University of Mary Athletics

The first University of Mary runner to win an NCAA Division II cross country national championship, Jennifer (Agnew) Keller wrapped up a stellar career with a dominant effort in the final race of a career which included five NCAA All-American honors and three Northern Sun individual titles.
 
A native of Onamia, MN, and a product of the town’s high school, Keller and her twin sister Melissa arrived at the University of Mary in the fall of 2009 and hit the trail running with the cross country team before competing in track & field.
 
Keller made her mark in grueling distance events, earning her first all-conference honors in the steeplechase in 2011 as a sophomore. She made noise nationally the next fall as the team captain picked up All-American honors for the first time at the NCAA cross country national championships by placing 26^th in the country and helping the team to a 5^th place finish. She claimed another All-American honor in spring 2012 in the steeplechase. Unable to race in the 2012 cross country season due to injury, Keller concluded her track career in spring 2013 by earning All-American recognition indoors in the 5,000 meter run and outdoors once again in the steeplechase (3^rd), an event in which she also won the NSIC title.
 
Back for her final cross country season in 2013, Keller dominated the competition on her way to claiming the Northern Sun and Central region titles while earning athlete of the week honors nationally (once) and in the NSIC (twice). At the NCAA championships Keller controlled the race from the start. Never seriously challenged, she won the title by over 11 seconds, despite nearly stopping at one point to pick up her timing chip after it fell off her shoe. Keller was named the USTFCCCA Division II Cross Country National Women’s Athlete of the Year and was a CWSA Honda Cup nominee for her efforts.  
 
Keller finished her Marauders career as a 5-time NCAA All-American and an 11-time All-NSIC runner who was part of six championship teams. As part of the Northern Sun’s 25 year anniversary in 2017, both Keller and her sister Melissa were selected as one of the NSIC’s top 25 female athletes in league history.
 
The daughter of Marge and Scott Agnew, the 5-time Academic All-American and NCAA post-graduate scholarship recipient graduated from the University of Mary in 2013 with a degree in Exercise Science before continuing to get her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at UMary in 2016. She is a physical therapist and the director of the rehab and wellness programs at the Heart of America Medical Center in Rugby, ND. Jennifer and her husband Joshua are the parents of Leo, Sam and Eva.