Rock Island Today

An Augustana track-and-field athlete, Keith Sands, recently added to his list of awards, receiving an NCAA postgraduate scholarship.

Sands received the scholarship, which awards $7,500 to "student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in the final year of intercollegiate athletics competition."

Augustana Track Runner Keith Sands | Augustana Athletics website

Sands graduated from Augustana on May 22 with a 3.78 grade point average, double-majoring in mathematics and secondary education. He won the CCIW 3000-meter steeplechase in an exciting race, coming from behind after the final barrier for a narrow victory in a meet-record 9:02.56. The victory, along with a third-place finish in the 5000, helped the Vikings win the team championship by 3.5 points. He then finished fifth in the steeplechase at the NCAA Division III Championships in Waverly, Iowa, winning all-American honors.

Sands was a national qualifier in the steeplechase in 2014 and won the CCIW 5000-meter in his freshman year of 2013 -- and was named Augustana's Most Valuable Freshman. He won letters all four years of track and field, as well as in cross country, where he was a three-time MVP. He also was a top-10 finisher at the CCIW Championship for four straight years and won the Western Illinois Invitational twice. He finished eighth at the 2015 NCAA Regional and 53rd at the national meet in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

Excelling in the classroom, Sands was an 11-time all-conference winner, as well as a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection in track for 2014. He also won the fall 2015 Jack Swartz Award.

Sands is the 37th Augustana Postgraduate Scholar since Jeff Maurus first won it in 1968, and the 18th Viking to win the award in the last 10 years. He is the ninth of Coach Paul Olsen's athletes to receive the award -- and seven of those were since 2010. In 2015, two of Augustana's track athletes, David Voland and David Devore, won the award.