Sophomore Corinne Zehner, a biochemistry major, is in her second year on the track team. In much of her freshman year, Zehner sat out due to a fracture in her foot; however, now she is back and setting school records in the 600-meter hurdles and the 4×400 relay.
What’s your favorite part about running track?
I like that it is individual but you’re also doing it for something bigger than that, like your team. A lot of people think that it is strictly on your own and that’s all that matters, but in the grand scheme of things, my team is more important to me than myself and how I perform. I want to perform well for my team and my coach, not just for bragging rights for myself.
Does the idea of having to apply to medical school ever stress you out?
To be honest I’ve just been kind of pushing to the side because track has been going really well. Track makes me really happy and school has been really stressful. It’s kind of like sneaking up on me though, so I’m trying to start preparing for that: Trying to keep my grades up, shadowing, volunteering, and all that. I have to do most of that during the summer though because of track. I feel like track is like taking a six-credit class or something.
What has been your favorite part about the college experience so far?
I like all of the friendships that I have made here so far. Whenever I’m at home, I just want to be back here immediately. I’m like driving home and I just want to turn around and come back because I have made such great friends here on and off the track team, and all of them are just so supportive of school and especially track. They come to all my track meets and are always standing there with signs; I kind of feel like a celebrity. They’ll buy me candy and stuff when I’m having a bad day. So I’ve just made some great relationships since I’ve been here.
Is there a specific person in your past who has really contributed to your success as an athlete?
I would say that my parents have been a huge part of that. They aren’t like the pushy parents that have forced me to do sports. They have said after a bad race, “Just shake it off, you know you’ve got the next one. You need to focus.” I like how they have let me choose what I want to do. And also, last year the seniors on the team were huge influences because I was injured for almost all of my indoor freshman season, and then I came back for outdoor and I ended up running on the 4×4 relay with three seniors and we broke the school record then. So that was huge.
How did your injury affect your training?
I had a stress fracture in my foot and I had to wear a boot for about a month. I had to train on a bike, which was not fun at all because I felt like I wasn’t getting the same workouts. You can’t even compare the two. I actually tried running on it when I could. My coach would try to stick me in meets because we didn’t have a fourth runner for the relays and stuff. It didn’t go so well most of the time. They made jokes about how one time I literally ran like a one-legged race because my foot was hurting so bad and I was hobbling around the track. I didn’t get to do much hurdling indoors last year, so I feel like this year I was almost a freshman because everything was still so new to me.
How does running in college compare to running in high school?
College meets feel like every meet is a state meet in high school. Like a high school state meet is equivalent to every college meet. That’s how it feels in terms of the intensity and the competition level. You are always up against good people. When you have a bad race it will show, because there’s going to be some girl next to you that’s just as good. In high school you could kind of get away with a first place; you weren’t running against all the same level as your own. But once you got to the state level, it was the best of the best, and that’s how every college meet is: It’s the best of the best.
Compiled by Hannah Leitner
