After not making NCAA 1,500-meter final, Villarreal rebounded to capture Pan Am title in Peru, which has provided inspiration not only for cross country goals this fall, but increased motivation to make Olympics next year

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

It was almost as if there was nothing else for Carlos Villarreal.

Options were limited.

All he could do, really, was have a good time in the opportunity of a lifetime.

“I was enjoying every minute,” the University of Arizona senior said about competing in August at the Pan American Games in Peru, his last track race before returning to cross country Friday at the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

“Even off the starting line, I wasn’t nervous, even when the camera was on me.

“I always race my best when I’m out there having fun,” he added. “And that’s definitely something I’m going to continue to work on.”

What started with a simple phone call turned out to be a serious boost for Villarreal’s career.

After a disappointing NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships in which he failed to qualify for the final in the 1,500 meters – a moment he called “devastating” – the 22-year old rebounded in the most dramatic way, winning the same event two months later at the Pan American Games.

Representing Mexico, where he was born, Villarreal displayed his well-known kick Aug. 8, soaring in the final 150 meters to pass American Johnny Gregorek Jr. and Canadian William Paulson and win in 3 minutes, 39.93 seconds in Lima.

The moment culminated a fascinating turnaround.  He went into the NCAA Championships on the heels of a season in which he ran personal bests in the 5,000 meters (14:07.05) at Stanford and in the 1,500 (3:37.22) in the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University. The latter would have been fast enough to advance to the 1,500 semifinals out of Thursday’s preliminary heats at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Villarreal posted the fastest qualifying time in the 1,500 at the West Regionals at Sacramento State before faltering badly in the semifinals two weeks later in Austin, Texas. Villarreal wound up 11th in his preliminary heat and 20th overall in 3:48.54 and missed the final.

“After the NCAA semifinal, I was just so devastated," Villarreal said. "I just could not believe what has transpired. I went in so confident to that race, and just came out absolutely gutted.”

Especially with the way his year had gone.

“At the NCAA Championships, it was definitely a surprise that he did so badly,” Arizona cross country coach James Li said, “because he should’ve had a race just like Pan Ams. He was great and he was training well.”

Following NCAAs, Villarreal said he had completely stopped training, ready, as he put it, to “reset and get ready for cross country.”

Then came a call from a track and field official from Mexico. Villarreal was born in the Gulf of California port town of Puerto Penasco, about a 3 1/2-hour drive from Tucson. He moved to Arizona when he was 6 years old and prepped at Rio Rico High, about 20 minutes north of the Mexican border.

Villarreal said the official told him a rule change had allowed him to be eligible for an at-large berth, and that he was one of two athletes from Mexico who had hit the Pan Am qualifying standard of 3:43.

“I talked to my mom, called my dad, called my coach and we talked about it on the fly,” Villarreal said. “Coach Li was saying it would be a great idea. It would be another good race. And it would be an opportunity to represent Mexico.”

Choosing didn’t take long.

“I called him back immediately,” Villarreal said, “and said, ‘I’ll take that spot. I’d love to go.’”

The experience, his first in an international race, turned out to be unforgettable.

He immediately jumped back into running and even trained in Mexico City for three weeks leading up to Lima.

“Altitude definitely kicked my butt,” Villarreal said. “But I feel like it got me in shape to race.”

Villarreal kept the expectations low for the race itself.

“In my mind, I was hoping for a top-five finish,” he said.

That kept him loose and buried the nerves. He sat on the leaders for much of the first 1,100 meters, still running between fourth and fifth place going into the bell lap.

With 200 to go, he shifted into his kick, soaring to the outside in the final 100 and blowing past Gregorek and Paulson, his former college rival at Arizona State.

He said he kept expecting somebody to surge back, such as Wisconsin’s Oliver Hoare did to edge him by two-hundredths of a second earlier in the year at Bryan Clay.

That race ended with Villarreal vaulting himself into a dive to the finish line.

In the Pan Am race, there was nothing but a clean finish line.

“I just kept pushing,” Villarreal said. “And I reeled in the silver (medal). I had so much momentum, I just sort of darted past and went into gold position. I was shocked.”

So it wasn’t the NCAA Championships. But winning in Lima did provide an experience like he had never seen.

Villarreal remembered one instance in which he was stopped in an airport by a crowd in Peru.

“It just sort of made me realize that a lot of people paid attention that race,” he said. “That was overwhelming, which is really cool. But it was just overwhelming the amount of publicity that race got in Latin America.”

His time didn’t quite meet the 3:36.0 qualifying standard for the World Championships, thus his focus on transitioning to cross country at Arizona instead of racing Thursday for Mexico in Doha, but the victory changed direction and trajectory for his career.

“We’re looking at the big picture,” Villarreal said, “which is getting to Tokyo.”

He’ll continue to have one eye on qualifying for the Olympics next year, which means meeting the 1,500 standard of 3:35.0.

“We’re kind of going all in for that time,” Villarreal said. “That’s the goal.

“I started realizing more about myself and the way I race,” he added. “Going into Pan Ams, it was more of I told myself that I’m not going to get nervous and just go out there and have fun. I don’t see why I can’t have similar results. It’s definitely boosted me.”

He’ll definitely need to maintain that approach Friday at Notre Dame, in addition to later this fall competing at the Pac-12 Conference Championships and NCAA West Regional meet against some of the elite cross country runners in the nation.

“I think it has given him some confidence and given him the idea of something that’s possible for him to do,” Li said. “I definitely think it has changed his perspective.”