Cory Cranford (Q&A - July 2010)
Cory Cranford, 16, is a member of the 2010 Youth A World Championship team that competed in Sweden last month. Cory lives in Morrison, Colo., and answered the following 10 questions for this month's Athlete Profile...
Q1: What do you hope to major in at college?
CORY CRANFORD: I have only recently come up with an answer to this question, as I have been asking myself the same question for about a year now. I hope to major in languages.
Q2: After a long, hard week of training, what do you do to reward yourself?
CORY CRANFORD: Sleeping in! Swimming takes place at the break of dawn each morning except Sundays so being able to sleep in is a much appreciated reward.
Q3: What is the best present you’ve ever given a family member for a birthday or holiday?
CORY CRANFORD: Years ago when I was little I wondered why we never gave our Golden retriever anything for Christmas. So I decided my family should buy him something because no one should be left out, not even the dog. So now our dog gets a bone and some chew toys each year at Christmas.
Q4: Do you have a favorite pre-competition meal?
CORY CRANFORD: If the competition is early in the morning, I’ll eat pasta and sausage the night before, but if it’s later that day, I’ll have a big breakfast with bacon and toast
and waffles, pancakes or eggs.
Cory in the pool
Q5: What sport would you play professionally if given a chance? Would you be any good at it?
CORY CRANFORD: Soccer because I’ve always been involved in individual sports and therefore team sports seem really fun. I did play it some in elementary school and I never wanted to play goalie because I didn’t want to get hit. Yet somehow the ball always wound up hitting me instead of the goalie anyway.
Q6: How good are the athletic programs at your high school?
CORY CRANFORD: My school has a very good cross country and track team, but we have to combine our guys swim team each year with three other schools just to have enough members to make a full team. Some people join the teams for the social aspect, which they can get, but the teams are also great for those that are really devoted to the sports.
Cory (2nd from left) with his Youth A World teammates in Sweden
Q7: What would you like to do for a career path?
CORY CRANFORD: I’ve always loved acting and I participate in our school plays and musicals each year. My dream job would be a professional cinema or theatre actor.
Cory (l) and his Youth A World Championship teammates
Q8: What is the best advice a teammate or coach has ever given you?
CORY CRANFORD: I think the two best pieces of advice anyone has ever given me was once when I asked one of my original fencing instructors if he had any last minute advice before I went to a big tournament here in Colorado. He replied, “Hit…And don’t be hit.” It’s that simplicity that you tend to forget once you over think fencing…plus it was his dry humor that never gets old. Another coach of mine told me before a pentathlon competition, “Sure, do the best you can. But have fun with it. It’s gonna be one of the things you remember all your life. And you won’t remember what place you came in, you’re gonna remember the friends you made and the adventures you had.” It’s what I think about before every competition now to calm my nerves and really enjoy every second of it.
Cory on the fencing strip
Q9: Worst question you’ve ever received during an interview?
CORY CRANFORD: I really haven’t had that many interviews before, but once my principal was interviewing me and I had been up till almost 3 the past morning catching up on homework from school because I had training and rehearsals for the school musical. Towards the end of the interview and already an hour past the end of school, he asked me what five words I would use to describe myself. All I could think of after four hours of sleep and an eight hour school day was, ‘tired’, ‘sleepy’ and ‘weary’. Of course I finally came up with a few others so I didn’t tell him those.
Q10: What are your strongest and weakest events in the modern pentathlon?
CORY CRANFORD: My strongest is my fencing and that’s what I enjoy the most. I’d have to say my weakness is my running.
###
