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I have noticed in the past few years a surge in the smaller schools' vaulting programs. what i am mainly talking about are the D2, D3, and NAIA schools with 15' vaulters and small D1 school struggling to recruit a 15' vaulter.
Has anyone noticed this?

I Forgot to mention i noticed this big boom after women's vault really took storm through the country.

great observation! I think it is because a 15' vaulter in division 1 can hardly be competitive, where as at the naia and dIII level they can qualify for nationals. sure, they may never make usatf's or the olympics but when it gets down to it, we all love our sport and when we can be competitive, no matter what level, its just more fun. and when people have fun, it makes it better for the sport as a whole: world class all the way down to beginner.

Tim Mack spent 3 years in the NAIA before he transferred to Tennessee.

But around Here. kids that jump 15' think that they are d1 caliber and then go to a school that has no coach and no poles. but in this past year i have seen school at meets that i did not even think had track teams and then they have 5 or 6 vaulters. i'm like where in the heck did they come from. i think it is a good thing though, dont get me wrong. I think it helps keep kids motivated and helps kids attend college that might not go because they could not jump at the D1 level.

Hate to say it, but us at the DII and III level are not just a bunch of pole riders... take a look at last years mens indoor champ at DIII indoors...

1 Hans Schmidt Jr Wisconsin La Crosse 18-1 (5.51m)  

women:

1 Amanda Haines So Adrian College 12-11 (3.94m) Meet record
2 Kim Marino Sr Richard Stockton 12-11 (3.94m)  Betters old Meet record
3 Megan Rossi Fr North Central College 11-11 1/4 (3.64m)  

some of these werent even the best of the year for some of the girls competing in the Championships last indoors...

*number two in the Nation right now for men DII (Mark Zilch, Lewis University 5.50/18.05) there are more among the DII & DIII, NAIA ranks that are at 5.18 and above.
*(according to vaultngus)

women arent too far behind... there are quite a few DII, DIII and NAIA women at or above 3.81 (12.6.0)

These athletes are not the only ones who are at this level (many are better than these marks(women), or just at or below Hans' Mark at 18-1.

The thing is, its not just the vault... track & field as a whole, is doing well at the "small school" level... Andrew Rock of UW-Lacrosse (DIII) won a gold medal with the US 4x400 in Athens. Many other DII, DIII and NAIA athletes were at Sacremento for the OLY trials and were among the top ten in their respective events... I won't even mention all the international students who ran for their respective countries.

Granted, we also have the other end of the spectrum as well... which especially visible in the DIII level. This is what makes people think we are "sub-standard" of sorts and look down on DIII vs other divisions. Most DIII schools do not usually have a "try-out" or a "cut" of any sort, so we get the good with the bad. One thing i guess i enjoy about this is: everyone on the team is there becuase they love the sport and they want to participate. What becomes of these individuals though, are most of your high school coaches. So we need them too. (now i could go on and on about this but i digress)

I just think DII and DIII arent the respect they deserve. Just because a "Student Athlete" decides to go to a small school dosent make them any less an athlete or lessen their abilities.

I enjoy the fact that many of the vaulters in the confernce in which I coach in actually compete and push their DI counter-parts... we will head out west and to the south for our spring trips to get some good weather for the outdoor season, but even more, we want quality competion against DI schools, to not only make us better but to show our athletes that they can compete with the best.

As for High School Vaulters who hit 4.70 or better thinking they "deserve" to go DI, I think these athletes need to look more at other variables... OBVIOUSLY education in the program they are looking for... but regarding a team or program... Look at the Coaching and history of the vaulters and records. there are some Excellent coaches out there in the DII and DIII level... some very excellent 4.0 h.s. jumpers have gone on vault in the 5.20 to 5.45 range, all because of excellent coaching and training partners within the team they have been built with.

Us lowly "small" schools respect what you have, sometimes admire the fact that we might have it better on occasion to our DI counter-parts. But make no mistake, we vault and we love it just the same as the rest of the Vaulting world. Look at the accomplishments of the Vaulters, not the fact that they are competing for "Anywhere" State University, DII DIII or NAIA. They work just as hard as the rest, only they do it in peaceful obscurity.

Collegiate Vaulting isnt about what level (DI, DII, DIII, NAIA) you vault at... its the fact that you are good enought to compete at the Collegiate level and how high you vault while you are there.

-gbob

yes,
that is just my point. i think it is great and sometimes crazy that smaller schools have better a atmosphere, better coaches, better athletes.
i went to a d3 school my first year and there was a total difference in atmosphere. i definatley loved it better in D1 and i have noticed that it is giving more athletes a chance to get an education because of the notariety.

Wisconsin La Crosse has a sick track team, check out their stats. I bet they would beat a ton of DI schools. http://www.uwlax.edu/athletics/mtrack/coachstaff/

thats a pretty good track team

Mel Mueller came from a DIII tack program

I come from a community college and we have probably the best group of cc vaulters in the state.. we were all good in high school not great...well the boys were REAL good but now all of us are pretty much guaranteed spots at state...the only crappy thing is that we dont have competition except for eachother !!!

I couldn't agree with gbob any more. In fact, close friend of mine just transfered here to La Crosse, and said he loves the D3 atmosphere where everyone is just crazy about track and field as a whole (especially the vault). Just this past weekend we had a meet in Stevens Point, which was by his hometown and he was saying how much more fun it is to have family and friends come and watch the meet. Texas Relays, Mt. SAC, those are really great meets, but you are surround by athletes and thats about it (...or so I was informed...never been there myself).

Also, I see a lot of technical vaulting at the D2, D3 and NAIA levels. Not to say that D1 doesn't, but when a kid is jumping 16' on 15' 170, holding at 14'3" cause he is only 5'8", I think thats pretty cool.

Both sides of the coin have there parts, and I am sure there is some bias because of being D3 myself, but gbob is right, D3 does have some talent tucked away in it...

(Edwin Moses came from D3... not a pole vaulter... but I would hope people knew who he was.)