{"id":413848,"date":"2020-02-05T14:22:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T21:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=413848"},"modified":"2020-03-19T13:00:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T20:00:13","slug":"confident-ricardo-vargas-chasing-a-second-olympic-berth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/confident-ricardo-vargas-chasing-a-second-olympic-berth\/","title":{"rendered":"Confident Ricardo Vargas Chasing a Second Olympic Berth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Politely, <strong>Ricardo Vargas<\/strong> turns the question around.<\/p>\n<p>Four years ago, Vargas was an 18-year-old vying for a spot in the Olympics that he regarded as a longshot dream. He was hardly an unknown commodity: He\u2019d represented Mexico at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 and the World Junior Championships in 2015. By the start of his junior year at Technologica de Monterrey high school, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ricardo-david-vargas-jacobo-sets-800-free-mexican-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he was already the fastest Mexican<\/a> ever over 400, 800 and 1,500 meters of freestyle.<\/p>\n<p>But the Olympic dream he chased felt far off. He\u2019d be ecstatic to get there. But if he fell short, the disappointment would be short-lived and his alone.<\/p>\n<p>So four years later, with the Olympic rings tattooed to his biceps, the University of Michigan junior respectfully redirects the question. It\u2019s not what he knows now that he wished he knew four years ago. It\u2019s what he didn\u2019t know then that, some days, he wishes he could unlearn now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last time, I did have a shot to go to the Olympics, but that wasn\u2019t 100 percent my goal,\u201d Vargas said last week. \u201cIt just seemed so, maybe, unrealistic, and just performing, doing best swims and doing the performance of my life without anything to lose, it was really fun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s one of the mentally challenging things that I\u2019ve been going through is that now that I\u2019ve been to the Olympics, I know what the experience is about and I know I can be better. And I know that I\u2019m 100 percent more prepared to go to the Olympics, but it\u2019s that fact that I already went that makes it harder for me because I have more pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That mix of confidence and pragmatism is what Vargas hopes will define the quest for a trip to Tokyo.<\/p>\n<h3>From Disney to Rio<\/h3>\n<p>The career of one of Mexico\u2019s best male swimmers started in a hotel pool in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Ricardo Vargas was 2, as he recalls it, when his family went on vacation to Disney World. Vargas\u2019s highlight of the trip wasn\u2019t the Magic Kingdom. It was the pool at their hotel, which Vargas\u2019s parents had to pry him out of.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents couldn\u2019t take me out of the pool,\u201d he said. \u201cI would cry, and that\u2019s how my mom decided to put me into swimming lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t that long afterward that Vargas became one of Mexico\u2019s top swimmers, swimming at nationals for the first time at age 12. He\u2019s lowered each of the Mexican records he set at the 2015 Pan Am Games, and he\u2019s added the 400 individual medley mark. One of those times came in Rio in the 1,500 free, one of only three Mexican swims at the competition. His time of 15:11.53 placed him 25th.<\/p>\n<p>Vargas has become a regular on Mexican delegations to international meets. Mexico gleaned six bronze medals from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ricardo-vargas-qualifies-for-pan-american-games\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last summer\u2019s Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru<\/a>; Vargas was part of three of them, via the 800 and 1,500 free and the 800 free relay.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s grown into a big contributor for the Michigan Wolverines, where the 2017-18 Big Ten Freshman of the Year A-finaled twice at NCAAs as a freshman and once as a sophomore.<\/p>\n<p>His <a href=\"https:\/\/global.umich.edu\/newsroom\/on-time-for-the-olympics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">training group at Michigan<\/a> \u2013 which includes Austrian <strong>Felix Aubock,<\/strong> who already had his 800 free A cut \u2013 and a family devoted to education convinced the economics major and Academic All-Big Ten not to take a redshirt to prepare for the Olympics, instead leaning on his support network at Michigan to help him weather a busy 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love challenges and I like school, so it\u2019s been really fun for me,\u201d Vargas said.<\/p>\n<h3>Training for Tokyo<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_144912\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-144912\" data-attachment-id=\"144912\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/confident-ricardo-vargas-chasing-a-second-olympic-berth\/pan-am-games-swimming-712\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-0446.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2447,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS-1D X&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Jul 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Ricardo Vargas of Mexico wins his men&#039;s 1500m freestyle final during the 2015 Pan Am Games at Pan Am Aquatics UTS Centre and Field House. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1437240194&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Erich Schlegel&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;4000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.001&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Pan Am Games: Swimming&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Pan Am Games: Swimming\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Jul 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Ricardo Vargas of Mexico wins his men&#8217;s 1500m freestyle final during the 2015 Pan Am Games at Pan Am Aquatics UTS Centre and Field House. