FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—Senior middle distance runner McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) recorded a lifetime best mark for the second time in as many days and finished seventh in the final of the 800 meters at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday evening. She posted a time of 2:04.26 in the final at Randal Tyson Track to mark the 17^th time that a Villanova runner has earned a top-eight finish at the indoor national championships.
 
The championship race in the 800 meters on Saturday evening was a blistering one which saw a meet record set, and the field of eight runners had already begun to string out after the first 400 meters rather than remain in a tight pack until the bell lap. Keegan was more than up to the task at hand, as she came through the first 400 meters in 59.55 and then closed with a furious finish to hold off the runner in eighth place. The seventh place showing is the best individual NCAA finish of Keegan's career.
 
In a span of less than 24 hours, Keegan tallied two of the eight fastest indoor times in the 800 meters in school history. Her time of 2:04.56 in the semifinal heats on Friday night was briefly seventh on that list, then slid to eighth when she eclipsed it in Saturday's race. She tallied her first career individual top-eight finish at the NCAA Championships after previously being a first team All-American in 2017 and 2019 as part of the Wildcats distance medley relay squad. Keegan's seventh place finish scored two team points for Villanova, who have now scored in each of the last 12 indoor NCAA meets dating back to 2009.
 
The uniqueness of the current season amidst a global pandemic has extra meaning for Keegan, who redshirted the 2019 outdoor collegiate season and ran unattached during the 2020 indoor campaign to sync up her remaining indoor and outdoor eligibility. She did compete in the Villanova lineup throughout the 2019 cross country season, but then saw the 2020 outdoor collegiate campaign wiped out by the COVID pandemic.
 
Keegan made her 2021 season debut at the Camel City Invitational last month and recorded a time of 2:07.67 in the 800 meters on an oversized flat track. She then competed at the Husky Field Event Challenge on February 27 and posted a raw time of 2:05.64 on a flat track which was converted to 2:04.21. That mark secured Keegan's spot at the NCAA Championships and also helped her be named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTCCCA) Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year.