Clint pole vaulter Matthew Portillo had nothing handed to him on his first trip to the Class 4A UIL State Track and Field Championships.
To have a chance at a medal on Thursday, May 14, he needed a nine-inch personal best on an injured shoulder on a new, much bigger pole he had never used in a meet. Portillo had to do it facing more pressure than he’d ever faced in the final moment of his high school career.
The hardest, steepest path is the one to glory, and Portillo found it, vaulting 15-feet, 9-inches (his previous best was 15-0) to close his Clint career as a state runner-up.
“I did not expect a lot,” Portillo said shortly after his medal ceremony. “My shoulder has been hurting (he separated it in basketball season), but getting up there on a new pole, my coach and my family there supporting me, it helped me a lot.
“It’s an amazing day. I woke up, had a good breakfast, got to the meet and I was a bit nervous, but I knew I had put everything in, everything I worked for and I just jumped. I got there.”
His coach, Rosvel Martinez, was delighted.
“What a way to go out, what a way to go out,” he said. “He deserves it. He has a great work ethic, he’s very disciplined and it showed. I’m proud of him. We were hoping to get a medal second place is not bad at all.”
Portillo’s day was filled with drama. In a field where five of the nine vaulters went either 15-0 or 15-3 at regionals, he had big clearances at 13-6, 14-0 and 14-6 when little was determined. Eight of nine vaulters went over 14-6.
The 15-0 bar was where matters started tightening up, and Portillo missed his first two attempts. On his third try, he ticked the bar with his chest, and it visibly shook, but stayed on the standard, making him one of five over at that height.
“I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but I put all my trust in God and my family and I got up there,” Portillo said.
Then he got on a bigger pole (15-foot-6 inches tall, with a 175-pound weight/flexibility rating) that he successfully vaulted in a practice last week, but struggled another time to get on top of it. A bigger pole was bound to put more stress on his shoulder and it did, but Portillo gritted through.
He had never used his biggest pole in a meet, but on his second attempt at 15-6, he cleared it to ensure a medal. Portillo made it silver when he had a second-attempt 15-9 clearance on his second attempt en route to a second-place finish behind Wimberly’s Dane Mignery (16-0).
“My coach, when I first cleared 15-6, he was so excited for me and that got me going and going and going,” Portillo said.
“In practice, I’ve tried to get on that pole. I guess today the adrenaline got me up. I said I need to either jump or not. I jumped and I got it and hit 15-9.”
It was a magical end to his Clint career, and perhaps one that can earn him a look at the next level.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Clint pole vaulter Matthew Portillo fights for UIL track silver medal
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
