Months after her college graduation, track star Maggi Congdon has made massive strides in her running career. 

The Northern Arizona University graduate signed a professional deal in June and in just her second meet, wearing the famed Nike “Swoosh,” Congdon qualified to represent the U.S. and her hometown of Steamboat Springs in the women’s 800-meter race at the World Athletics Championships. 

“It seemed like something I would be working toward for the next few years,” the 23-year-old said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting it to happen so quick. It was pretty incredible to see I am already capable of that and it just made me really excited to be able to compete on that level this early in my career.” 

To earn her Worlds qualification, Congdon first had to ace a trio of races in the U.S.A. Track and Field Outdoor National Championships in Eugene, Oregon, over the weekend. 

In the opening round of 32 on Thursday, only five runners would fail to advance. The top-six from each of four heats reach Friday’s semi-final race. 

Congdon elected to conserve energy and run just hard enough to qualify for the second round. She held fourth-place in her heat for most of the race, moving up to third in the last 100 meters. 

The second round was when reality struck. The remaining 27 runners would soon be whittled down to nine — the top two from each of three heats and the next three fastest times overall would advance to the final.

Congdon stuck to the middle of the pack in her heat and said she was getting boxed in. She managed to find a hole in the final 100 meters, kicking in just in time for a new personal best of 1 minute, 58.42 seconds, and second in her heat. Congdon was off to finals. 

Following a day off filled with rest, a 20-minute jog and physical therapy, finals day arrived on Sunday and a top-three finish would mean a ticket punched to the world competition. 

Congdon said she had the thought of a top-three in the back of her mind as she approached the start line, but tried to stay focused on enjoying the run and taking in the moment. 

Placed in Lane 2, she recognized the pros and cons of her starting position. The benefit was having the majority of runners in front of her from the sound of the gun. She could gauge the speeds of runners ahead and keep up with the pack. 

The negative, however, was having all of those runners from the outside lanes cut in on top of her after the first 100 meters of the race. Congdon fell to the back of the pack. 

“I was expecting it to run pretty fast, I was ready for that,” she explained. “We ended up going out pretty slow the first lap. I knew it was going to wind up pretty quick into the second lap. One of my main goals was to go out into a good position, which didn’t end up happening.” 

Congdon stayed calm and settled in at the back through the first of two laps. She did not want to waste any energy until it was time to kick. 

On the final lap, she squeezed through spaces as they became available and slowly picked off those ahead of her one-by-one. 

On the final stretch, girls next to Congdon got tripped up. The bumping opened a space for her to sprint around and she took off. Full speed ahead. 

“I think I was in sixth place so I had to go,” Congdon said. “I got to the (finish) line and was in shock. I looked up at the results and kept double-checking. It definitely did not feel real. I think I had allowed myself to believe it was possible but didn’t expect it. I was pretty surprised.”

Congdon came in second. Her time of 1:59.39 was one-tenth of a second quick enough to get to the podium and qualify for the World Athletics Championships. 

Worlds take place Sept. 13-21 in Tokyo. The women’s 800-meter race is in the latter half of the event, giving Congdon roughly six weeks to prepare. 

She plans to take this week to reset and go back into normal training in a few days. She is considering competing in another meet ahead of Worlds but has not gotten that far with planning the specifics. She had no idea a flight to Japan would be in the books. 

“This was not really on the schedule,” Congdon joked. “I was not expecting it, so we’ll have to figure out that stuff. It’s nice to have a decent amount of time because since I have just been racing for so long, it’s good for me to have a little bit of a reset and have time to get ready for September.”