Kelsey Bruce came to Midwestern State in 2021 after a stellar collegiate career and nearly five seasons as assistant coach at her alma mater -- Dallas Baptist.
Bruce raised the bar during her career at DBU earning United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association All-America honors on four occasions including in cross country in 2015, the steeplechase in 2014 and 2015 and the indoor 5,000-meter run in 2015. She also claimed four conference individual titles, while finishing among the top 10 in the United States Track & Field Road Championship on six occasions.
As an assistant coach, she is instrumental in helping head coach and mentor Jacob Phillips guide the Patriots to qualify for three NCAA national cross country meets (two times for the women and once for the men) and claim three conference titles. She helped direct one cross country All American and lead seven others to NCAA qualifying performances.
Bruce has been one of the premiere distance runners in the United States. She is a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier and represented Team USA in the 2019 IAAF World Championships. She also competed at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships and was the top American finisher in the Houston Marathon later in the same year.
Bruce holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Master's degree in Kinesiology from DBU where she held a dual role as assistant coach and admissions counselor since 2016. She also instructed Kinesiology classes at Dallas Baptist.
