RALEIGH, N.C.—Senior middle distance runner McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) continued her remarkable 2021 competition season with a personal best time of 2:03.56 in the 800 meters at the Raleigh Relays on Saturday morning. She rounded out three days of competition for the Wildcats at Paul H. Derr Track at the annual meet hosted on the North Carolina State campus.
 
Keegan has lowered her lifetime best in the 800 meters three times in the last 16 days. Her current mark set on Saturday morning puts her onto the all-time Villanova performance list in eighth place and makes her the 10^th athlete in program history to break 2:04 in an open 800 meters during the collegiate indoor our outdoor season. Keegan had already been second on the Wildcats indoor performance list in the 800 meters after her time of 2:04.26 in the final at the indoor NCAA Championships just two weeks ago.
 
After going nearly three years without having officially raced outdoors in a Villanova singlet – Keegan redshirted the 2019 outdoor season as a junior and was a victim of the cancellation of the 2020 outdoor campaign – the past month has been a dazzling whirlwind of top times and elite performances for the fifth-year member of the Wildcats roster. The latest highlights came this weekend, as Keegan registered a personal best in the 400 meters on Friday afternoon and then came back less than 24 hours later with a new top time in the 800 meters on Saturday morning.
 
Keegan ran in the fastest of eight heats of the 800 meters and came in second both in the heat and in the overall standings. Her time was seven-tenths of a second than she ran in the final at the indoor championships on March 13 when she earned first team All-America honors with a seventh place finish. Keegan advanced to the final after running 2:04.56 – also a personal best at the time – in the semifinal heats at the NCAA meet on March 12. She qualified for the national championships with a raw time of 2:05.64 on a flat track at the University of Connecticut on March 27 (the mark was converted down to a qualifying time of 2:04.21).
 
In her 400 meter race on Friday afternoon, Keegan recorded a time of 54.80 to secure sole possession of ninth place on the all-time Villanova performance list in the event.