Record Setting On and Off the Track

As a runner for the University of Richmond cross-country team, Ave Grosenheider, L’22, set the school record in the indoor 3K (at 9 minutes and 30 seconds). Last semester, she set another record, as the only Richmond student in recent memory to compete as a varsity athlete while enrolled in law school.

Grosenheider came to Richmond from Madison, Wisconsin. After redshirting due to an injury in the fall semester of her freshman year, Grosenheider was able to complete her fourth year of NCAA eligibility during her first semester as a law student.

Grosenheider enrolled at the University of Richmond as an undergraduate with an eye toward law school. “I had a really great undergraduate experience here,” she explained – so much so that she decided to stick around for three more years and earn the title of “Double Spider,” or a two-time graduate of University of Richmond academic programs. Moving from the undergraduate experience to law school has “definitely been a transition academically.” As an undergraduate, for example, she could schedule her classes around her morning practice – a luxury not offered to 1L students who are assigned to a set of courses. But being in the same city and at the same school “has really eased the transition,” said Grosenheider.

Most recently, Grosenheider was recognized as one of 66 scholar athletes at the University of Richmond for the 2018-2019 school year. The recognition “reinforces that the University of Richmond is a place where you are encouraged to pursue your interests — academically, athletically, and otherwise — to the best of your ability,” said Grosenheider. “The scholar athlete honor shows that these pursuits are not mutually exclusive.”