The cross-country and distance running coaches at Mississippi College have had a front-row seat to see BHS senior Collin Kellum compete over the last several years.

Kellum ran many a race for the Panthers at Choctaw Trails in west Jackson, the home course of Mississippi College cross-country.

The now former Panther will get plenty of opportunities to learn more about that running course as he recently signed a letter-of-intent to keep running next school year for the Mississippi College cross-country and track teams.

A key member of the Brookhaven High cross-country team, Keller was one of the top five runners on that squad that won a third straight MHSAA 5A state title in late 2021.

In the spring, Kellum ran distance events for the Panthers in track and field as BHS also took top honors in 5A boy’s track with another state championship.

He ran on a 4×800-meter relay team that won first place at the state track meet. At the state 5A cross-country meet in November, Keller finished 12th overall out of 111 runners.

The Choctaws compete at the NCAA Division II level as members of the Gulf South Conference.

Matthew Reneker serves as head coach at MC for cross-country and track and field. He’ll often work as the master of ceremonies on the mic when his team is hosting various cross-country meets through the year, meets that have been dominated by Kellum and his teammates of late.

BHS product Jacob Britt is a sophomore distance runner this season for the Choctaws.

Kellum played baseball and soccer while growing up but fell in love with cross-country as a freshman in high school and decided to solely focus on it in his later years.

BHS coach Shannon Knott, who leads the cross-country program and coaches the distance runners in track, has seen the perseverance put in by Kellum bear fruit.

“Collin has worked really hard the last few years and it has really paid off,” said Knott. “His cross-country and track times improved a lot and I’m excited to see his improvements in a great program at MC.”