KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- John Brown University senior Anna Keys has qualified for the 44th Annual Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in the 1,500 meter event, the NAIA National Office announced Wednesday (May 14) morning.
Keys, making her first-career appearance on the national stage, enters the championships seeded 19th with a qualifying time of 4:46.94, achieved at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships with a silver medalist performance.
"Anna has put in the work we needed from her in order to make her nationals debut," said assistant coach Ben Ledbetter. "The massive improvements we've seen at the peak of each season prove she deserves to be there."
The national meet will be held May 21-23 at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind. Keys will compete in the preliminary round on Wednesday, May 21, at 2:50 p.m., with the top 12 times advancing to Friday's final scheduled for 1 p.m.
Keys' path to nationals reflects a steady progression throughout her career. After opening her junior campaign with times in the mid-5:00 range, she steadily improved to record a season-best 4:49.38 at the Arkansas Twilight. Her swan song season followed a similar pattern of strategic development, culminating in her breakthrough performance at the conference championships.
The middle distance specialist will face a competitive field led by British Columbia's Holly MacGillivray, who enters as the top seed with a time of 4:21.09, and Milligan's (Tenn.) Ellen-Mary Kearney (4:21.46).
Ledbetter sees potential for Keys to surprise her higher-seeded competitors: "Anna has a huge chance to upset some runners in the prelims who think they have an easy path to the final. They don't know how she hunts down competitors in the last 100 meters."
Keys becomes the second Golden Eagle in as many seasons to qualify for nationals in the women's 1,500 meters, joining Cera Eckenroth's efforts in 2024. Eckenroth missed qualifying for the final by just 3.34 seconds.
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