Keegan Cordova has been a staple in the distance running sports at Platte County for the past three-plus years.
He was part of the school-record and first-place finishing 4x800-meter relay team last spring for the Pirates. He also earned an all-state medal on the 4x400-meter relay and in the 800-meter run.
In cross country, he recently took 18th place at the Suburban Conference Blue Division meet and advanced to the sectional race after making the cut through districts.
His talents drew the interest of many Division II schools, but he ultimately decided to run for Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Cordova and his family used the NCSA recruiting website to get his name out there and he had his mind set on running at a Division II program. CSU-P joined Colorado-Colorado Springs, South Dakota School of Mines and Division I St. Louis University in showing interest in Cordova.
“It was kind of a process, but I ended up running to go to Division II,” Cordova said. “I wanted to run pretty competitively, but still focus on academics.”
He hopes to work with prosthetic limbs after college, so he is considering a few majors at the time.
He visited the Pueblo school, a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, in the summer for a tour and went on an official visit this fall. His main focus there will be the track and field team, but he will also run cross country. He will have to adjust to a higher altitude with elevation of nearly 5,000 feet — a stark difference from here.
“I love the campus, the coaches and the team,” Cordova said. “I was pretty set to go there, then I got an offer. I got family right there so it all seemed to fit together where it should be.”