Heather MacLean is starting to feel like herself again … and that’s starting to show up on the track.
The 30-year-old track star from Peabody finished in eighth place in the women’s 1500 final at the USATF outdoor national championships in New York on Saturday afternoon. She clocked a 4:11:49, which was just two second outside the top five and five seconds off winner Nikki Hiltz’ 4:06.92.
It was a successful weekend for MacLean, the Peabody High graduate, All-American at UMass Amherst and Olympic qualifier. After the race, she posted on Instagram that she’s “always hungry for more but really happy to have turned a corner.”
In the first round of 1500 competition on Thursday, MacLean clocked a 4:04.51 to easily make the cut for the finals, which featured 12 of the best American women’s middle distance runners. She also ran in the 800 on Friday, attempting a difficult double and running 2:02.16 to finish seventh in her heat.
With the outdoor nationals in the rearview, MacLean will look to build on her performance for the rest of the summer in various pro track competitions around the world.