EUGENE, Ore.—Senior middle distance runner McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) recorded a time of 2:04.48 in the third of three semifinal heats of the 800 meters and came in 13^th overall at the NCAA Championships on Thursday evening. Keegan placed fifth in her heat at Hayward Field and will now prepare for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the same site later this month.
 
The current season marks Keegan's first of outdoor competition since 2018 when she first put herself on the national stage by qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 800 meters as a sophomore. Keegan came full circle this spring after redshirting the 2019 outdoor campaign and having the 2020 season cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. She was an automatic qualifier through each of the first two national rounds of the 800 meters at the NCAA East Preliminary two weeks ago and returned to Eugene for the second time in her career.
 
It will be an extended stay in Oregon for Keegan, who will next race in the first round of the women's 800 meters on Thursday, June 24 in the Olympic trials. She earned her qualification with a lifetime best mark of 2:01.25 in the national quarterfinal heats at the NCAA East Preliminary two weeks ago.
 
Keegan competed in the slowest of the three semifinal heats on Thursday evening and would have needed to finish in the top two of the heat in order to advance to a final on Saturday afternoon. The top two finishers in each heat and the next two fastest times moved on, with each of the first two heats providing one of the on-time qualifiers.
 
After the first two heats went out with splits of 58.04 and 59.42, respectively, for the first lap, each of the eight runners in the final heat ran between 1:02.03 and 1:02.58 in their first trip around the Hayward Field oval. Keegan had nearly identical splits of 1:02.22 and 1:02.27 in her race and was less than a second off the needed pace to finish in the top two.
 
It has been a sensational season for Keegan with the looming Olympic trials a well-deserved opportunity. Keegan was named the Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year earlier this month after earning the same honor for the indoor season. She is only the second Villanova athlete to sweep the award indoors and outdoors in the same year. Keegan also posted the third-fastest time in school history in the 800 meters (2:01.25) at the NCAA East Preliminary. Her time ranked her seventh among the qualifiers for the national meet this week and is also the fastest collegiate season mark in the Wildcats record book.
 
Keegan was the BIG EAST champion in the 800 meters and anchored Villanova to a conference title in the 4x400 meter relay. During the season she posted a split of 52.67 on the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational. It is the fastest known split in school history on any leg of the 4x400 relay, with the only faster 400 meter splits by a Villanova runner coming in the distance medley relay.
 
The overall finish of 13^th place for Keegan in the semifinal round of the 800 meters on Thursday will earn her second team All-America recognition when those honors are officially announced next week. Keegan will become a five-time All-American during her collegiate career, including three times indoors and twice outdoors.