To Mexico and back: How a Missouri high jumper will take on 2 meets in 2 countries

It wasn’t Roberto Vilches’ best jump. That was OK.

The Missouri high jumper was feeling tired as he started his approach on Friday at the NCAA regional track meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, knowing full well that qualifying for the national championship meet was going to be attainable.

"I didn’t feel I had my best form,” Vilches said. “I talked to my coach and we just tried to get my body in the best possible shape, and they told me, pretty much, just qualify.”

Even as worn out as he was, Vilches cleared 2.15 meters and cemented an 11th-place finish. It wasn’t a personal best, but it got him where he wanted to go: Eugene, Oregon, on June 10 for the national championship final.

Before that, though, he’ll make another stop. The Mexico City native will return to his home country on Thursday for Saturday’s Mexican national high-jump competition, where he hopes to clear the Olympic standard for the event.

"I haven’t booked anything actually,” Vilches said on Saturday. “I’m waiting to see when we’re leaving for Eugene to book a flight to Mexico.”

The stacked competitions coupled with travel will be taxing for Vilches, but it was always the plan. When he came to Missouri, the ability to compete for the national team was something he requested from the coaching staff.

The Tigers were agreeable and have championed his dreams ever since.

"I promised him that we’re going to make everything to support that,” Missouri jumps coach Iliyan Chamov said. “That’s what we do right now, it’s part of the game, it’s part of the plan, and that’s what the professionals do.”

With the rapid-fire competitions coming up, the Missouri staff usually wouldn’t push Vilches or the rest of the Tigers particularly hard in training, preferring to keep them fresh for the big events. According to Vilches, it’s all about peaking at the right time.

In order to facilitate that, the team made the decision to work him harder going into the regional meet, where he knew qualifying for Eugene would not be especially difficult.

“All this is intentional,” Chamov said. “All of this is planned in a way that when we go to the most important competition of the year, he hopefully is going to have his best performance.”

For Vilches, the NCAA meet will mark another stop on his comeback trail. He finished ninth at the outdoor national championships in 2019 (the 2020 edition was canceled), but missed in 2021 due to a torn patellar tendon.

The injury knocked him out of both practice and competition. It also impacted him mentally, causing him to think about his knee, even after he was cleared to return.

“I was kind of scared to jump,” Vilches said. “It’s really a mind game rather than just being ready physically. It’s just a mind game to see if my knee feels something.”

Upon return, Vilches started off strong in indoor competition. He cleared 2.26 meters to win the Razorback Invitational in January, before heading to the SEC Indoor Championships.

Once there, he repeated the success, clearing 2.23 meters and winning the competition. After a fourth-place effort, it was on to the outdoor season, where his best finishes were second in the Crimson Tide Invitational and fourth at the SEC Championships.

Now he is set to take on two hugely important meets in a row. Despite the tight turnaround times, Vilches said he wasn’t worried.

“I’m already ready to go in competition form so it shouldn’t be a big problem,” Vilches said. “I get a couple more days to get ready for Mexico and after that, get ready for Eugene.”

The high jumper won’t be the only Tiger competing for at the NCAA Championship meet. He will be joined by Ayele Gerken (long jump), Arianna Fisher (triple jump), Mara Häusler (triple jump), Sophia Rivera (javelin), Ava Curry (javelin), Christopher Conrad (800 meters) and Georgi Nachev (triple jump).

The NCAA meet will run June 8-11.

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri high jumper will compete in NCAA championships, Mexico