USU’s Maggard preparing for big finish to successful collegiate running career

LOGAN – With seven All-American recognitions and multiple school records, distance runner Dillon Maggard will finish as one of Utah State’s most successful athletes, but he isn’t done yet. Maggard still has part of his senior season left and wants to make sure he finished strong.

The list of Maggard’s accomplishments as a collegiate athlete is lengthy. He has made it to the NCAA championships in cross country and both indoor and outdoor track and field. Within those three sports he competes in a lot of events, too. He has excelled in races as short as 1500 meters and the much longer cross country races.

“One of the strengths I have is that I do have a pretty big range,” he said. “Each race I approach about the same.”

He was named USU’s Male Athlete of the Year as both a junior and a senior. He even set the world record for fastest mile run while wearing a pair of blue jeans.

The cross country and indoor seasons are both over, but the outdoor season is still happening. After going to the NCAA Championships as a sophomore, Maggard missed the event as a junior. Those events are coming up soon. The Mountain West Championships take place from May 9 to May 12. The NCAA preliminaries take place later in May and the championships will happen in early June.

In order to reach his goals, Maggard stepped up his training. He started running 100 miles each week most of last summer and into the fall. He said that running is a lifestyle, so he stopped staying up late and started eating better.

I’ve pretty much run all over Logan,” he said. “Every loop, to be honest.”

He said he is still unsure what events he wants to compete in for the conference and NCAA Championships this season, but whatever events he does, he said he wants to improve his finish and put himself in a position to win.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said. “Either I’m going to do the 5K or 10K or both in regionals and nationals.”

After Maggard graduates he plans on running professionally. He said he will first need to hire an agent who will help get him a contract with a shoe company and into a club.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.