University of Mary Athletics

Shandi Hertz-Kenna
Outstanding Athlete
Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country 1998-2002

Shandi Hertz-Kenna is a national champion and owner of a school record and numerous awards, whose individual and team athletic achievements at U-Mary spanned both indoor and outdoor track and cross country.
The signature moment for Shandi occurred in 2000, when the sophomore from New Leipzig, ND, won the marathon at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She continues to hold the U-Mary record in the event.

Shandi keyed several successful track and cross country teams in her four seasons at U-Mary, including 10 team conference championships. The Marauders cross country team placed fifth nationally in 1998 after winning the regional championships, eighth in 1999, and 16^th in 2001. The team captain as a senior, Shandi earned all-conference honors three times (1999, 2000, 2001) and all-region honors in 1998.  

An all-conference performer in both indoor and outdoor track each of her four years at U-Mary, Shandi was the ND College Athletic Conference 5,000 meter champion as a freshman in 1999. After winning the national title in the marathon in 2000, she qualified for the nationals in the half marathon in 2001 and again qualified for the NAIA national championships in her senior year of 2002 while serving as team captain. Shandi set school records in her career for the half marathon and the 5,000 meter run, both since broken.

The daughter of Kevin and Marcy Hertz of New Leipzig, Shandi followed the path of her older sister, Toby (Hertz) Rees (’96), to U-Mary, where Toby was an all-American in track and field and played basketball for the Marauders. Shandi earned a B.S. in biology from U-Mary in 2002, graduated from Northwestern Health Services University with a certificate in massage therapy in 2006, and was awarded a B.S. from Creighton University in 2007. Shandi is a registered nurse at the Bozeman Deaconess Hospital in Bozeman, MT, and married to Timothy Kenna.