http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/20 ... nds_l.htmlTulane track and field lands local pole vaulter via transfer
Published: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 2:23 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 3:36 PM
By Tammy Nunez, The Times-Picayune
The Tulane track and field program got a little more New Orleans with its latest transfer. New Orleans native and Louisiana state pole vault record holder Merritt Van Meter transferred, the school announced Wednesday.
The Country Day School graduate spent the 2010-11 academic year at North Carolina and competed during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Brett Duke / The Times-Picayune
Merritt Van Meter is transferring to Tulane from North Carolina.
Indoors, Van Meter cleared 4.05 meters (13-3 ½ feet) at the ACC Indoor Championships to finish third. She cleared 3.96 meters (12-11 ¾ feet) and placed fourth overall at the ACC outdoor event. She is also among the nation’s top-five returning sophomores in the pole vault entering the 2012 season.
Her pole vault career took off in high school, helping Country Day to a fourth-place finish at the Louisiana Class 1A State Championships. At the meet, Van Meter won the pole vault competition with a 4.17 meters (13-8 ¼ feet) clearance, to go along with second place showings in the long jump and 200-meter dash. She accounted for 26 of the team's 45 points.
Van Meter was named the Gatorade/ESPN RISE Louisiana Track and Field Athlete of the Year after posting the nation’s top high school pole vault mark. At the time, her 4.17-meter mark set the LHSAA state record – a record that covered all classifications - and was the best in the nation. She was also awarded the Allstate Sugar Bowl Athlete of the Month after her performance at the state championships. She was selected as the Metro Field Performer of the Year by The Times-Picayune in 2010.