Solebury Township’s Fiona McKenna placed fourth among all entrants in the heptathlon at the USA Track & Field (USATF) Junior Olympic National Championships, scoring 4,642 points, at historical Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Held this year on the campus of the University of Oregon, the track and field meet for 7- to 18-year-olds ran from July 23 to July 30.
The heptathlon, contested over two days, includes 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter sprint, long jump, javelin, and ends with an 800-meter run. McKenna notched personal bests in five events during the competition and said she was most pleased with the five-second improvement in her 800-meter time. The 800-meter run is the final event of the grueling two-day competition and McKenna’s record-best time jumped her up in the standings by two places. “I knew I had to beat several other really good girls by a couple of seconds in the 800 to finish well, so I just went out with the fastest girl in the race and stayed with her,” she said.
McKenna is coached by former Olympian Lawrence Johnson of Team VA, based in Ambler.
McKenna, a 2023 high school graduate, will attend Columbia University in New York City in the autumn and her USATF Junior Olympic Nationals score breaks the existing Columbia all-time heptathlon record of 4,551 by almost 100 points.
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