BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—One of the great middle distance runners in Villanova history was in peak form on Saturday evening as graduate McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) finished third in the women's 800 meters at the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Birmingham Crossplex. It is he highest career finish at any NCAA meet for Keegan, whose time of 2:02.70 is the second-fastest indoors in school history. Keegan will become a six-time All-American when those honors are officially announced next week.
 
The national championship race on Saturday was a thrilling one and came down to a furious sprint to the finish in the final 100 meters. Keegan passed four runners during the final lap of the race, gaining momentum on the back straightaway and then tearing around the final turn with an incredible kick to surge from seventh place to third in the pack of eight runners. She was still gaining steam in her final strides towards the finish line and wound up nearly breaking the Wildcats indoor record in the 800 meters. As it is, Keegan now holds five of the 10 fastest indoor times in the Villanova record book.
 
This is the second straight year that Keegan has qualified for the final of the 800 meters at the indoor NCAA Championships. She finished fourth at last year's national meet and moved up one spot this year to notch her first top-three national finish. Keegan is a four-time All-American in the 800 meters and previously earned two All-America honors as part of the Wildcats distance medley relay squad earlier in her career. Villanova has had eight top-three indoor finishes in the 800 meters all-time; Keegan is the first since her former teammate Siofra Cleirigh Buttner was second in 2018.
 
Saturday's time of 2:02.70 beat Keegan's previous indoor PR by more than three-quarters of a second. She ran 2:03.48 earlier this year at the Husky Invitational in Seattle to secure her spot at the NCAA Championships. Keegan came within less than a quarter of a second of Cleirigh Buttner's indoor school record of 2:02.46 set during the final of the 800 meters at the 2018 NCAA Championships. The pair of former teammates now combine for the 11 fastest indoor 800 meters times in program history.
 
The third place finish for Keegan on Saturday scored six team points for Villanova, which finished in a tie for 28^th place out of the 59 teams that scored points at this year's NCAA meet. It is the 35^th time in the 39 years that the meet has been held – and the 13^th year in a row – that the Wildcats have scored team points. At this year's meet Keegan's finish made Villanova the only BIG EAST women's or men's team to place in the team standings.