Pistols Firing: OSU Training Partners Win OKC Memorial Marathon

Bryant Keirns                                                                     McKale Montgomery

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – There will be celebrations in Stillwater after two Cowboys took the top spots in the 22nd Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

Throughout the race, OSU assistant professor McKale Montgomery took the lead and never looked back.

Montgomery crossed the finish line with a preliminary time of 2:41:06.

Her average pace for the whole race was listed at 6:09 a mile.

With Montgomery’s finish, she set a new course record for the women’s race.

The men’s side of the race had more drama than the women’s.

Daniel Murphy took the early lead in the race, but lost it to Bryant Keirns near the 20-mile mark.

Keirns was able to cross the finish line at 9:54 a.m. with a final time of 2:08:35. His average pace was listed at 4:56 a mile.

Once the race was finished, we learned that Montgomery and Keirns are training partners at Oklahoma State University. While Montgomery is a professor in the nutrition department, Keirns is a graduate student.

While Keirns said he knew Montgomery would finish strong, she had no idea that her training partner won the men’s race.

While being interviewed by KFOR’s Tara Blume, Montgomery found out the news.

“Did Bryant win? That’s my training partner! Go Bryant! Go Pokes!” Montgomery said.

“That was our goal! That’s awesome!” she added.

Montgomery says over the past two years, they probably has completed over 2,000 miles of training.

“He ran a fantastic race in Houston in January and I told him, he knew my goal all year has been to win at Oklahoma City and I said, ‘That’s your goal now too.’ And he kinda got a surprised look on his face and he started to believe. And I knew he had it,” she said.

She says their next goal together is to head to the Olympic trials in 2024.