HS Pole Vault record holders

[oldvaulter]

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.

[tafnut]

A quick look at the all-time list in the HS Track Annual yields this:
17-6 Stubblefield 80
18'1 1/4 Dial 81 (+Duplantis 17'11 3/4 and Jenkins 17'10 1/2 same year)
18'2 Richards 85
18'2 1/4 99

[tafnut]

the 99 was this year's NCAA winner Eric Eshbach.

[oldvaulter]

17-6 Stubblefield 80
18'1 1/4 Dial 81 (+Duplantis 17'11 3/4 and Jenkins 17'10 1/2 same year)
18'2 Richards 85
18'2 1/4 Eschbach 99

This suggests that it was Stubblefield in 1980 who finally broke Casey Carrigan's record from 1969. Thus Casey's record stood eleven years during a time of tremendous progress in the event overall. It is a further illustration of what a prodigious record his 17'4.75" was in 1969.

Interestingly, the great vaulting of 1981 -- Dial, Duplantis, and Jenkins -- predates Bubka, and to this day there has been little improvement in the HS ranks. Tommy Skipper's record yesterday is still less than two inches better than Dial's mark of 22 years ago. What's happened to the HS pole vault? Was Dial's 18 footer in 1981 earlier than Vigneron's first nineteen footer?

[Guest]

Send me your email address and I'll send you a complete list. The database format will look pretty messy if I try to paste it into this reply window.

[Guest]

I am sure Vigneron jumped the first 19 footer before the first Hs 18 footer. I was competing in the Us Championships in june 1981 when they anounced Vigneron's WR. We(Joe, Jenkins, Myself) were still racing to try for the first 18'. Joe didn't jump 18' until july or August. In fact ,his jump was after I jumped 5.50m 18-0 1/2 in a US junior meet in I think July. In those days the bar had to be measured both before and after the clearance. The later measurement was just below 18'.They rounded down to the nearest 1/4 inch 17-11 3/4. That's how I lost the first HS 18' foot jump .But even my jump was after Vig's 19.

[Guest]

Theirry jumped 5.75m on June 1 (I was standing next to the pit when he cleared it). Then he did it again on June 29, not sure why he went for the same height, must have been in a competitive situation with Houvion or the website I just looked at is wrong.

Was also on the track in London when Bubka made 5.90m in July '84...I must be a lucky charm or something.

Greg...isn't it annoying when they remeasure and it's wrong? I jumped 2.25 in 1980 and they remeasured that at 2.243/4!

[Guest]

I guess I needed you there when I jumped 5.50 m in HS in 1981

[Guest]

Just realized 5.75 isn't 19'...I'm english, feet and inches is a pain for me to convert.

[Guest]

Another equally if not dumber rule we faced in Hs at that time required the pole to not pass under the bar or a miss was called. I No-heighted in the regional qualifier for our state track meet in 1980 in part,when my first attempt clearance was ruled a miss because the pole fell under the bar.However, I probably shouldn't give the IAAF any more Ideas on how to "improve" the pole vault.

[Guest]

5.75=18-10 1/4

[Guest]

He did 5.80 on June 20, 1981

[Guest]

Did you know the British vaulters? Brian Hooper, Keith Stock & Jrff Gutteridge?

Brian was a good friend...started coaching Janine Whitlock (sp?), UK's best, last year and she tested positive about 3 months later; Keith got 7 years in the slammer for drug dealing, saw him start two fights at post-meet receptions in France; Jeff was the first Brit to be banned for testosterone!

[Guest]

I don't know them personally. But, I have seen films of Hooper and Stock. Both were superb vaulters.

[gh]

>This suggests that it was Stubblefield in
>1980 who finally broke Casey Carrigan's record
>from 1969. Thus Casey's record stood eleven
>years during a time of tremendous progress in the
>event overall.>>

Carrigan's record did last 11 years, but it was Joe Dial who broke the record with a 17-5 1/4 at the Kansas Relays, beating Stubblefield, whose 17-1 1/4 moved him to No. 4 prep ever. Two months later Stubblefield cleared 17-6 at the Junior Nationals.

[gh]

record goes nuts in '81.

Dial 17-6 3/4
Dial 17-9 1/2
Dale Jenkins 17-10 1/2 beating Greg Duplantis 17-10 1/2 with both beating Dial at a lower height.
Dial 17-11
Duplantis 17-11 1/2
Dial 18-1/4
Dial 18-1 1/4

then it goes to Richards 18-2 in '85 and Eshbach 18-1 1/4 in '99 before Skippy.

[oldvaulter]

Thanks for the excellent data Gary.

