Jaime Villa Zapatero is the most accomplished cross country and track athlete to have competed for Drury since the two programs were “resurrected” after decades of inactivity. Cross country returned in 2002; track and field in 2008. Upon his arrival on the Drury campus in the fall of 2007, Jaime embarked on setting a legacy in these two sports that is without equal. While humility is his norm, the competitive fire he brought into to his career as an athlete and as a student has set Jaime apart.
That competitive fire led him to uncompromised success in the field of athletic competition and in the classroom. For this, Jaime was awarded the 2011 Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award. The most prestigious honor bestowed by the Great Lakes Valley Conference, it is given annually to the student-athlete who best displays academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership.
A native of Madrid, Spain, Jaime came to Drury from Moore, Oklahoma. A high school foreign exchange student, it was as a prep athlete that he discovered his passion for running. It was not long before the GLVC, and the entire nation, became acutely aware that a special talent had arrived onto the college scene.
Under the watchful eye of cross country head coach, Jon Van Arkel, Jaime became a four-time all-GLVC selection. He was also named the GLVC’s Freshman of the Year in 2007 and was conference Runner-of-the-Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He earned NCAA-II Cross Country All-America honors in 2008 and 2010. His senior season was highlighted by his leading the Drury cross country team to the 2010 NCAA-II National Championships. That was the first and only time in the program’s history the Drury team qualified for the national meet. He was earlier named the GLVC Runner of the Year for the third time after securing his third consecutive GLVC individual crown.
As a Track & Field athlete Jaime became the 5,000 meter champion in 2008 earning the Track & Field Freshman of the Year Award. He was the 3,000-meter champion at the GLVC Indoor Track & Field Championships in 2010 and 2011. In 2010 he was also a member of the Drury Distance Medley Relay team that won the GLVC Indoor title. That same year he won the 5,000-meter run at the GLVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Jaime graduated on May 14, 2011 with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a 3.708 grade point. A Management, Marketing and Finance major, Jaime was the recipient of the 2011 Breech School of Business Administration Academic Excellence Award and was also awarded the Dr. Edsel Matthews Award. He was a three-time GLVC Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient and a four-time Academic All-GLVC honoree. Jaime was a member of the Dean’s List each semester and was a Drury ambassador. Additionally, he was a project leader for the Drury Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and was a part of the SIFE water purification program that helped provide fresh water in Istanbul, Turkey.
Jaime now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area where he is in business development for MAPFRE Insurance. He is always running, but today we pause to recognize Jaime as one of Drury’s all-time greats. For his accomplishments as one of the finest student-athletes ever to grace the Drury campus, Jaime is joined today by his wife, Brenda Varela (also a student-athlete at Drury), family and friends on his induction into the Drury University Sports Hall of Fame on this day: Saturday, November 26, 2016.
