After re-breaking school records in both the 60 and 400 hurdles at the Chargers’ first home indoor track meet, junior women’s track team captain Corinne Zehner met an NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the 60 hurdles and earned the GLIAC’s Track Athlete of the Week. For the indoor track season, Zehner runs the 60 hurdles, open 400, and 4×400 while she competes in the 100 and 400 hurdles, 4×100 and 4×400 during the outdoor season. Post-collegiately, Zehner does not plan to continue running competitively and may choose to pursue medical school.
What do you think contributed to you earning the GLIAC’s Athlete of the Week award?
I have no idea. I was really shocked when I learned that I received it. I found out when I went to practice and one of my teammates congratulated me. I said, ‘Is that a joke?’ Not that I’ve had a bad career, but I’ve never thought of myself as someone who stood out in the GLIAC. I’m sure such a big PR sparked their interest, but the success of our cross-country team has helped the name of our school get bigger. People are starting to look at us. A freshman boy also got it, so it was cool to have both the guy and girl that week.
What’s your favorite event to run?
For indoor, now I’m really starting to like the 60 hurdles, which is funny because when I first got here, that was probably my worst event. I struggled with them a lot when I first started. It was like starting over from scratch, because it was the 55 hurdles in high school. They’re the same spacing, but when I came here, I had to change how I ran them, and it took a while to click.
In outdoor, it’s the 400 hurdles. It just started clicking last year and it’s my best event. When you run them the right way, or at least close to how you’re supposed to run it, it’s actually pretty fun and not as painful as the open 400 because there you’re just running and it’s this open track but the hurdles break up the race a little more.
Which school records do you hold?
Previously, I had the 60 hurdles record when I broke it in one of the last few meets of last season. Now, it’s the second meet and I’ve already broken it by over a tenth [of a second], so I expect to break it even more. I’m also part of the 4×400 record indoor and outdoor.
In what ways is the track team improving that’s allowing everyone to compete at such a high level?
Our cross-country team placing 2nd at nationals was a huge jump for even our track team. We realized we have the potential to be amazing even though we’re a small school. Also, I’ve noticed a huge change this year in practice. Everyone is really focused. With all the new coaches this year it’s helped even out the groups, and I can already tell everyone’s spirit is better. I remind the girls every day, if we want to take our program to the next level then we need to be sleeping and eating right, encouraging each other and I’ve noticed that at every practice when we’re doing our hard workouts there’s cheering, and it’s awesome. Going to practice is really fun for me even when I know I’ll probably be crying at the end of a workout.
What is it going to take for the team to reach the next level and what will that look like?
We need to trust our coach in what he’s telling us. Sometimes he’ll tell me I can do something and I don’t believe him but he turns out to be right. If we all believe in each other, trust in our training and coach, we’re going to start standing out more and placing higher at conference.
We have a lot of depth this year. While in the past, it’s been, ‘What four girls are going to run 4×400?’ This this year it’s ‘Which four girls are going to run it?’ We have so many to chose from.
Nationals is definitely a dream for our team. We’ve never gone as a team to nationals before. I don’t know if that’s something that would happen in the very near future, but I definitely think it’s something that could happen one day.
Beating GVSU at conference would be a dream come true. If we beat them, I would be the happiest person ever. This year, we’ll compete with them and I think they’re going to be scared. I don’t know how it will turn out, but I definitely think they’re in for a treat. Their coaches are secretly worried, I know it. This is the most excited I’ve ever been for conference for sure. I kept thinking Grand Valley was this power house and now I’m thinking, let’s just destroy them.
What are the individual goals you hope to achieve with the remainder of your junior track season?
I would like to go to nationals for indoor in the 60 hurdles and 4×400 and be an All-American in one or both of them. Definitely, I want to be an All-American in 400-hurdles outdoor.
Since you’re competing against so many larger schools in sports, why are you happy you chose to run at Hillsdale?
I’m so lucky to be here with all of our resources. We just got this big, new, beautiful track. No where else in the world is someone running on a track like ours. But I didn’t come here for that. I think the team atmosphere is not like at other schools. Ours is not just show up to practice, workout, and that’s all you do. It’s checking up on each other outside of practice. I don’t really see that as much at other schools. Here we’re getting more than just track. We’re getting another family. You’re not just running for yourself, but you’re wanting to run for your team. It’s always the team first, and that’s something I’ve really worked on.
