PoleVaultPower.com

I was at James Madison University this past week for Field Hockey Camp and when we were leaving Bridgeforth Stadium one day I stopped and read the record board. They didn't have any female PV records posted, but they had the top 10 male PV records. It was insane! The highest vault EVER at JMU was 15 feet and some inches (I forget) and the lowest record was 14 feet and some inches. With JMU being a fairly large school (15,000+ students) I would expect better vaulters because there are even better high school vaulters in VA and VA doesn't have the best pole vaulters! Obviously they seriously missed out on some good recruitment!

Our school record is 16'8" and that's isn't even that great for Cali! That was definetley some poor scouting!

haha, 16-8 is our STATE record....

We are getting into some sticky stuff here guys-

First of all let me caution anyone from comparing high school marks to college marks. There is a world of difference between competitive opportunities and situations from high school to college. The majority of 16' high school guys will be doing well to just jump the same height their freshmen years. Big difference between opening heights in meets, time allowed between jumps, and the intangibles like confidence and social status all add up to college being a much more difficult playing field. Also, many schools just are not interested in the pole vault. It is an expensive event and at the college level vaulters are almost always one event guys. Many programs just see it as not worth the trouble, so when you see a school record in the 15' range it is most likely from some guy who was just a nut to vault, had his own sticks, and went out there with little or no coaching on his own and vaulted because he wanted to.

Secondly, let me caution anyone from comparing high school marks achieved in different states. Huge differences in coaching and weather make it impossible to compare a 16' guy in Texas to a 14' guy in Washington or a 15' guy in West Virginia. Too many 19' guys jumped 14' in high school and too many 17' high school guys never see it again to put much emphasis on high school marks. Bottom line is try to learn as much as you can and jump as high as you can in the situation you are in.

Barto.

Exactly also not all colleges are really big, JMU isnt a premier d-1 school in major athletics. if you visit a good vault college, check out the records there, im sure they will be much better. i dont know maybe JMU isnt that attractive to a vaulter whos goin 17 when they also have big name schools like texas or tenesee, or penn state (had to say it, im a pennsylvanian) callin you up.

You have to jump 18'+ too be ranked in the top ten at KU. But there is a HS record in kansas by Buckingham at 17'8" or so from the 70's.

our hs record is 15' 1" ...

ha...our hs record is only 13'6!

I was 2 feet off

lol, ours is 14'-9. not too bad for michigan, lol, and that 14-9 was also a state meet winning jump.. guess Mi is a sad saad vault state compared to where some of u guys live..

lol, ours is 14'-9. not too bad for michigan, lol, and that 14-9 was also a state meet winning jump.. guess Mi is a sad saad vault state compared to where some of u guys live..

Minkz? Man where are you getting your info? Michigan has had some pretty good vaulters over the years. Here is a list of HS guys who jumped 16 feet.

Me 16'9
Bill Deering 16'6
Charles Dewildt 16'6
Paul Terek 16'6
Brad Gebauer 16'5
Brad Teeple 16'1.5
Nathan Cahill 16'0

two or three others over 16....cant remember the names. The year I graduated, we had 10 over 15 feet. At the indoor state meet, 15 was fifth place. Yeah, right now Michigan does suck. Only one guy over 15 (grant bowen.) Maybe things will change soon.

yeah, definatley this year were not too great. I know Grant too, he SHOULD be goin much higher than 15'. But im not sayin MI is bad, but just compared to some places like Tx or CA, where theres sometimes a few guys over 17' in the same year, and weve never had any guy go over 17' (hopefully ill be the first LOL!) So yeah wev had some really good people, but maybe not matching up to the consistancy of other states? I mean 14' or 15' around here gets some attention, where as somewhere out west it'd be nothing of major interest. hopefully though well have some more great vaulters here in the next few years, im hoping to be one of em'.

And some of you Mich guys have gone a fair bit higher after high school - yes it is harder in HS because weather and tracks are not a favorable as some other parts of the country - doesn't mean ya cann't produce good vaulters