Name: Clayton Elias Parros
Hometown: Bloomefield
Year: Junior
Major: Sports Administration
Favorite YoPo Flavor: Vanilla
Favorite place to study: The Academic Center or the UL
Fun Fact: My dad is an actor. He was on the cast of Knight Rider and recently appeared in an episode of Bones.
Motto: “Keep the main thing the main thing.” I learned that from Larry James, my mentor. He ran the 400 in the ’68 Olympics.
Not everyone can claim to have a Team USA uniform hanging in his or her closet. Clayton can. Balancing classes and athletics with having a social life has become second nature.
Judging by his chill, down-to-earth personality, you have to do some probing to figure out that Clayton is UNCs number one 400-meter runner, with athletic goals that don’t stop at the collegiate level.
Clayton barely missed the cutoff for competing in the 2011 World championships, and he is aiming for a spot in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He’s already met the qualifying time for trials, which is mind-blowing in itself. The New Jersey native possesses a unique and admirable drive, and says that if he hadn’t gone to UNC, he would have joined the Marines.
Being such an amazing athlete has given him some unique experiences, one of them being a trip to Trinidad (an island off the coast of South America). While most of us were dorm-room shopping the summer before our freshman year, Clayton was overseas as part of the under-20 U.S. Track & Field team.
When he isn’t training for his sport, Clayton likes to go out on Franklin Street, where he and his (athletic) roommates get lots of stares from passing females.
If all of this doesn’t make him a catch, it doesn’t hurt that Clayton might be able to get you some seats to see him run in the Olympics some day!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Chapel Hill chapter.