Mackay’s Professional Career Taking Off
Former BU All-American reels of string of victories during current outdoor season; also 100th American woman sub-4:30 in the Mile
By David O'Brian, Binghamton University Athletics
VESTAL, N.Y. – To say that Emily Mackay's professional track & field career is off to a great start would be an understatement. Running for Team New Balance Boston, the five-time Binghamton All-American has already recorded a handful of victories and is emerging as a top distance runner in the nation.
This past weekend, Mackay won the 1500 at the Elliott Denman New Jersey Invitational, which was held at Monmouth University. Her personal-best time of 4:01.52 is currently the fourth-fastest performance by an American woman so far this season.
Two weeks, earlier, at the LA Grand Prix, Mackay won the same event with a time of 4:07.03 – which at the time was her personal-best performance.
Personal record performances have been routine for Mackay in her first full year as a professional. At the May 6th Track Fest, her 5000 time of 15:14.31 knocked 28 seconds off her previous-best time.
Perhaps her biggest milestone, however, came in February when she clocked a 4:26.09 indoor Mile. In the process, she became just the 100th U.S. woman ever to break the 4:30 Mile mark.
At the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque this past March, she earned a bronze medal in the 3000 with a time of 8:40.75. It was her PR by 13 seconds.
Up next for Mackay is the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, which will be held July 6-9 at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Between March 2021-June 2022, Mackay had the most impressive run by any Binghamton female athlete during the program's 22-year NCAA Division I Era. She was 14th overall at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in March 2021 and followed up with a seventh-place finish in the 5000 at the NCAA Outdoor Meet the following June.
Mackay qualified for her second consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championships in November 2021 and made the NCAA indoor meet in both the Mile and 3000 the following March. She then capped her career off with a sixth-place finish in the 1500 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June 2022.
