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Billings Senior grad Christina Aragon prepping for second U.S. Olympic Trials

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Posted at 7:23 AM, Jun 26, 2024

BILLINGS — Christina Aragon has one of the more decorated running resumes you can find.

She won 12 Montana high school state titles while running at Billings Senior, then was a nine-time All-American at Stanford.

Aragon graduated from Stanford in 2022 with a degree in human biology and is now running professionally for Nike with the Bowerman Track Club in Eugene, Oregon.

“I definitely have a very talented group of teammates. It's really fun, because I feel like I get pushed every day in practice, and I have a lot of people that I can look up to and learn from," Aragon told MTN Sports. "It's also a town that's very runner-friendly. There's a lot of nice trails to run on and places to go and it's easy to get around as a runner. And it's a smaller town. It's not so different than Billings in some ways, so it's been comfortable that way, as well."

Aragon was just in Park City, Utah, training at altitude camp ahead of this week’s U.S. Olympic Team Track and Field Trials, where she’ll compete in the 1,500-meter run. Aragon ran in the 2016 Trials shortly after graduating high school and has grown immensely since.

“For me, personally, I feel like in my first Olympic Trials I remember being quite intimidated going into the semifinal. These were people I always looked up to and now I'm running with them," Aragon said. "I feel like maybe I didn't give myself the best shot at actually executing my very best race there. That's one thing I'm looking forward to changing this time around."

Should Aragon find her way to the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer, it will undoubtedly be a business trip, but she’ll make sure to find some time to play tourist and soak in all she can.

“I think just explore the city. Obviously that would be an amazing opportunity to travel and see different things. I would love to go to the Eiffel Tower. I would love to see The Louvre and things like that. But if you're representing U.S.A. the number one goal is to execute to the best of your abilities while there," Aragon said.

Also in the field for a second time is Christina’s older sister Danielle, who competed in 2021. The first round of the 1,500 is Thursday evening, with the semifinal Friday and final on Sunday.