Tucker Carroll
Cory Couture is having a work horse year for the Merrimack Men’s track team. He concluded the indoor season by finishing 1st and 2nd in the NEC conference for the 400m and 200m. Though this does not paint the whole picture. In his breakout season, Cory played a large role, scoring points in the 500m and 4x400m relay as the anchor. Cory transferred to Merrimack last year as a sophomore from Manhattan College and has quickly made a place for himself on the team. His main event consisted of the 400m, where last season he ran 48.4, placing him at the top of the conference.
This season he has only improved. Not only has he improved his 400m time by a whole second, but he has taken up a second role as the team’s best 200m runner. He took up this role when his splits in the 400m began to get faster and faster until he was running top of the conference times. One of the biggest matches to watch in this recent conference championship was against Solomon King from Stonehill. Solomon leads the conference in the 60m and the 200m. In their rivalry, Cory was bested in the 200m by less then 1/20th of a second, leaving Solomon the 200m Conference championship. This is not to be a detriment to Cory’s performance as he put on a stand alone performance in the 400m leaving the competition in the dust running a 47.50. On top of this, he ran a Sandman-like performance in his heat of the 4x400m relay, leaving no doubt as to the winner with 200m left in the competition. When asked about the difference between this year and last year as far as the intensity of his training, an unexpected answer was received. “It was more in the gym than on the track, like I still ran workouts but just getting stronger lifting weights and being able to maintain and improve my speed I was able to go faster.” He uses what is called the French Contrast training method used by many French track coaches. These are high velocity and intensity movements coupled with plyometric movements.
Apart from the track, Cory is still a numbers guy. As a business major, he is actively pressuring internships with investment firms. He often spent his down time from training and school work investing in order to perfect his craft. Being a top tier athlete and student is something that is very difficult to do and he takes it in stride. When asked about balancing all of it, Cory said this. “I really don’t pay too much attention to personal scheduling. I usually have a couple of hours of free time at the end of the day, around 7pm, to get some stuff done”. Regarding a followup question, he was asked how he didn’t pay mind to his personal scheduling. “It’s not that I don’t pay attention to it, I just have class, lift, and practice every day, so, any time I spend apart from that, where I know, I have some time before my next class I get homework done or other things I have on my agenda.” From being around him often it is easy to see how motivated, driven and patient he is with progress. The work necessary in order to improve is something that most people are not cut out for. You can never beat the track, you can always go faster, you can always jump higher. The only thing that someone can control is themselves and to do this they need to take all of the steps and have all of the patience in order to succeed. And Cory embodies this well. It is seen in all other facets of his life that he does all that he can to be successful. Always going to class to get his work on time, taking good notes so that he may do well in exams. He is thorough in his preparation on all fronts, running workouts as hard as he can, lifting until he fails a repetition, going to class even after getting home late the previous day from a competition and ensuring that the quality of his homework is great and its submitted in a timely manner. And the results are showing, with all multiple conference highlights and an outstanding academic record, Cory Couture is a man of conviction.
