Track & field brought Jorge Contreras to U of L. Now he's Puerto Rico's shot put champion

Puerto Rico native Jorge Contreras stood inside Basilio Rodriguez Stadium in early June with an opportunity to win a gold medal.

Now a shot putter for the Louisville track and field team, Contreras went years without competing in Puerto Rico. The COVID-19 pandemic restricted his ability to return home for competitions, so his family hadn’t seen him compete since his high school years. 

They watched all of his competitions in Puerto Rico but none of his meets as a Cardinal. They saw the changes in his body during his occasional visits but never how he progressed as an athlete.

So there Contreras stood — in the city of Carolina, Puerto Rico, with the words “Puerto Rico” written across his chest — with a chance to win a gold medal in his home island. On the right side of his chest rested the island’s flag, with the rest of the jersey styled around the white, blue and red colors.

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Contreras won the national shot put title at the FAPUR National Championship in Puerto Ricowith a throw of 17.98 meters, more than two meters better than the competition.

It was a comfortable margin, but comfort was something that took him time to achieve at Louisville.

‘I have to start taking this sport a little more seriously’

Contreras, 21, is a scholarship track athlete at Louisville, but just a few years before his commitment, the sport wasn’t anywhere near his radar.

He fell in love with baseball, which dominates the island, by 4 years old. His older brother, Luis F., did too.

“Baseball is still my favorite sport,” Jorge Contreras said. “It's something I was born with.”

Contreras completed high school at Eugenio Guerra Cruz, a boarding school that focused on athletics and had students choose sports as disciplines. As a freshman, Contreras arrived expecting to participate in a baseball tryout.

Only to find out, however, it wasn’t an option.

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The tryouts there were just for individual sports, but he didn’t know that. He looked around to see what sports interested him, where he discovered track and field. After running some drills, the coach at the time saw potential in him and placed him in throwing events.

Contreras, brand new to the sport, developed quickly. He broke the U16 discus record during his first season — four times. By the end of the next season, he qualified for a world championship berth for athletes under 18 years old. 

“That was the moment that I realized I have to start taking this sport a little more seriously,” Contreras said.

As his abilities grew, his aspirations followed suit.

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Contreras dropped baseball and focused full-time on track, with the Olympics now a goal. To his family, this shift in mentality was no surprise. It stopped being a question of if he’d fully commit to track, but when.

“Being a very competitive athlete overall, he always strived to be the best and not to compete with any other but just to compete with himself to get better everyday,” Luis F. said.

‘A perfect fit for me’

Contreras set his sights on collegiate track and field. Contreras’s father, Luis, had Jorge send letters to programs he was interested in and get a feel for their team history.

They began to make a list of qualities they wanted from a school, prioritizing Jorge’s ability to feel at home while growing as both an athlete and a person. For Contreras, a tight-knit team dynamic was key. He didn’t want a school that was too big, but one where the teammates were close like he experienced in high school.

“We had a family aspect,” Contreras said. “And I wanted that to be on my team in college.”

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Louisville was the first school the family heard from, and head coach Dale Cowper invited them for a visit. Contreras took in a practice and noticed the way the teammates interacted with each other. It impressed his father.

“That kind of environment, that kind of friendship and just that inspiration to get better, not just individuals, but as a whole group, as a whole team,” Contreras’s father said in an interview translated from Spanish. “That's the thing that sealed the deal, and that's something that we weren't looking for but we just found there.”

The visit lasted three days.

“It pretty much was a perfect fit for me,” said Contreras, who committed to U of L during fall of his senior year.

‘Make this place home’

Contreras was the first in his family to live in the United States full-time — his brother stayed in Puerto Rico for college.

Finding success far away from home, he said, was something that concerned him when he first arrived. He had to learn his way around a new place while improving his English.

Contreras took a few months, but he began to embrace his surroundings.

“I should make a decision to just get out there and make this place home,” Contreras told himself.

He became more social. He got to know his teammates more and started meeting people in his class. Contreras grew more comfortable with Louisville.

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Erik Fertig roomed with Contreras when they were freshman, and both redshirted their first year with U of L's track and field team. Fertig described Contreras, who enjoys going for hikes and visiting new restaurants, as adventurous.

The pair have gotten closer.

“Away from the track, Jorge's a really fun guy,” Fertig said. “He's just an awesome friend. Probably the most reliable guy I know on campus and probably my best friend on campus.”

Contreras’s competitive nature began to reveal itself during practice, too. His international competition experience, Fertig said, rubbed off on his teammates soon after he arrived.

“He was always a guy that brought a lot of energy, very competitive,” Fertig said. “He was always pushing. Always pushes everyone to do their best.”

‘I just enjoyed every single throw’

In the last meet of his redshirt-sophomore season, Contreras recorded a personal best in shot put (18.28 meters) during the NCAA East Preliminary Round.

Less than two weeks later, he was back at home, competing for the first time in Puerto Rico since his Eugenio Guerra Cruz days. It's nearly 2,000 miles from his hometown of Caguas, Puerto Rico, to Louisville, but just 15 from Caguas to Carolina, the site of the island's track and field national championships.

“It was a lot of pressure, to be honest,” Contreras said.

The moment held great meaning to him, wearing his country's colors with his friends and family in attendance supporting him. It had been a seven-year journey from a novice shot put athlete to an international competitor, with gold on the line.

“I just enjoyed every single throw that I had at home,” Contreras said.

Said his father: “Seeing him progress, it's an honor and it's always going to be something that we are going to be passionate about."