By Ashley Trosper
Freshman cross country runner Cory Thorne has already cancelled his plane ticket home for Thanksgiving break in hopes of making it to the NCAA National Championships. And as the number two runner on the men’s team, he has good reason not to rule out this possibility.
Cardinal fans can find Thorne in each race not far behind sophomore standout Wesley Korir. The Portsmouth, N.H., native began running in high school because he was “interested in track and pretty athletic,” according to Thorne. “Everything sort of progressed from there as I got better and better.”
And progress it did. By his junior year Thorne was competing in the Footlocker National Championships. This is where U of L cross country Recruiting Coordinator and Assistant Coach Brice Allen first took notice in the youngster while he was competing in the Steeplechase, a 3,000-meter obstacle race where runners face both hurdles and water jumps.
“My recruiting coordinator, Brice Allen, contacted him and brought him down for a visit to U of L. Our personalities just matched,” said Head Coach Ron Mann.
Thorne agreed to attend the University of Louisville and run for the Cards. “It’s cold in New Hampshire in the winter when you are training. It’s not so bad here and I knew of Coach Mann’s reputation,” Thorne said. “He is one of the most highly respected coaches around.”
So far Thorne has not let the U of L program down. He has competed in every race as the number two runner, finishing behind Korir. In the Woodford Trials he finished fourth behind a second-place Korir, and most recently, at the pre-nationals, he finished in a strong 62nd place.
But Thorne admits it has not been easy adjusting from high school to college cross country.
“This is my first year of college running. Just breaking 25 minutes for 8K [8 kilometers] this year has been huge for me,” Thorne admitted. “The first time I ran the 8K I didn’t even break 26 minutes and now I’ve broken 25 minutes three times this season.”
Running all the time with the team and on his own has helped the talented freshman adjust to the 8K run. Whereas he used to just run at one constant speed all of the time, now he focuses on running hard some days and recovery running on others. He is also lifting weights with the team twice a week.
“He’s just a tough kid,” Mann said. “He has no clue how good he is. He pays attention, listens, and applies the principles he learns.”
Though the cross country team has never had the opportunity to compete at the national level, it is a constant goal for both runners and coaches. “I want to make it to nationals as a team and individually,” Thorne said.
Mann is counting on runners like Thorne to catapult the Cards onto the national scene. “I have set some main goals for our team to be a conference contender, a regional power, and a strong national representative,” Mann said. “We are achieving our goals a lot quicker than some people expected and guys like Cory have absolutely attributed to this.”
Along with Korir, Thorne has a good chance of qualifying for nationals on an individual level even if the Cards as a whole don’t receive the same honor.
“Cory has skills and knows how to win. He has an excellent chance,” Mann said.
Even though Thorne already admitted he has exceeded all of his goals for this year, he also entertains a few new goals for the future.
“Being the number two runner has been great. But hopefully throughout my career I can set it up to where I have a chance to become an All American. That would be so exciting,” Thorne said.
Regardless of any further progress the freshman makes, one thing is for certain. He has made his presence known as an influential runner in his first year at U of L.
“Cory is a joy to coach and he is just a fun guy,” Mann said.
