University of Denver Athletics

Jax Heil wrapped up his second season as the assistant coach of the University of Denver triathlon team in 2024-25 after being hired to the position on July 18, 2023. He was the first assistant coach in program history under the direction of head coach Barbara Perkins. He was hired as the head girls cross country coach at the Regis Jesuit High School in Denver on Feb. 7, 2025.
 
Heil joined the Pioneers with a background in marathon running and competing in sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons. He has also paced half marathons and have qualified for both the Boston and Chicago Marathons.
 
In his first season at Denver, he helped the squad to a fourth-place overall finish and freshman Maira Carreau to an individual national title at the 2023 Collegiate National Championships in Tempe, Arizona. In 2024, Heil helped Carreau earn her second consecutive first team All-American award and the team place in the top five at nationals.
 
Prior to coming to DU, Heil spent the previous two-plus years as a track and cross country coach at the high school and middle school level in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served as the Ottawa Hills High School Cross Country and Track Field Coach from 2022-2023. Before that, Heil was the head cross country coach at West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science for one season in fall 2021. He credits his time at Ottawa Hills with crafting his coaching philosophy and helping him recognize the massive impact mental skills have on endurance sports.
 
The Kalamazoo, Michigan, native graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Calvin University in Grand Rapids in 2021, and he earned his Master of Social Work, Organization and Community Leadership in May 2023 from Michigan State University. Heil was a John M. Perkins Leadership Fellow and a Presidential Fellow at Calvin and was an Advocacy Scholar and Research Scholar at MSU.
 
At DU, he was also working toward his Doctorate Degree in Social Work and received a Graduate Education Doctorial Fellowship.
 
Heil worked for three years as an Associate Consultant for DataWise Consulting in Grand Rapids prior to his move to Denver. Leading research projects for various non-profit, religious and governmental entities, Heil was also the go-to qualitative researcher at DataWise, which is a social science research evaluation firm.