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What heights would i need to put up by the end of this season, my junior year, in order to get some serious college recognition? Id love to go to a bigger school in a stronger conference but is that gonna be an option, and if so what do i need to jump to get there?

In the very most general of terms 16' as a Junior will get you serious consideration by major conference schools. However, I would like to emphasize that jumping 16' as a Junior is NOT any sort of minimum performance standard to be successful in the pole vault.

How common is it though to see maybe smaller, less competative schools with good vault programs that would provide means for improvement?

Many elite vaulters come from smaller schools. In fact, I would say the majority of elite men come from smaller programs.

Would not say the majority... Of the latest group of 19' guys, Derek miles is the only one I can think of that has came from a small school.

But there are a lot of people that improve no mater where they go to college. And there are college coaches that give kids chances if they have decent heights and they think the athlete is athletic enough. But 13' as a junior is decent. Pole vault is one of those events where sometimes things just click all of a sudden and you may PR by 3 foot in a month. And I have also noticed it is one of the events where a lot of people put off making their final college choice until the end of their senior year because they are chasing a big PR, and some colleges realize this and are still talking to seniors in May at their state championships.

So just relax and have fun vaulting. The Prs will come.

Off the top of my head: in the last 5 years Tim Mack, Derek Miles, Jeff Hartwig, Mark Hollis, Adam Keul, Jacob Pauli, Giovanni Lanaro, and Jeremy Scott have all jumped over 5.75m and all of them come from non-BCS conference schools.

Barto wrote:Off the top of my head: in the last 5 years Tim Mack, Derek Miles, Jeff Hartwig, Mark Hollis, Adam Keul, Jacob Pauli, Giovanni Lanaro, and Jeremy Scott have all jumped over 5.75m and all of them come from non-BCS conference schools.

Tim Mack went to Tennessee which is a BCS school, but I know what you're saying. Depending on the state you are in and the heights that normally come out of that state will determine what types of schools will give you attention. I jumped 14'6" as a junior in 2008 in Florida and was offered a scholarship at a D-! BCS school before my senior year. Although, it did help that I jumped 16'8" my senior year and they were ecstatic that I signed early.

Like some of these other people said, just pole vault, market yourself a little bit, and the PR's will come and the colleges will come.

Tim Mack started at an NAIA school and transferred to Tennessee.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Tim Mack started at an NAIA school and transferred to Tennessee.

Ah that makes sense, I heard he jumped like 13'6" in high school and then went to jump 18'4" at Tennessee.