VESTAL, N.Y. –  The Binghamton Division of Athletics has announced that 2021 alum and recent Olympian Emily Mackay will be the featured speaker at the 20^th Annual Celebrating Women's Athletics Luncheon (CWAL), presented by M&T Bank on Feb. 24. The event will begin at noon at the Events Center on campus.

Mackay – who is the first Binghamton alum to be the featured speaker at the CWAL event – graduated as a five-time track and cross country All-American and has become one of the top women's middle distance runners in the nation. This past summer, she qualified for the Paris Olympics in the women's 1,500 and advanced to the semifinal round. Earlier in the year, Mackay was the bronze medalist in the 1,500 at the World Indoor Championships.

Mackay's illustrious running career started at nearby Union-Endicott High School, where she graduated in 2016. She set the New York State (NYS) Section 4 records in both the 1,500 and 3,000 and qualified for the 2014 Nike National Cross Country Meet.

In 2017, Mackay transferred to Binghamton from Oregon State, where she had attended as a freshman. Three years later, she earned the first of her five United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-America honors when she placed 14^th overall at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. From there, Mackay earned four All-America honors in track & field and capped her collegiate career with a sixth-place finish in the 1,500 at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Since signing professionally with New Balance Boston in June 2022, Mackay's career has continued to blossom. In 2023, she become just the 13^th American female to break the four-minute mark in the 1,500. Her current lifetime best time of 3:55.90 ranks third all time in U.S. Women's Track & Field history.

The Celebrating Women's Athletics Luncheon event has raised more than $500,000 to support the BBA Scholarship Fund. In 2024, BBAA Scholarships were awarded to 10 student-athletes.  

Mackay is the latest of an impressive group of guest speakers at the CWAL event. She is preceded by Angel McCoughtry (2024), Dottie Pepper (2023), Nancy Hogshead-Makar (2022), Breanna Stewart (2021), Suzyn Waldman (2020), Joan Benoit-Samuelson (2019), Shannon Boxx (2018), Swin Cash (2017), Amy Van Dyken (2016), Rebecca Lobo (2015), Jennie Finch (2014), Shannon Miller (2013), Amanda Beard (2012), Julie Foudy (2011), Kara Lawson (2010) and Jessica Mendoza (2009).

Individual tickets are $70, and a table sponsorship is $650, which accommodates up to 10 guests and access to the meet and greet event which precedes the luncheon.

Click here to purchase tickets online.

There are also various levels of sponsorship opportunities, including tables of 10, video board and program advertisements, as well as other benefits.  Sponsors can also purchase tables to be donated to Binghamton University athletic teams or local school districts in support of our community.