University of Texas Arlington Athletics

Jordan Durham, who has been a vital member of the program for more than a decade, was promoted to associate women's head coach in 2017. A former All-America sprinter, Durham serves as a mentor to the sprinters and relay teams, is the meet director for all UTA home meets at Maverick Stadium and oversees travel arrangements.

Most recently during the 2024-25 indoor track season, Durham and the rest of the Maverick squad had multiple solid showings at the WAC Indoor Championships. With a time of 11:44.42, the women's distance medley relay team consisting of Emilia Mandl, Zaire Moore, Kayan Green and Winnie Kipsang brought the gold medal back to Arlington. The men's distance medley relay team of Jackson Cichon, Adam Herrera, Kash Powell and Rogelio Aguirre took home the silver medal with a time of 10:08.39. Matro Jepkemboi took the bronze medal in the women's 5000m with a time of 17:01.15.

Durham helped UTA to solid showings at the season-opening Owen Hewett Invitational where the Mavs concluded with 14 podium finishes. Leading sprints and relays, Durham helped Daniel Armstrong to a first place finish in the men's 800m with a time of 1:54.54 as well as Adam Herrera who won the season opening men's 400m with a time of 49.15. Eli England took the top spot in the men's 200m with a time of 22.14 while Alexis Cain picked up a second place finish in the women's 400m, clocking in at 58.05. Like Cain, Esther Shaba also earned a second place finish but in the women's 200m with a time of 25.13.

At the Arkansas Twilight in May, Alex Kalmar broke the school record in the men's 1500m run with a pace of 3:44.62. It marked Kalmar's third program record in just his first season donning the blue and orange. He now owns the outdoor 1500m run, indoor 800m run (1:48.20) and the indoor mile run (4:03.61) Kalmar finished tenth overall. 

At the WAC Outdoor Championships - hosted by UTA -, the women finished second overall with 153 total points while the men finished third overall with 148 total points. During the Mavs first stint in the WAC back in 2013, the men finished third while the women finished second. Jepkemboi ended the solo events for the Mavs in the women's 5000m. She picked up eight points for UTA and a silver medal for herself after finishing with a time of 16:54.18.

UTA wrapped up outdoor season at the NCAA West Regional where Kipsang was the lone Maverick to compete on the day, looking to punch her ticket to TrackTown USA in the women's 800m. The top three from each heat plus the next three fastest times move on to Eugene. Kipsang ran in heat two of three, finishing fifth overall with a time of 2:04.66. It was Kipsang's fastest time of the outdoor season and just short of her personal record of 2:04.61.
 
Kipsang fell just short of moving on to Eugene, finishing 14th overall with the top 12 moving on.
 
While the NCAA’s 2020 outdoor track and field season may have been canceled due to the worldwide Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, the UT Arlington men’s and women’s track and field program still found plenty of time to achieve greatness during the 2020 indoor track season.

Durham helped the UTA men finish as the Sun Belt Conference runner up. The Mavericks have placed either first or second at every indoor meet since joining the league in 2014.

Ismael Kone, the 2020 Men’s SBC Outstanding Freshman, was the only male to win multiple individual events at the SBC Indoor Championships, as he swept the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes. He ran a personal-best 6.74 to win the 60m and followed it up with a 21.03 in the 200m, the No. 3 time in school history.

The women recorded a signature victory in the 4x400m relay at the SBC meet as the Mavericks' squad of Jordyn McCarden, Mikayla Koester, Vanessa Ugorji and Tatyana Terrell posted a time of 3:44.51, which was seven seconds faster than the team's previous best time in 2020. In addition, it was the No. 2 clocking in school history, just .21 off the UTA mark.

Under her leadership, the women's program was named the 2018 Division I-AAA National Team of the Year after finishing the season ranked 27th nationally, its highest-ever placement.

In her time with the Mavericks, her athletes have set eight school records. New indoor standards have come in the women's 200 meters (Shannon Reynolds), women's indoor 400 meters (DeAndrea Smith), women's 4x400m relay (2016) and men's 60 meters (Clayton Vaughn). Outdoor marks have been set in the women's 400m (Vanessa Ugorji), women's 4x400m (2014), men's 100m (Vaughn) and men's 4x100m relay (2019).

