much of the success the program has seen in the last three years to Mann.
“When I was getting recruited, Coach Mann said he wanted to turn it around and win the BIG EAST someday,” Throne said. “He brought in good guys and he is one of the most knowledgeable guys about running that I have ever met.”
As a freshman, Thorne made an immediate impact. He was one of the top two U of L runners in the seven races in which he ran. His success culminated in a 10th place finish at the school’s first appearance at the Big East Championships, earning him All-Big East honors for the first time.
In 2006, Thorne was the top runner in each of the Cardinals’ last three races. He earned All-Big East and All-Region honors, finishing sixth at the BIG EAST Championships and fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional respectively.
He also led the Cards to a 15th place finish at the NCAA Championships that year.
“He’s had a great career,” Mann said. “He’s continuing to do extremely well and it’s just another indication of where he can go with his running career. I’m very excited for him and his family.”
Next up for Thorne is to train hard and finish his senior year even stronger than the last three. He has high hopes for himself and the team to continue on the unexpected success it has so quickly achieved.
“I didn’t expect it right away,” Thorne said. “We had some good guys, but the conference was really good. We had the talent it took, we just all had to race together on the same day.”
With standout seniors Wesley Korir and Soimo Kiplagat graduating, look for Thorne to take leadership over the Cards next season in helping them to win another Big East Championship.
