Not many athletes get the opportunity to go out on top. Kelley Wilder '93, however, did get that chance and she made the most of it.
During her senior season, the Kenyon distance runner swept the Division III national titles in the 1,500-meter race at both the Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Championship meets.
Wilder claimed the first of those two titles on Saturday, March 13, 1993 in Brunswick, Maine, where Bowdoin College hosted the national indoor meet. As the race went on, Wilder maintained her spot
just a step or two behind leader Renae Brown of St. Olaf College. When the runners approached their final lap, Wilder kicked into her final gear, passed Brown and left everyone else behind to win the race in a Kenyon record time of 4:36.23, a mark that still stands today.
"When I passed the St. Olaf girl, I knew she wasn't going to catch me. She was struggling," Wilder told the Kenyon Collegian. "I was worried about the two girls behind me from Cortland State… I've never run so scared in my life."
A little more than two months later, Wilder pulled off the repeat at the outdoor national meet, hosted by Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. During Friday evening's slate of championship events, Wilder placed fifth in the 3,000-meter race. She returned to the track the next day (Saturday, May 29) to win the 1,500-meter race in a time of 4:37.65. Wilder held off runner-up Lesley Krush of University of Mary Washington and a familiar face in Brown from St. Olaf, who wound up in fourth place.
Pulling off the repeat was impressive, but in doing so Wilder also accomplished something never done before at Kenyon. She paired her track and field All-America awards with her cross country All-America award to become the College's first All-American in three different sports.
Wilder, a native of Victor, New York, ended up participating in seven national championship meets (three in cross country, two in indoor track and field, and two in outdoor track and field). She completed her Kenyon career with a total six All-America awards across the three sports and was named an Academic All-American in both her junior and senior seasons.
One year after her graduation, Wilder's name was attached to the new Kenyon track and field facility, dedicated in 1994. Ten years after her graduation, Wilder was inducted into the Kenyon Athletics Hall of Fame.
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