In 2018-19, the men's 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay teams both qualified for the NCAA Championships in the same year for the first time in school history, and both squads earned second-team All-America accolades.

Under her tutelage, the women's 4x400m relay team claimed Sun Belt Conference titles during the outdoor seasons in 2016 and 2017 and the indoor squad was the champion in 2019.

In addition, she has helped the UTA men's team post the only triple crown championships in Sun Belt Conference history (2013-14 and 2016-17).

The 2015 season was a banner one for UTA sprinters. Vaughn smashed his own school record in the 100 meters with a 9.93 to win the Sun Belt Conference title. His time ranked among the 10 fastest times in NCAA history and was 13th in the world in 2015. Quentin Butler also cracked the 10-second barrier with a 9.99 at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, the second-fastest clocking in school history. 

Both Vaughn, who was an All-American after placing eighth, and Butler, who was ninth, reached the NCAA Championships in the 100 meters. The only schools with two athletes competing in the 100 meters in Eugene, Ore., were UT Arlington and LSU.

With Durham's assistance, Vaughn earned a total of six All-America plaques. He grabbed NCAA Indoor All-America honors in the 60m twice (2012, 2013). In addition, during the 2014 season, he recorded the nation's fastest regular-season time in the 60 meters (6.55), obliterating his own school record by .06.

After returning from injury that kept him out of the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships, Vaughn became a 2014 Outdoor All-American in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. In doing so, he became the first Maverick ever named All-American three times at a single NCAA Championship. Among his other highlights, Vaughn won both the 60m and 200m at the 2013 Western Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.

Durham has also steered the women's sprinters, who have enjoyed their share of honors as well. Headlining the list is Reynolds, who won both the 100m and 200m at the 2013 WAC Outdoor Championships en route to High Point Scorer honors at the league meet.

Durham also mentored Cordero Gray, a former school record holder in the 100m (10.12) and a four-time Southland Conference individual champion - the 60m and 200m during the indoor season and the 100m and 200m during the outdoor season. He also earned Indoor Outstanding Track Athlete and Outdoor Athlete of the Year accolades, and finished as the Southland Conference Championships High Point Scorer at both meets.

Also in 2011, freshman Pamela Vinson won the 60m and 200m during the indoor season, earning Southland Conference Athlete of the Year honors and High Point Scorer. In all, Durham tutored athletes who corralled seven individual Southland Conference championships in 2011, and three more who logged runner-up finishes.

In 2010, the Mavericks' sprints coach helped All-Americans Gray and Jasmine Walls reach the NCAA Championships, and had nine sprinters make appearances in the NCAA Preliminaries. In addition, Reynolds earned Southland Conference Freshman of the Year honors in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Durham became a full-time member of the coaching staff prior to the start of the 2010 season after serving as a graduate assistant at UT Arlington during 2008-09. A three-time All-American at Arizona State, she was a member of three Sun Devils' national championship teams -- 2007 and 2008 NCAA Indoor and 2007 NCAA Outdoor.

Durham helped lead ASU's 4x400m relay to a third-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships and a fifth-place finish at the 2008 outdoor meet. In 2007, she earned All-America honors in the 4x400m relay, as the team ran 3:35.96 and placed eighth at the NCAA Championships.

She transferred to ASU in 2006 after spending her freshman season at TCU. A 2004 graduate of Kennedale High School in Kennedale, Texas, Durham was selected as the team's MVP all four years of competition. She helped lead the track team to a state title as a senior. She also was also a two-time all-district volleyball selection and captained both teams as a senior.

Her mother, Jacki Mays Earl, is a member of the Hall of Honor at Angelo State University. A track standout, she won the 200-meter dash at the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women's National Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1982 and remains the school record holder in the 100m and 200m.

Her father, Joseph Durham, was a standout athlete at Breckenridge High School, where he lettered in football, basketball and track, graduating in 1975.

A native of San Angelo, Texas, she graduated from Arizona State with a degree in psychology and sociology. She has a daughter, Randi.