Spotlight on Cameron Van: Chasing Centimeters, Building Community

When Cameron Van (CMC '17) first emailed a coach and sent along his highlight video, he didn't know it would spark a journey defined by growth, grit, and lifelong relationships. He just knew he wanted a chance.

"I was interested in competing in college, of course," he says. "A friend in high school told me about Claremont McKenna in particular, and I just sent some video and an email to the coach because I thought, hey, I'm just going to introduce myself, see what happens. And it worked out."

That simple act of initiative led him to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics (CMS) track & field program, where he would help power the Stags to three consecutive SCIAC championships in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Along the way, Cameron developed into a national-level competitor, qualifying for NCAA Championships, earning All-America honors, and setting a school record.

But his story at CMS is as much about belief as it is about accolades. "I didn't think I'd be a national competitor or anything like that," he reflects. "But they pushed me there, and they believed."

Winning one conference championship is memorable. Winning three in a row is something else entirely. Each carried its own weight, but the 2017 title remains especially vivid. That year, SCIACs came down to the final 4x400 relay on a familiar track at Pomona, and Cam was the anchor.

"It was coming down to the wire," he remembers. "It was coming down to the 4x4, and me, the last leg of it, needing to push myself again and do something that I hated, which was the 400."

Track can feel individual, but this moment was about the team. "For it to come down to the last team event to see who wins the SCIACs was pretty cool," he says. "There aren't as many opportunities to be a team in track."

When he crossed the line and secured the title, it wasn't about an individual split time. It was about shared belief and delivering when it mattered most.

Another unforgettable moment came during the high jump at SCIACs. With the championship potentially hanging in the balance, Cameron had one jump left. Thousands were watching.

"I was very much in my head," he admits. "Usually, for high jump, not everyone's there. But now everybody in SCIAC was around. Probably thousands of people were watching."

Coach Powell walked up, hit him in the chest, not painfully, but deliberately, and said, "Come on, baby."

"It was needed to sort of bring me back to earth and be like, come on, be here, go do it," Cam says. "I didn't even do my ritual. I just ran up, jumped, and cleared it. Everyone cheered. It was crazy."

In the classroom at Claremont McKenna College, Cameron found mentors who challenged him just as much as his coaches did. "Definitely, many professors had a lasting impact," he says, pointing to Amy Kind in philosophy, Richard Burdekin in economics, and Professor Lincoln in econometrics. "A lot of professors pushed me to really go beyond surface-level thinking and go beyond the first answer."

Balancing academics and athletics didn't come naturally at first. "In the beginning, I did not balance it very well," he says. "I had to relearn how I needed to study in order to be successful in college." Yet something surprising happened: "I'm pretty sure my grades were better during the season than when it was off-season. I had limited time, so I had to be more diligent. Had to lock in."

That structure paid dividends long after graduation. Cameron went straight to law school. "I remember thinking, this is so easy," he says with a laugh. "All I have to do is study. I don't have to train. I don't have to beat myself up. I was well set up to succeed because I didn't realize I was playing on a harder mode before."

Like many elite athletes, his journey included setbacks. "Definitely injuries," he says when asked about obstacles. "It's underrated how much being injured can impact you mentally." Over time, though, he learned to listen more closely to his body. "I got better at understanding my body and listening to what it's telling me and why it's telling me. It ended up being a strength."

Perhaps no lesson has stayed with him more than what he calls "another centimeter." Sophomore year, he missed qualifying for nationals by one centimeter. The next year, he made nationals but missed All-America honors by a centimeter. Senior year, he finished top four nationally - again just shy of the next mark.

"To me, that meant that there's always another centimeter you can grab," he says. "You're not a finished product. You gotta keep fighting."

Today, that philosophy shapes how he approaches life and work. "When I work hard or I'm working late on something, I just think about, oh, I'm gonna get that centimeter," he explains. "I don't think I gotta jump 25 feet. I think I gotta get one more centimeter today."

After graduating, Cameron went straight to law school. When COVID disrupted competition, he returned to serious training. He earned the opportunity to train at the Olympic Training Center, competed internationally, and even earned prize money as a professional long jumper.

"Yes, I have continued to compete, and I will continue to compete," he says. But his approach has matured. "I've rushed myself back from injury too fast in the past. Now I'm trying to build the right way. I just gotta be patient with it."

That awareness led him to co-found a startup focused on movement assessment using computer vision technology, an idea rooted in his own experience. "I didn't really have a jumps coach in high school," he explains. "I had to use YouTube and videos to understand myself." After college, he again found himself training without consistent coaching. "I was like, dang, I wish something could help assess me and help me understand my movement strategies. So we built it."

Through it all, the relationships formed at CMS remain central. "I probably talk to someone from CMS every day or every other day," he says. "They're my best friends. They're my brothers. They're my sisters. They're people I will have in my life forever."

When asked what he is most proud of from his time at CMS, his answer isn't a title or a record. "I think just having a real connection with people on the track," he says. "Having a lasting impact on people's lives positively, I think I'm more proud of that than any of the accolades."

And maybe that's the clearest reflection of what CMS meant to Cameron Van '17. The medals matter. The centimeters matter. But it's the belief, the growth, and the community that continue to shape his life, one centimeter at a time.