OKLAHOMA CITY (April 24, 2022) – Former Oklahoma Christian cross country and track standout Bryant Keirns won the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on Sunday, the second straight year in which an OC graduate won one of the race's divisions.

Keirns won the 26.2-mile race under cloudy skies in a career-best time of 2:24:51, only two minutes off the OKC marathon record. From Wichita, Kan., Keirns now lives in Stillwater, where is a 28-year-old graduate student studying cardio-metabolic health at Oklahoma State.

"My best time was about 2:30 and I knew about 2:28 can usually win (the Memorial Marathon) and I thought I could run that," Kierns told The Oklahoman. "But you never know who is going to show up."

Keirns passed the race leader, Daniel Murphy of Norman, just before the 20-mile mark and pulled away. He beat the eventual runner-up, James Martinez of Bartlesville, by nearly eight minutes. Former OC cross country coach Mark Thompson finished fifth in 2:35.41.

"I took a risk and went for (the win) a bit earlier than I normally would otherwise," Keirns said. "When I first started doing marathons, I didn't think I would really ever win one."

Keirns starred for OC from 2012 to 2016. He earned CoSIDA Academic All-America first-team honors in track/cross country in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and received the OC athletic department's highest award the latter year, being named as Mr. Eagle.

At OC, Keirns also was a two-time National Christian College All-America honoree (2013, 2014), a six-time NCCAA Scholar-Athlete and a three-time All-Heartland Conference pick, finishing second in the NCAA Division II league's championship race in 2013 and 2014 and sixth in 2016.

Last October, former OC women's distance standout Layne Hammer won the 2021 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, but she didn't try to defend her title this year, choosing instead to run earlier this month in the prestigious Boston Marathon.

Another former OC runner, Kelsey Castillo – who served this past fall as a graduate assistant coach for the Eagles' cross country teams – placed third in the women's half-marathon with a time of 1:27.41. Former OC men's runner Trevor Talley finished second in the event's 5,000-meter race on Saturday with a time of 17:48.0.