There is no question that Mathis Chavand is an elite athlete for Illinois State, as he starred for the men’s cross country team throughout the 2023 season. But running is not the only area where Chavand excels.
After receiving a camera as a birthday gift from his mother in 2020, Chavand began developing a serious interest in wildlife photography.
“Going outside, taking pictures of pretty much any kind of nature around. It just started like that,” Chavand said.
Traveling the world for photography
A senior from Feurs, France, Chavand uses photography to share the beauty he sees in the world around him and draw attention to the fragility of ecosystems.
“Trying to have a positive impact — for me because I enjoy it a lot, but also to engage people to rethink about our place as humans in the ecosystem,” Chavand said. “I love everything that touches the environment and that’s something I want to continue as a wildlife photographer, or as someone that tries to engage with people about environmental concerns.”
Photography has taken Chavand across the world, with a trip to Badlands National Park in South Dakota standing out as a highlight.
“It was really cool to see all the beauty of the landscape, but also to see how fragile the ecosystem can be. Being so close to wild animals, it was just a magical place to be,” Chavand said.
Near his home in France, a photoesque background inspires Chavand’s work.
“We’re surrounded by mountains and you can quickly see the challenge with climate change. You can see everything changing very quickly in the landscape. And I think that’s what pushed me to do photography and build environmental awareness in the community because you can see from home what is changing around you,” Chavand said.
Finding beauty in Normal
While Chavand is at ISU, where he majors in political science with minors in environmental studies and geography, stunning scenery is harder to come by than in his homeland. The flatness of Central Illinois is hard to compare to Chavand’s journeys to Italy, Costa Rica and the French Alps.
But he prides himself on capturing everything the environment has to offer, regardless of the location.
“That’s the challenge I was also looking for,” Chavand said. “When it sounds like you don’t have a lot around you, what can you do and what species can you find? And you quickly realize that even if on paper it doesn’t look like there is a lot around you, there is a lot of nature and natural species around you. And we just don’t really think about it, but there is a lot of life around us.”
Chavand’s work can be found on his website and on his Instagram account. While wildlife photography is the focus for Chavand, he also takes graduation and couples photos.
Standout student-athlete
All of the work Chavand puts into photography is balanced with the commitments that come with being a Division-I athlete. It helps that whether he is taking photos or running, Chavand can spend time doing what he loves: being in nature.
“It’s not easy. You don’t have a lot of free time. And when you’re in your routine, it’s kind of hard to balance between everything you have going on,” Chavand said. “It’s one of my priorities every day to run, to go outside regardless of if I’m taking pictures or not.”
Chavand has found a harmony between his passions that has allowed him to stand out in both. Building on a Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year season in 2022, Chavand stepped up to earn NCAA All-Region accolades in 2023.
With a time of 24 minutes and 12 seconds at the Loyola Lakefront meet, Chavand had the fifth-best finish in program history for an 8,000-meter race. Beginning with that performance on Sept. 29, he led the Redbirds in their final four races of the season.
Illinois State’s Mathis Chavand runs during the Redbird Invite. Chavand was named the Missouri Valley Conference Runner of the Week after helping the Redbirds to a ninth-place finish at the Bradley Pink Classic.
“It was a good season overall — a good start with a pretty young team. The goal was to focus on team score all the time,” Chavand said.
“I’m just super excited about the progress I did and also the about the progress the team did over the season,” Chavand continued.
Chavand helped ISU to a fourth-place finish in the MVC in 2023 with help from fellow First Team All-MVC honoree Zack Loomis.
“It was good having (Chavand) to workout with because that helped me get better runnings and him too. We were just pushing each other every day. It benefited the both of us,” Loomis said.
“We’re running for each other. Yeah it is individual, but we’re running for each other, not necessarily individually,” Loomis continued.
As track season comes around for Chavand, ISU head coach Jeff Bovee knows the confidence and experience built in the cross country season will help his runner peak in the spring.
“Now that he was able to, at the Midwest Regional, race against Oklahoma State —who just won the NCAA title — and he’s able to size up some of the best runners in the NCAA right now and see himself there, that kind of confidence you can’t get from just good workouts and good training,” Bovee said.
Mathis Chavand runs in the 2023 NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 10 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
The spring season will give Chavand a chance to race in a variety of distance events and showcase his range from the mile up to the 5-kilometer race. ISU plans to try him at different events to see where he fits best.
“Being the first Valley finisher at the Regional,” Bovee said. “That shows his development. And I really wish he would have gotten an opportunity to race at Nationals because I think that would have been another stepping stone. But I think he’s still got so much out of that Regional and it’s gonna be an exciting thing.”
