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Sept. 2, 2005 When Corrie Whisner was a junior at Lakota East High School in Ohio, she attended a callout for the cross country team. "I went home and ran two miles," Whisner recalled. "Afterwards, I said, 'I can't do it.' I thought cross country was a 10-mile race and never came back." Whisner eventually returned and has proceeded to piece together a solid career in a short period of time. She will be counted on to help lead this year's Purdue women's cross country team, which opens its season today. The West Chester, Ohio, native didn't start participating in sports until her junior season in high school. And those sports were limited to cross country and track. As a senior at Lakota East, Whisner placed fifth at the state's cross country meet. "I found out I was really good at it," she said. "I found out I had a passion for running." College coaches started noticing Whisner after her performances at the state's track meet during her junior season. She ran the final leg on her school's fourth-place 800 relay team. "That flipped the switch to show me that I had some potential," she said. It paid off in a chance to attend Purdue. She originally selected the Boilermakers over Ohio State because of the school's biology program. Whisner is majoring in nutrition science with plans to become a dentist. "I had written to (Purdue) about being a walk-on," Whisner said. "The process went really fast and it was a big whirlwind of stuff going on." Purdue assistant coach Kelly Phillips said the senior has plenty of upside. "You can see it because she has those fresh legs," said Phillips, who is in her first season with the Boilermaker cross country and track programs. "It's a shame she didn't run earlier in her career. I'm glad she didn't because now I can get her to run fast. She's still developing." Whisner finished 53rd at last year's Big Ten Conference meet, completing the 6K course in 22:49. Senior Lindsay Zinn is the team's top finisher (33rd) from last year's league championships. Purdue's goal this season is to finish in the top five at the conference meet after placing ninth last year. "I've seen what they've done on paper and what they've done in high school," Phillips said. "Last year at Big Tens was a huge disappointment. There's no way they're a ninth-place team in the Big Ten. They're much better than what they did last year."
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