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports NPStrans, toppic&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel\/USA Today Sports Images&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-0446-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-0446-1024x670.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-144912\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-0446-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"Jul 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Ricardo Vargas of Mexico wins his men's 1500m freestyle final during the 2015 Pan Am Games at Pan Am Aquatics UTS Centre and Field House. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports\" width=\"550\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-0446-533x349.jpg 533w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-0446-1024x670.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-144912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ricardo Vargas. Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel\/USA Today Sports Images<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ricardo Vargas is on the path toward Olympic qualification. He has notched Olympic Selection Times in the 400 IM, 400 free, 800 free and 1,500 free. His time of 7:56.78 in the 800 free, from Pan Ams, is a personal-best two seconds shy of an automatic Olympic qualifying time. He went 15:14.99 in the 1,500 at Pan Ams, within 2.5 seconds of his Rio time and about midway between A and B cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Vargas\u2019s training is geared toward Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto the week after men&#8217;s NCAAs, where he plans on time trialing for his A cuts.<\/p>\n<p>After Pan Ams, though, Vargas had to reset. He\u2019d tinkered with his stroke and struggled in some of the warmup meets, and his performances in Lima were uneven. (His 400 IM time there, for instance, was 4:33.22, 13 seconds slower than his personal-best from the previous summer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/michigans-ricardo-vargas-qualifies-for-central-american-caribbean-games\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at the Central American and Caribbean Games<\/a>.) So a rethink was necessary to set the course of the pivotal year ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Pan Ams, it was just taking a couple of days off, rethinking and going back to my old stroke and just thinking about all the things that I have changed that really didn\u2019t help me,\u201d he said. \u201cI just tried to redo myself because I knew I needed a change and I knew that if I didn\u2019t make those changes, me getting to the Olympics was almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A rebalanced Vargas laid down fast times in the fall semester \u2013 4:16.24 in the 500 free, 14:49.16 in the 1,650 \u2013 that compare favorably to his season-end times last year. He sounds confident about the plan that Michigan assistant coach <strong>Josh White<\/strong> has sketched out to manage yardage in his taper in March around Big Tens, NCAAs and Canadian Trials.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the only balance Vargas is looking to strike. He\u2019s embraced his role as one of the leaders of Mexican swimming. He\u2019s part of a WhatsApp group with members of the squad from Lima \u2013 Arizona sprinter <strong>Jorge Iga,<\/strong> breaststrokers <strong>Mauro Castillo<\/strong> and <strong>Miguel de Lara,<\/strong> Penn State grad <strong>Melissa Rodriguez<\/strong> and former Texas A&amp;M swimmer <strong>Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo<\/strong> \u2013 to offer each other support in their disparate training locations. He\u2019s part of a network of prominent (especially men\u2019s) swimmers at the college level, from Iga at Arizona to <strong>Andy Song<\/strong> and (the since graduated) <strong>Long Gutierrez<\/strong> at California and a strong contingent at Texas A&amp;M that has rewritten the national record board.<\/p>\n<p>It brings home the point of how much pressure Vargas can feel, but also the responsibility he takes in knowing what he has accomplished and what he can do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt puts things in perspective,\u201d Ricardo Vargas said. \u201cNow there\u2019s people watching and they talk to you about it, and I know I have a shot and I know I can do better than four years ago. I know I can train better and get better times. I know all that stuff. But being in the spot that I am makes it a little more challenging. \u2026 Now I know preparing myself, I know it\u2019s really challenging to go to the Olympics. I know you have to earn it and I know it\u2019s not a joke, so I take things very serious. I know it\u2019s not going to be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politely, Ricardo Vargas turns the question around. Four years ago, Vargas was an 18-year-old vying for a spot in the Olympics that he regarded as a longshot dream. He was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8367,"featured_media":337478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122077,6,122100],"tags":[38284,68641,75618,58663,64034,46575,54238,43448,46555,27072,56750,54927,41073,59532,51276,66863,67745,1321],"class_list":["post-413848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-americas","category-college","category-features","tag-2016-olympics","tag-2019-pan-american-games","tag-2020-ncaa-division-i-mens-swimming-and-diving-championships","tag-2020-olympics","tag-andy-song","tag-felix-aubock","tag-jorge-iga","tag-long-gutierrez","tag-mauro-castillo","tag-melissa-rodriguez","tag-mexican-swimming","tag-michigan-swimming","tag-miguel-de-lara","tag-monika-gonzalez-hermosillo","tag-ricardo-vargas","tag-ricardo-vargas-jacobo","tag-tokyo-2020-olympics","tag-university-of-michigan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Confident Ricardo Vargas Chasing a Second Olympic Berth<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four years ago, Ricardo Vargas was an 18-year-old vying for a longshot spot in the Olympics. 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