In just his second collegiate season, second-year Maddox Jordan has already made his mark on the University of Rhode Island men’s cross country team.
On Oct. 10, Jordan became the fourth-highest Rhody finisher at the New England Championship, when he placed 17th as the Rams won their second NEC in the past three seasons. Just a couple of weeks later, Jordan helped the Rams secure their first top-three finish at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship since 1980 by passing 14 runners in the last two kilometers of the eight-kilometer race to place 35th on the leaderboard, fourth-fastest out of all URI runners.
Most recently, Jordan competed at the NCAA Regional Championship on Nov. 14, where he finished with a time of 30:56.1 in the 10-kilometer race to place inside the top 80 out of 263 runners, the fourth-best time in URI history.
Jordan credits a major part of his success to his teammates.
“It’s been really fun,” Jordan said. “We got the New England title and third in the A-10s, which is the best we’ve ever done, and it’s due to the great group of guys that push me every day.”
Despite Jordan only being in his second season with the Rams, URI Head Coach Trent Baltzell said that he believes that he could become the leader of his team in the coming years.
“He’s a great teammate,” Baltzell said. “He does everything we ask, and I think over time the leadership qualities will start to surface a little bit.”
Beyond what he contributed to the cross country team this season, Jordan was also a driving force for the men’s track and field team last spring in his first year at URI. This included him setting a top-10 mark in program history during just the second mile he ever ran in his collegiate career at the Boston University Terrier Classic in February.
Baltzell said that this came as no surprise, as he knew Jordan had it in him from the start.
“It’s what we were expecting,” Baltzell said. “His growth has been in production of his true range, which went from [the 800-meter] to now 8K to 10K, so it’s been cool to see that change in him. He’s got a ton of talent, so I think for Maddox, the sky is kind of the limit, and he can even be an NCAA caliber kind of athlete.”
With the indoor track and field season approaching, Jordan said that keeping a simple mindset on improving day-to-day is his main priority.
“I hope to just keep getting better,” Jordan said. “I definitely have some goals that I want to hit, so if I can get in range of those, that will be very good for my career here at URI.”
Jordan and the URI men’s track and field team will kick off their season in the URI Heptathlon beginning on Thursday, Dec. 4.
