Czech high jumper Jakub Belik takes interesting path to El Paso

For any American university to land a high jumper the caliber of Jakub Belik requires creativity, and the summer of 2021 was all about creative recruiting.

Belik was ready to venture from his home of Jaromer, Czechia (formerly Czech Republic) to continue his education, but given the state of COVID in the world and all the limitations that implied, whatever destination he was going to select was going to have to be blind.

There would be no visit, no in-person courting process, no assessing the lay of the land with his own eyes.

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Actually, on that last point, there was a way. UTEP jumps coach Paul Benavides got Belik on a video call, changed the perspective on his phone's camera, and proceeded to walk around the campus with a guided tour where Belik never had to leave his couch.

"We never got an option to check out schools but I still think I made a pretty good choice," Belik said of that fateful decision three years ago. "Coach B showed me the whole school, he walked through it. He did more than the other coaches.

"The weather and Coach B. Those were the two reasons I came here."

Benavides remembers his stroll around campus well.

"I took my phone around: The LKD (Durham) center, the weight room, the track, the facilities, the campus," Benavides said. "It was a different approach. It worked."

It worked for everyone. Belik found a new home he loves. UTEP got a high jumper who has won three consecutive CUSA titles and is solidly favored for a fourth next month in El Paso.

Last week in Long Beach, Calif., Belik earned his first personal best since his arrival at UTEP, going 2.17 meters (7-feet, 1.5-inches) that he and Benavides think is the breakthrough that could lead to bigger bars and an even brighter future.

After clearing the bar with his new personal best, "I didn't think much, I just remember jumping around all excited," Belik said. "It was a really good meet. I felt so good afterward because I waited so long for the next pr.

"I think we're doing well right now, I had good jumps at 2.20 (7-2 1/2) that I almost cleared. I think I'm ready for 2.20 now."

Said Benavides: "It's satisfying. Too see all the hard work pay off means a lot. He's had a lot of good tries at 2.19 and 2.20, in training he's been jumping crazy heights.

"His second attempt at 2.20 (last week), he was probably 2.25 in the air (7-4 1/2) and just clipped it, a little timing up top. It's just a matter of time, jumping at the higher bars and getting timing over the bar."

Getting the timing will be a key for Belik this year in several ways. Last season he was jumping his best outdoors in the weeks leading up to the NCAA championships, which he qualified for with a big day at regionals. Then, a week before his trip to Austin, he sustained a leg injury and eventually no-heighted at nationals.

That was a bad break, but one that makes him hungry for this year.

"That was not a good experience, but we've trained hard since then, I think I'm ready to jump well," Belik said.

One ill-timed injury aside, Belik's journey to America has gone mostly smoothly. He gained 15 pounds his first semester as a freshman — a combination of new food and stress that comes with a cross-continent relocation — but lost it quickly enough.

He struggled with English when he arrived, but that never hampered him in the classroom where he's a perennial CUSA academic medalist.

"The first few weeks was a big adjustment, but then your brain gets used to it, you start to think in a different language," Belik said.

That showed up in other ways.

"His first year here he was shy and quiet," Benavides said. "He's really come out since then, he's vocal, he's a funny guy. He seems quiet sometimes, but he's really opened up. Being a great student helps a lot, too.

"He's a fine young man, a great student, a great-student athlete. He loves everything about the sport, he's a student of the game. He's a great teammate to all the kids around. He's a special person."

As it turns out, one well worth giving a tour of campus on a cell phone.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Czech high jumper Jakub Belik takes interesting path to El Paso