McKay Finishes Eighth in 1500m at Canadian Olympic Team Trials
July 05, 2008 | Women's Track and Field
July 5, 2008
WINDSOR, Ont. - The University of Louisville's Tarah McKay set a new school record and finished eighth overall in the women's 1,500m run at the Canadian Olympic Trials Saturday at University of Windsor Stadium.
McKay, a native of St. Clements, Ont., finished with a personal best time of 4:21.81 to break the previous school record mark of 4:23.07 set by Bettina Bard in 1997. In Friday's preliminary round, McKay qualified 10th with a time of 4:23.91, which was a personal best time prior to Saturday's performance. The top three finishers in Saturday's final will represent Team Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics next month in Beijing, China.
Last month, McKay completed her sophomore season for U of L with her first ever bid to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. She finished 2008 with a pair of first-place finishes in the 1,500m and fifth-place finishes at the BIG EAST Championships and the NCAA Mideast Regional.
Overall, the Cards had five athletes pursuing the Olympic dream over the last nine days, including three athletes -- Tone Belt (men's long jump), Andre Black (men's triple jump) and Jere' Summers (women's discus) -- at the US Olympic Team Trials. Along with McKay, the Cards' Rudon Bastian (men's long jump) competed for a bid at an international qualifying event at last weekend's Bahamian Olympic Trials.
Up next, Louisville throwers D'Ana McCarty and Chinwe Okoro will represent Team USA at the IAAF World Junior Championships on July 8-13 in Poland. McCarty will compete in the women's hammer, while Okoro will compete in the women's shot put.
