Olympic Dreams: Heather MacLean Runs Down Trip To Tokyo

PEABODY, MA — Heather MacLean stamped her ticket to Tokyo with less than a tenth of a second to spare.

The Peabody High and University of Massachusetts-Amherst alumna finished third in Monday night's Olympic Trials in the 1,500 meters from Eugene, Oregon to earn Team USA's final spot in the event for the 2021 Summer Olympic Games.

MacLean held off the fourth-place runner — Shannon Osika — by just nine-hundredths of a second for the final qualifying spot.

Elle Purrier St. Pierre got out fast and was never challenged on her way to a first-place run in 3:58.03. Cory McGee was second in 4:00.67 — setting up the battle between MacLean and Osika for third.

MacLean was able to hold off the hard-charging Osika for the final spot in Tokyo. The 25-year-old MacLean ran 4:02.09 with Osika a step behind in 4:02.18.

Watch the end of the race and MacLean's reaction to making the Olympic team here:

MacLean almost did not make the finals, but filed a successful protest that she was the victim of incidental contact that was no fault of her own in the semifinals.

A UMass All-American who graduated in 2017, she set schools records at Peabody High in the 400, 600 and 800 meters, and was part of the state champion girls cross country team.

She runs professionally for Team New Balance Boston.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)