Greg, great to hear from you here. There has been a bit of a debate about you on another website, namely about your height.

It is believed that you are the shortest vaulter ever to clear 19'. Some say you are (or were) 5'6", and I heard that some years ago. Now people are saying that you were 5'5" when you first made 19'. I've even heard some claim you were 5'4". How about settling this one for us? Thanks!

A humorous statement that's been passed around recently is "The older I get, the better I used to be." In your case it might be amended to "The older I get, the shorter I used to be."

[gh]

>Thanks for the excellent data Gary.>>

Yo, OV! Spell my name Garry and I promise not to spell yours Mark.

[oldvaulter]

>Spell my name Garry and I promise not to spell
>yours Mark.

I knew I had blown it about one second after I hit the "Post Reply" button -- but then it was too late. No going back.

Sorry

[oldvaulter]

>Another equally if not dumber rule we faced in Hs
>at that time required the pole to not pass under
>the bar or a miss was called. I No-heighted in
>the regional qualifier for our state track meet
>in 1980 in part,when my first attempt clearance
>was ruled a miss because the pole fell under the
>bar.However, I probably shouldn't give the IAAF
>any more Ideas on how to "improve" the pole
>vault.

Exactly how harmful these bad rules can be is not altogether evident from just these disaster stories. The pole-under-the-bar rule for example: This rule was in effect during my career too, and though I never lost a vault due to the pole passing under the bar, it still affected my vaulting negatively. I had to develop a technique at the top of the vault to insure that the pole went back the way it came -- towards the runway. This negatively impacted my clearance technique. Today's vaulters can release the pole with more "abandon" -- an advantage.

This applies to the moronic new short-peg rule too. It's not just a matter of vaults lost when the bar falls from the shorter pegs when it would not have fallen from the old long pegs. It's also the case that vaulters must now adjust their technique to avoid touching the bar in ways that would have been OK before. This has a negative effect on vaulting even when the bar isn't touched.

[polevaultpower]

Greg Duplantis - you are the hero of every single short pole vaulter on my website. Check it out sometime, I am sure they would love it if you posted, I know I would.

http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum

[Guest]

I agree with your analysis of the stupid new short peg rule. IT is surprising that Bubka who now works at IAAF, can't stop the madness of dumb rule changes that threaten the vault. If he supports such rules that make it harder to jump high ,including breaking world records ,that is suspect at best .

[Guest]

Bubka fix it?! It is to laugh. Who has the most to gain by the rule but him? He'll still be the worldrecord holder 100 years from now at this rate.

[Guest]

You are correct that in the same meet Dale Jenkins and I jumped 5.45M 17-10 1/2. Dale winning on misses. Dial third at 5.35M 17-6 1/2 . All guys still in high school. However I jumped or was credited with 17-11 3/4 not 17 11 1/2. I only point this out because I actually jumped 5.50 18-0 1/2 .On remeasurement the bar was judged to be just under 18' ;the official rounded down to 17-11 3/4. Between 1979 and 1981 in High school with guys like Stubblefield, Dail , Jenkins , volz, Lytle, Klee, Buckingham, it was dificult to win a major high school meet at anything under 17'

[Guest]

I appears I am getting shorter as I get older. Literally. But, at the time I jumped 5.80 19-1/4 I was exactly 5'-6''. I have seen my height quoted as 5-10" to now an alltime low 5-4". I grew an amazing inch from high school . I graduated,at 5-5, weighing 125lbs

[Guest]

>Another equally if not dumber rule we faced in Hs
>at that time required the pole to not pass under
>the bar or a miss was called. I No-heighted in
>the regional qualifier for our state track meet
>in 1980 in part,when my first attempt clearance
>was ruled a miss because the pole fell under the
>bar.

Regarding the no-pole-under-the-crossbar rule, Casey Carrigan came to grief over it in the qualifying round of the Mexico City Olympics in October of 1968. A high school senior at the time, he'd cleared the height he needed to advance (17', unless I'm mistaken), but his effort was ruled a miss when his pole fell into the pit. Today's equivalent would be Tommy Skipper clearing 19'4".

[Guest]

i've seen this guy duplantis hit a golf iron 325 yards - even tiger can't do that

[Urban]

Did you know the British vaulters? Brian Hooper, Keith Stock & Jrff Gutteridge?

Brian was a good friend...started coaching Janine Whitlock (sp?), UK's best, last year and she tested positive about 3 months later; Keith got 7 years in the slammer for drug dealing, saw him start two fights at post-meet receptions in France; Jeff was the first Brit to be banned for testosterone!

Are you sure Keith got 7 years? And was it actually drug dealing?