Track star Maggi Congdon’s running career has progressed rapidly since a finals appearance in last year’s Olympic Trials. 

In that time, the 23-year-old from Steamboat Springs signed a Name, Image, and Likeness deal with HOKA and earned two bronze medals in various NCAA championship events. On top of her athletic accomplishments, she graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in civil engineering. 

Her achievements were so impressive, she was approached by Nike and signed an official professional deal in June, following her college graduation.

“Some of the stars aligned,” said Maggi’s mother, Leslie Hunt. “Right place at the right time with some hard work and talent.” 

“At this point, this is her road now and she’s sailing it,” added Maggi’s father, Bob Congdon. 

On Thursday, Maggi Congdon will add another major milestone to an already stacked resume when she takes to the start line of the women’s 800-meter race in the USA Track and Field Championships at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. 

Hayward was the location of last year’s Olympic trials. It is where Congdon realized her ability to compete against pro women on the national stage. She plans to take that spirit with her this weekend. 

The women’s 800-meter championship will take place in three rounds. The first round will start at 4:37 p.m. Thursday and will be separated into four heats, each with eight runners.

The top runners will advance to Friday’s semifinal race for three heats beginning at 5:01 p.m. The finals will be at 2:18 p.m. Sunday. 

The top three women from Sunday’s 800-meter final will represent Team USA at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September. 

All of Congdon’s races and the rest of the USATF Championships can be watched on USATF.TV with a subscription. Sunday’s events can be viewed on NBC or its streaming service, Peacock.

While Congdon competed primarily in 1,500-meter races this past year, she chose the 800-meter for the championships. It was a last-minute decision. 

Donning the Nike swoosh for the first time three weeks ago, Congdon tackled the 800-meter at a meet in California. Her time of 1 minute, 58.55 seconds was not only her first time breaking the two-minute mark, it also met the required time for automatically qualifying for the USATF Championships. 

“I’m excited to get to run (the 800) at a high level because I haven’t really raced it as much yet at championship-level meets,” Congdon said. 

While the 1,500-meter run is a more tactical race in the track and field world, Congdon explained that the 800 is a much quicker pace with minimal opportunity to think. 

“I’ve raced a lot of 1,500s and the 800 is something I’m still figuring out a little bit — knowing when to kick and gauging my effort,” she said. “It’s such a short race, you don’t have that much time, and you make split-second decisions and commit to it. You can’t hesitate at all.” 

Congdon graduated from Steamboat Springs High School in 2020. The COVID-19 outbreak canceled the track season that year, though she had already made her mark on the running scene and committed to furthering her education and running career at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. 

Congdon remains the Steamboat Springs High School record holder in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs, and was a member of the 4×800-meter relay record-holding team. Her 4×400-meter record was broken this spring.

Congdon looks forward to representing her hometown once again on the national stage, but she is attempting to put as little pressure as possible on herself for one of her first professional races. 

“I just want to be able to race freely and have fun with it,” Congdon said. “I think that is what helps me race my best.”