Stacy Keibler to Host Preakness InfieldFEST

Actress/model and former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler, a Rosedale native who studied dance in Dundalk, has signed on to be a part of the Preakness Stakes experience, the Maryland Jockey Club announced.

Keibler, 31, took classes at Jean Kettell Studio of Dance in Dundalk, studying jazz, tap and ballet.

She will be introducing the performers on the main stage and interacting with the crowd in the beer garden as the official “celebrity host” of Preakness InfieldFEST, a role she performed in 2009.

Keibler, a Catholic High graduate, attended Towson University and was a Baltimore Ravens cheerleader before getting her start in pro wrestling, or sports entertainment, as it is often called today.

Keibler beat out 300 other dancers to win a nationwide contest to earn a spot as a “Nitro Girl” with World Championship Wrestling in 1999. She eventually joined WWE in 2001, and performed there the next five years. She then competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2006, taking third place.

Keibler’s other TV credits include stints on George Lopez, How I Met Your Mother, Chuck and Psych. She also recently made a guest appearance on WWE’s Tough Enough, a reality show whose winner earns a WWE contract. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Stacy back to the 136th Preakness,” Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas said in a statement. “She is a classic local girl done good, whose hometown roots and love for Baltimore remain strong, though she now enjoys a very successful and international career in film and television.

"She was voted the most popular celebrity in Baltimore by the citizens of Maryland in a recent Baltimore Sun poll, so we are delighted to have her back at the state’s largest single-day sporting event.”