Jordan Chavez, '16
Jordan Chavez is a full-time student athlete, competing on the University of Richmond’s cross country team. Originally interested in Richmond’s running program after being recruited by Head Cross Country Coach Steve Taylor from his hometown of Southlake, Texas, Chavez had a fairly good idea he wanted to become a business major after coming to campus.
“I am still figuring out what I want to pursue after graduation, but the prestige of the Robins School of Business really made my decision easy to take full advantage of what the business school offers,” he said. Between his running career and education, Chavez stays very active.
“I was first exposed to running at a very young age,” Chavez said. “My father would bring me along to the 5K races he participated in and when I was old enough I began running them myself. I always played other sports but running was the only one that stayed constant through the years.”
Chavez recently returned from Krynica, Poland where he participated in the 29th annual World Mountain Running Championships. He competed in the junior men’s division for those 20 years of age and younger among 37 representing countries, running a nine kilometer circuit with over 500 meters of elevation gain. Chavez placed seventh in the world.
In preparation for the race he spent the summer in the mountains and high elevation of Colorado, running trails and training his body for rigorous competition. The U.S. team finished in fifth-place at the competition, marking the 13th time the Richmond Spiders has represented the country at the World Mountain Running Championships since 2006.
“Like all other careers, my running has had many ups and downs; good races, bad races, injuries and everything else that plagues an athlete. Luckily I have been able to run at the next level at Richmond and I hope to continue to run competitively post-collegiately as well,” he said.
While he is tested daily as a cross country runner, Chavez also acknowledges two courses that have challenged him in the classroom. “My freshman seminar with Dr. Andy Litteral really brought me out of the high school mode and into what it means to be a college student. Dr. Litteral was a great professor and I had many great conversations with him both in and out of the classroom,” Chavez said. He also remembers a financial accounting class with Dr. Phil Rohrbach saying, “I was truly excited to do work mostly because of the high expectations that Dr. Rohrbach had for us all. He constantly challenged us to not only be better students but also to be better young adults.”
“Professionally I want to strive to not only do something I enjoy but that I can improve upon every day and see those results translated in my personal life as well,” Chavez said.
Chavez is already well on his way to success as he looks forward to an internship with Crestone Capital Advisors in Boulder, Colo., next summer and many events with Richmond’s cross country team on the schedule in the coming months.