Drury University Athletics

Kelsey Ward is a native of St. Charles, Missouri where she attended Fort Zumwalt North High School for three years before graduating from the American International School of Vienna.  After one year in Austria Kelsey entered Drury in the fall of 2007.  She graduated from Drury with a Bachelor of Arts on May 14, 2011.  From the fall of 2007 to the spring of 2011 Kelsey carved out one of the most spectacular college careers imaginable for a student-athlete.  That was confirmed by her being named the recipient of the Walt Byers Postgraduate Scholarship, considered the most prestigious scholarship given to a student-athlete by the NCAA.  The Walt Byers Scholarship is given annually to one female athlete and one male athlete, with nominees coming from all three divisions of the NCAA.  In essence, the recipient is the individual who is considered to be the top student-athlete in the nation.  Meet Kelsey Ward.

Kelsey was part of the Panther swimming/diving teams which won three consecutive NCAA-II National Championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Panthers finished second in the nation her freshman year. An integral part of the Panther success all four years, Kelsey earned NCAA-II Swimming All-America honors 19 times and won nine national titles.  Five of those national titles established new NCAA-II national records.  At the 2011 national meet, held in San Antonio, Texas, Kelsey punctuated her four-year career by anchoring the Drury 400 free relay team and setting a new NCAA-II national record (3:19.75). She also swam the final leg of three relay teams that finished second in the nation: the 200 free relay; the 200 medley relay; and, the 400 medley relay.  Individually, Kelsey finished in the top 10 in the nation in the 50-yard freestyle; the 100-yard freestyle; and, sixth in the 200-yard freestyle.  Her team’s captain as a senior, she was one of the nation’s top freestyle sprinters her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

A Biology and Chemistry major, Kelsey earned a minor in Global Studies and completed her academic studies with a 3.9769 cumulative grade point average.  Kelsey was named to the Drury University Dean’s List every semester (3.6 gpa minimum); received the Judge Warren White Award (freshmen who achieve a 4.0 grade point); named the Chemistry Department’s Outstanding Freshman; earned College Swim Coaches’ Association of America (CSCAA) Academic All-America honors all four years; and, twice was nominated for NCAA Elite 88 honors.  In addition to her academic and athletic accomplishments while at Drury, Kelsey was involved in many community activities.  One organization in which she was particularly involved was Champions Committed to Kids.  Kelsey was also involved in other community and campus organizations such as the American Cancer Society; The Special Olympics; The American Red Cross; Drury’s Habitat For Humanity and she served as her team’s representative for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

It was for this combination of success in the pool and in the classroom, along with her community service, that warranted her being nominated for NCAA Women of the Year honors and her being the 2012 recipient of the Walt Byers Scholarship as the top female student-athlete in the nation.  Kelsey received her MD degree last year from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is currently in her second year of OB-GYN residency training at the University of Colorado Hospital.

For her accomplishments as one of the finest student-athletes ever to grace the Drury campus, Kelsey is joined today by family and friends on her induction into the Drury University Sports Hall of Fame on this day: Saturday, November 26, 2016.