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Tommy Skipper's great new national high school record of 18'3" got me thinking about the progression of national records.

Casey Carrigan set a national high school record of 17'4.75" in 1969. Brandon Richards set a record of 18'2" in 1985. What I'm wondering is who, if anyone, was the record holder in between these two? Who broke Carrigan's record? When? How high? Whose record did Richards break?

Does anyone know where I might find a listing of the progression of the national high school record in the pole vault?

I know most of the record holders since Brewer (first set national record in 1955, making 14'2" as a sophomore), but I don't have information on the period between Carrigan and Richards. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/lists/all_time/prepout_at_m.html

HIGH SCHOOL MEN'S ALL-TIME COMPREHENSIVE LIST
(as of May 1, 2003)

POLE VAULT
18-2.25 .......................... Eric Eshbach (Orangefield, Tx) 99
18-2 ........... Brandon Richards (San Marcos, Santa Barbara, Ca) 85
18-1.25 ................................... Joe Dial (Marlow, Ok) 81
18-0(A) ................. Pat Manson (Aurora Central, Aurora, Co) 86
17-11.75(A) ...................... Greg Duplantis (Lafayette, La) 81
17-10.50 .......... Dale Jenkins (Abilene Christian, Abilene, Tx) 81
17-8.50 ................... Brent Burns (Acalanes, Lafayette, Ca) 87
17-8 ............................ Bobby Most (United, Laredo, Tx) 01
17-7.5 ................................ Tommy Skipper (Sandy, Or) 02
17-7 ................................... Jeff Bray (Elk City, Ok) 89
......................... *Sage Thames (Frenship, Wolfforth, Tx) 00


It looks like the record was broken and set a couple times by dail duplantis and jenkins in '81, not sure about other years. i' ll keep searchin.

Thanks for the info. It's hard to know which of the marks by Dial, Duplantis, and Jenkins were actually records without knowing the dates since they were all made in 1981. Also, the list only goes down to 17'7", so it's possible that someone might have broken Carrigan's record earlier and still not be on this list.

Let me know if you can dig out any more information.

Thanks,

Oldvaulter

Pretty sure Jenkins never held the record, but I could be wrong.

The best info I have is that Dial had the record, Duplantis broke it, Dial took it back all within a month or so.

Barto

That was a lot of great vaulting 22 years ago! Was Dial the first to break Carrigan's record? Or was there someone in between?

If Dial was the first, Carrigan's record would have stood for 12 years. That's a long time for a period when the vault was improving so rapidly.

Richards held the record for 14 years! (1985-1999)

Barrier Breakers:
14' Jim Brewer - 1955
15' Jim Brewer - 1957
16' Paul Wilson - 1964
17' Casey Carrigan - 1968
18' Joe Dial - 1981
19' When do you think this will be done?

maybe this year since tommy supposidly did 18-3 with a cross wind and didnt have his big sticks with him?

tommy didnt really catch bad winds that night, but i do have to say, his jump at 18'6" was good...maybe with a tailwind and some 5m poles on a good day he'll hit 19', but otherwise, he's got to put some more energy to get on his "big poles".