Perhaps no other athlete from Dallas Baptist University has produced a more decorated career than Kelsey Bruce, a senior from Brackettville, Texas, who recently capped off her final season at DBU with a trip to the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships in November. Dating back to when she first arrived on campus as a freshman in 2011 and won the Heartland Conference’s Cross County Championship, Bruce has experienced unprecedented success in both Cross Country and Track & Field.
During that stretch, Bruce has won four consecutive Heartland Conference Cross Country titles, advancing twice to the National Championships, made back-to-back trips in 2014 and 2015 to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5,000 meter run and consecutive trips to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. To top it all off, Bruce was also named an Academic All-American in June of 2015.
Bruce, who won state titles in both Cross Country and the two-mile as a senior at Brackett High School, was drawn to DBU in the recruiting process and intrigued by the program that Patriots’ Head Coach Jacob Phillips was building. “I liked the fact that Coach Phillips preached a blue-collar work ethic and the belief he had in his team,” Bruce said. “I also knew that by coming to DBU, I was going to grow spiritually as well and that was very important to me,” Bruce said.
Phillips, who took over the program at DBU in 2005, has taken that blue-collar approach and led the Lady Patriots Cross Country Team to nine consecutive Heartland Conference titles. Combined with his workmanlike approach, Phillips’ upbeat personality and ability to motivate were also huge draws for Bruce coming out of high school. “He’s so charismatic and always on the go,” Kelsey remarked. “From day one, he’s always taught that hard work combined with talent leads to great things and I knew that I wanted to be a part of what he was building at DBU.”
With the DBU Women’s Cross Country Team coming off their fourth straight conference title in 2010, Phillips knew Bruce would be the right fit to help lift DBU to the national stage. “She was the best athlete we had recruited up to that point and I knew she would be very good,” said Phillips. “During the recruiting process, we had talked about being at the NCAA Championships and I always believed that she would be a national-caliber type of athlete. She didn't want to come into a program and just waste her four years; she wanted to make the most of them, both academically and athletically.”
As Bruce competed in her freshman season at DBU, it was a humbling experience in a Cross Country race at the University of Texas that proved to be a springboard for her career. After collapsing and not finishing the race, Kelsey recalls the moment as becoming a game-changer to her approach. “I had to commit to the training plan Coach Phillips had set out. I had never run nine miles before for a workout, but I was not going to be content in losing and feeling the way I felt after that race,” Bruce stated. That moment proved to change Bruce’s training regiment, who now runs up to 18 miles in her workouts, and the results were soon to follow.
While Bruce went on to earn All-American honors and was named the Heartland Conference’s Runner of the Year in all four seasons of her career, it is Bruce’s nature to deflect the notoriety to those around her, starting with her head coach. “Coach Phillips goes above and beyond in all that he does and he helped me to accomplish dreams that I just considered to be dreams,” Bruce remarked. “He helped me to learn how much I love running and so much of the credit for what I was able to accomplish truly goes to him.”
As DBU entered the 2014 season, the decision was made by Phillips and Bruce to redshirt her during senior year. With a strong team expected to compete the following year and the regional championships for Cross Country moving from the high elevation in Colorado, back to Texas in 2015, Bruce spent the year in training. While the team was competing through their regular season schedule, Kelsey raced solo in several events. “That year made me realize how much I appreciated the season and my teammates. They’re my circle of friends and with them gone every weekend, it made me realize even more what they mean to me,” said Bruce.
When Bruce returned to competition with her teammates in 2015, she picked up right where she left off, winning her fourth straight league title. Bruce was also named the NCAA Division II National Runner of the Week, after finishing in first place at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Joplin, Missouri. Racing at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Canyon, Texas, Bruce won the Women’s 6k, leading the Lady Patriots to a fourth place overall finish and a trip to the NCAA National Championships.
In her final race at DBU, Bruce and the Lady Patriots finished as the No. 23 team in the country. As she crossed the finish line to capture a fourth place individual finish, thoughts of her career flashed through her mind. “It was pure joy,” Bruce stated. “As I thought back on my career at DBU since I arrived here in 2011, it couldn’t have gone any better. It’s very humbling and I’m so grateful to experience all that the Lord has done through the talents He’s blessed me with.”
As Phillips reflects back on Bruce’s career, he is amazed not just at what she accomplished on the track, but more importantly the impact she had on others. “Looking back over the four years, she went above and beyond just being a national-caliber athlete. Her running accolades are obviously very impressive and deserve note, but I think her biggest impact was being a leader; spiritually, academically, and athletically for our team,” Phillips said. “You know it's very special to win conference every year you run it and to qualify for the NCAA Championships and to set school records, but to do so while maintaining a plus 3.75 GPA and holding down a job and leading your team's Bible study, now that’s extraordinary.”
With Bruce’s collegiate career now etched in the DBU history books, the product from the small South Texas town of Brackettville, begins her life’s next chapter. Having graduated in May of 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Math and currently working on Masters of Arts in Teaching, Bruce still has goals to accomplish on the track. In early December at the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona, Bruce ran a 73.59 in the half marathon to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. On February 13, 2016, Bruce travels to Los Angeles, California, where she will race against the nation’s top marathon runners, vying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
As Bruce trains for the Olympic Trials and what could possibly be the start of a professional career, her focus remains not on herself, but on the plans God has in store for her. “I’m going to let the Lord lead me where He wants me to go,” Bruce said. “His plans are bigger than mine and I’m waiting to see what door He opens next.” Wherever that journey leads Bruce, her legacy at DBU is complete and she will forever be remembered as one of the greatest athletes in school history.