Nelson Athlete of the Week

CHENEY – Eastern Washington University's (EWU) Maggie Nelson was named the Big-Sky Conference's female field Athlete of the Week for her heptathlon performance during the Buc Scoring Invitational on March 24 and 25.

Nelson also set a EWU heptathlon record by scoring 5,130 points through seven events: The 100 meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin and the 800-meter run.

"To me it just means that all the hard work that I've put in that last four years has finally come to a climax and I'm being recognized for it," Nelson said.

This is the first time Nelson has competed in outdoor track and field since attending Spokane Community College. Her first year at EWU was spent in redshirt status and then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country along with the outdoor season in 2021. When she wasn't competing, she was in the lab working on her craft in the form of diet/nutrition, mental coaching, and extra strength and conditioning workouts to support her normal training routine.

"It's obviously showed, Nelson said. "This is my sixth year competing collegiately and I figured I needed to go out with a bang."

The heptathlon is a two-day process. Each athlete completes one event and then has 30 minutes to warm up and prepare for their next event. Nelson placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.84, tied for first in the high jump, first in shot put, fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.14, first in long jump, first in javelin throw, and second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:29.44. These multi-event track and field competitions put a premium on both mental and physical conditioning.

"If I have a bad race or have three bad throws in a row, I have to completely put that out of my brain and compete in the next event like nothing happened, Nelson said. "I have to approach the next event with confidence and no negative thoughts."

Nelson's goals for the remainder of her final collegiate season are to improve upon her heptathlon score and competing in the NCAA regional competition in the javelin event. She's already qualified for NCAA regionals in javelin thanks to her heptathlon performance and hopes to perform well enough at regionals to perform at the national competition.

While her final year of competition has been fruitful thus far it's also been challenging from a time management perspective. Nelson started graduate school this year and is studying for her master's degree in movement sciences with an emphasis in sport and recreation administration.

On top of classes, practice, and competition, she's obligated to complete a graduate assistance program which adds another 20 hours of student supervision to her plate. Despite her difficult schedule, she's going to miss it when it's all said and done.

"Ever since I was in grade school I've always gone to school and gone to practice." Nelson said. "So now without having an organized sport to go to after or before school – I don't know what I'm going to do with my time."

Nelson's next competition will be at the Whitworth Peace Meet in Spokane on April 8.