Team USA World Cup pentathlete. Autocross national champion. College football official. For most people, any one of these accomplishments would stand out. For Dr. Jordan Towns, they are just a few of the pursuits that have shaped a life dedicated to mastering new challenges.
“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, right?” she said.
Towns joined the College of Veterinary Medicine’s clinical pathology team as an assistant clinical professor in 2024. A three-time graduate of Auburn University, she holds a doctorate in biomedical sciences, a DVM and a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and pre-vet.
Despite her demanding professional schedule, Towns makes time to pursue new interests and ambitions. Though her hobbies may seem disparate, the lessons she learns from each of them fuel her career as a veterinarian and educator.
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“There’s a school of thought that you have to be an expert at one thing, but I have benefitted so much from doing other things that feed back into that ‘one thing,’” Towns said. “It expands parts of your brain and helps make you well rounded.”
Cultivating mental toughness on the world stage
Towns’ foray into modern pentathlons started with a simple thought while watching the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympics: “I want to do that.”
Towns hadn’t competed in organized sports since childhood, so she polled friends to see if there was a sport that could be a possible entry point. One of them suggested she consider the modern pentathlon, a multi-sport discipline including fencing, freestyle swimming, pistol shooting, running and equestrian show jumping. With experience in horseback riding, running and shooting, Towns would have just two new skills to learn.
The idea sat on the back burner while Towns worked as an emergency and relief veterinarian in Birmingham, Alabama. Her hours became a bit more regular when she returned to Auburn in 2017 to start her clinical pathology residency, allowing her to revisit the idea and start training.
With the help of the Auburn Master Swimmers club, Auburn Fencing Club and self-directed YouTube lessons, Towns sharpened her swimming and fencing skills and was ready to put them to the test in just a few months. In her first year competing, she participated in four USA Pentathlon Multisport events and qualified for nationals.
In 2024, Towns earned a spot on Team USA’s World Cup team competing against many of the world’s top pentathletes, including Olympians. That year’s competitions took Towns farther than she ever imagined. She competed throughout the U.S. and internationally in the Dominican Republic, Spain, France, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary.
While she didn’t clinch a spot in the Paris Olympics, being on the World Cup team gave her experiences she could have never imagined. Since 2024, she has continued to compete in the master’s league. This fall, she will travel to the Master’s World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa.
Beyond the globetrotting and victories, the sport has given Towns discipline and mental toughness that overflows into the rest of her life.
“If you can get used to the pressure of competing against the top athletes in the world, you can do anything,” she said.
Out of the lab and on the track
Long before competing on the international pentathlon stage, Towns pushed herself into unfamiliar territory as a junior at Auburn when she discovered autocross racing.
Inspired by the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise and Gran Turismo video games, Towns and a high school friend went to their first autocross event in 2006. Without any experience, Towns paid her entry fee and pulled up to the line in her Toyota Celica. She revved the engine, dumped the clutch and almost stalled out before taking off from the starting line, a debut that her autocross friends still joke about today. From that moment, she was hooked.
Towns earned her first national championship in 2013 and has won five others since. She has competed in hundreds of competitions over her 20 years on the track and has developed lasting friendships with competitors across the country.
Finding a place on the field
Between pentathlon training, autocross competitions and her veterinary career, Towns found time for another pursuit: football officiating. She came from a family of Auburn fans, but she did not care much about football until her freshman year at Auburn University.
“I went to my first home game in the student section, and it was the most unbelievable experience,” Towns said.
She went to every home game in 2004, cheering on the undefeated team with stars like Jason Campbell and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams. She was sucked in by the sport and began watching other teams, studying the rules and formations. When the college football season ended, she started watching NFL.
Football became more than a spectator sport for Towns in 2018 when she decided to try her hand at officiating. She connected with the Big East Football Officiating organization and started working clocks for youth and high school games, the traditional first step for aspiring officials. The next year, she worked her first junior varsity game.
“I just remember thinking I had no idea it was this loud down here,” Towns said.
Towns moved up to varsity officiating three years in, but she had her sights set on college ball.
Towns went to her first college camp in Arkansas, where she was one of three women in the group of 300 officials. Led by NFL and college-level officiants, the camp helped Towns develop the knowledge, skills and split-second decision making necessary to perform under pressure. She left with an award for coachability, connections and an invite to her next college clinic.
During the regular season, Towns started working the clock for college games and served as a media official, coordinating commercial breaks. She continued officiating for varsity high school games and officiated at the Alabama-Mississippi All Star game.
After another season working clocks for college football games, she began working with an NFL mentor to build a plan for getting on the field in 2024. She honed her skills at more camps, including two with scouts from NCAA Division II and Division III. She received offers from both and ended up working 12 games that season. In 2025, she worked a full schedule with Division II and worked her first games with Division I, including serving as an alternate official for a Big Ten Conference game. This year, she attended her first Power-4 Division I camp and is slotted to work another full season.
Developing the whole person
Of all her pursuits, Towns said football officiating has proven to be the most demanding. Between the scrutiny that comes with every call and the role’s physical and mental challenges, officiating has fueled her drive to constantly improve and shaped the way she approaches her work off the field.
“I am a better teacher because I work on a football field,” Towns said.
She brings her experiences from her time as a practicing veterinarian and from her many passions into the classroom, showing students how cultivating interests beyond their careers can provide perspective, help reduce stress and ultimately make them better veterinarians.
“I operate on the principle that I don’t want to be on my deathbed wishing I had done something,” Towns said. “It’s easy to get caught up in work, but I encourage people to go outside of their comfort zone because it may lead to something really cool.”
Despite a résumé that already reads like a lifetime of accomplishments, she is not finished exploring. Next on her list? Bobsledding.
