Augustana College Athletics

One of the toughest things to try and figure out about Keli Coleman's career at Augustana was whether she was more impressive in the classroom or on the track. She certainly excelled in both arenas as she became a standard bearer for the practical definition of the term "student-athlete". She was a multiple All-American and conference champion for head coach Fred Whiteside and the Vikings track & field program, and she drew rave reviews from her professors as she navigated the tough pre-medicine program with the added twist of a minor in Spanish.
 
"Augustana challenged me to reach my academic and athletic goals and I had fun along the way," said Coleman. "There was never a dull moment with the track team and competing on Saturdays was one of my favorite memories by far. Thank you to teammates, coaches and competitors for pushing me to be my best."
 
She arrived on the Augustana campus in the fall of 2005 from Carmel High School in Mundelein, Illinois and the native of Grayslake, Illinois wasted little time making her presence felt. During the indoor season of 2006 she earned NCAA Division III All-America honors in the 55-meter dash with a sixth-place finish in :07.20. She also won the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin title in the 55 with a school record of :07.17 and she handled the second leg of the winning 4x200 relay team that recorded a time of 1:45.63.
 
When the action switched to the outdoor venue, her production didn't diminish a bit. She was voted the team's Most Valuable Freshman and she won the CCIW title in the 100 with a time of :12.21 and anchored the victorious 4x100 relay team in :48.12. She established a new school record in the 100 in :12.10 at the Viking Olympics and both the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams that she was on set new school marks as well. At the NCAA Division III National Outdoor Championships in Lisle, Illinois she placed ninth, one spot out of All-America status.
 
Sometimes, athletes who have the kind of success that Coleman had in the initial collegiate season tend to slack off a bit. There was no "sophomore slump" for the remarkably consistent young woman with the powerful stride and the constant look of determination on her face.
 
During the indoor season she set individual school records in both the 55 (:07.15) and 200 (:26.14) and helped the 4x200 relay team establish a new school mark with a time of 1:44.71. She repeated as the CCIW champion in the 55 and placed 10^th in the NCAA Championships. When it came to outdoors, she once again won the CCIW 100 and anchored the winning 4x100 relay as the Vikings placed second in the team race, less than 10 points out of first. The 4x100 relay broke the school record of :48.00 set in 2006 with a time of :47.89. She once again qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championship in both the 100 and 4x100 relay.
 
Coleman reclaimed NCAA Division III All-America status during the indoor season of her junior year in 2008 with a fifth-place finish in the 55 in :07.18 at the National Championship in Ada, Ohio.  She won the CCIW title again in the 55 in a new school record of :07.08 and, although she didn't win the 200, she established another school record with a clocking of :26.14. She shared the team Most Valuable Performer award with distance runner Liz Driscoll. At the end of the season, she was named by the CCIW as the winner of the Jack Swartz Award, which went to the student-athlete who best combined academic success with athletic achievement.
 
During the outdoor season in 2008 Coleman helped lead the Vikings to their first CCIW team title since 2001. Augustana scored 171 points and just nipped Wheaton (168) and Illinois Wesleyan (165) in a narrow battle at North Park in Chicago, Illinois. Coleman won the 100 and set another school record with a time of :11:96 in the preliminary rounds. She also qualified for the national meet in both the 100 and 200. She was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America team.
 
In her senior year indoors, she qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships in the 55 and repeated as both the team MVP and the Jack Swartz Award winner.
 
Coleman served as the team captain in the outdoor season and was once again a national meet qualifier, this time in the 4x100 relay. She won CoSIDA Academic All-America honors for a second consecutive year and earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
 
Her career was remarkable for both its consistency and depth. Coleman won a total of nine CCIW titles; three in the 55 indoors, three in the 100 outdoors, two in the 4x100 relay outdoors and one in the 4x200 indoors. Twice she earned NCAA Division III All-America honors and she set school records in the 55, 60, 200 and 4x200 relay indoors and the 100, 4x100 and 4x200 outdoors. To this day she still holds four school records (55 and 4x200 relay indoors and 100 and 4x200 relay outdoors).
 
Coleman took her remarkable academic pedigree to the Medical College of Wisconsin and received her Doctor of Medicine in 2014. That was followed by a Pediatric Residency in 2017 and a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship in 2020. She is currently a pediatric emergency physician for sick and injured children at a Level One trauma center (Children's Wisconsin) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She also is a clinical researcher with a focus on improving pediatric pain/anxiety treatment using innovative medical technology. She also teaches medical students, residents, physician assistants and fellows in training.
 
She is thankful for her Augustana experience, and she singled out biology professor Dr. Bob Tallitsch. "I met my favorite teacher, Bob Tallitsch, early in my academic career and took all his classes," she related. "To this day that still helps me as I care for patients."
 
Whiteside, who was her coach all four years, remembers the support from her family. "I don't think her parents ever missed a meet of hers," he said. Coleman acknowledged that as well. "Thank you to my amazingly supportive family for traveling miles to away meets despite sometimes terrible weather, just to watch me run for literally seconds on the track. They were the real MVPs in my college experience."