PoleVaultPower.com

I didn't even know the USA was sending a team to this

The best we could come up with is an 11-footer to send?

Here is the overall Team USA Roster:


Team USA Roster

Boys
200m - Brandon Sanders (Columbia, S.C.)
400m - Najee Glass (Woodbridge, N.J.)
10,000m RW - Tyler Sorensen (Lafayette, Calif.)
400m Hurdles - Gregory Coleman (San Antonio, Texas)
2,000m Steeplechase - Daniel Wong (Tucson, Ariz.)
High Jump - Gunnar Nixon (Edmond, Okla.)
Pole Vault - Reese Watson (Spring, Texas)
Javelin - Devin Bogert (Tomball, Texas)
Girls
100m - Myasia Jacobs (Paterson, N.J.)
200m - Olivia Ekpone (Germantown, Md.)
400m - Robin Reynolds (Miami, Fla.)
1,000m - Claudia Francis (Laurelton, N.Y.)
100m Hurdles - Trinity Wilson (Oakland, Calif.)
400m Hurdles - Amber Bryant-Brock (Powder Springs, Ga.)
Pole Vault - Hadley Reed Hancock (Leesburg, Ga.)
Long Jump - Le'Tristan Pledger (Kansas City, Kan.)
Shot Put - Sarah Howard (Dublin, Ga.)
Discus Throw - Sarah Tolson (Pawhuska, Okla.)
Hammer Throw - Shelby Ashe (Stone Mountain, Ga.)
Javelin Throw - Hannah Carson (Mesa, Az.)



And here are the results from the trials, which were held April 3rd in Texas

Women Pole Vault
=========================================================================
Name Year Team Seed Finals
=========================================================================
1 Hancock, Hadley World Class 3.49m 3.50m
2 Monteverde, Anginae Unattached 3.70m 3.35m
3 Powell, Kassie Unattached 3.50m J3.35m
4 Wesley, Victoria Unattached 3.63m J3.35m
5 Bone, Robin Unattached 3.68m 3.20m


Men Pole Vault
=========================================================================
Name Year Team Seed Finals
=========================================================================
1 Watson, Reese Unattached 4.50m 4.75m
2 Kirillov, Nikita Unattached 4.65m 4.60m
3 Ziemek, Zachery Unattached 4.41m J4.60m
4 Severson, Blair Texas Elite 4.64m 4.45m
5 Sumner, Eli Unattached 4.31m 4.30m
-- Beck, Joseph Unattached 4.57m NH
-- Thompson, Kyle Unattached 4.80m NH




When your selection meet is not coming close to selecting the best talent in that age group, this is what you get...

We have girls born in '93 who can clear 4.00 or very close to it consistently.... why did we send an 11 footer?

learning to fly wrote:We have girls born in '93 who can clear 4.00 or very close to it consistently.... why did we send an 11 footer?

Dyestat says her best is 12'1. We sent her because she won the qualifying competition held April 3rd in Texas.

It is certainly debateable whether or not that is the best way to pick the team, but here is the thought process that went into it:

- I heard that they were worried about being able to get passports and visas in time if the meet was held too close to the actual Games.
- League/District/State meets nationwide take up a good 2-3 months of the calendar. All of the athletes in this age group are in HS and most won't want to miss their championship meets.
- Early summer is pretty loaded with major meets (and these dates may have been too late anyway?)

There was a pretty good effort made to reach out to eligible athletes to make them aware of this meet. I know I posted stuff on my website and on Facebook (I forgot earlier today that this was the meet that meet was qualifying for), and Dyestat gave the meet a lot of publicity.

The A-final:
http://gis.singapore2010.sg/Nav/RES/ENG/AT/startlist/AT_072B11_W_startlist.html

Again, my money is on the swede (Bengtsson), Parnov second.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

learning to fly wrote:We have girls born in '93 who can clear 4.00 or very close to it consistently.... why did we send an 11 footer?

Dyestat says her best is 12'1. We sent her because she won the qualifying competition held April 3rd in Texas.

It is certainly debateable whether or not that is the best way to pick the team, but here is the thought process that went into it:

- I heard that they were worried about being able to get passports and visas in time if the meet was held too close to the actual Games.
- League/District/State meets nationwide take up a good 2-3 months of the calendar. All of the athletes in this age group are in HS and most won't want to miss their championship meets.
- Early summer is pretty loaded with major meets (and these dates may have been too late anyway?)

There was a pretty good effort made to reach out to eligible athletes to make them aware of this meet. I know I posted stuff on my website and on Facebook (I forgot earlier today that this was the meet that meet was qualifying for), and Dyestat gave the meet a lot of publicity.

I understand there's a big conflict in scheduling but still, I would have thought that going to the Youth Olympics would have drawn a lot more 4m girls and 5m guys from the US. I could be wrong but maybe a lot of high school athletes in the US just aren't "into" international competitions at this stage because there's so much preoccupying their lives like doing well at state/nationals and getting into a good college program. In effect, it's an informed decision to stay domestic for the time being - though again I could very well be wrong on that assumption.

-Andrew

Andy_C wrote:I understand there's a big conflict in scheduling but still, I would have thought that going to the Youth Olympics would have drawn a lot more 4m girls and 5m guys from the US. I could be wrong but maybe a lot of high school athletes in the US just aren't "into" international competitions at this stage because there's so much preoccupying their lives like doing well at state/nationals and getting into a good college program. In effect, it's an informed decision to stay domestic for the time being - though again I could very well be wrong on that assumption.

I don't know if we even have any 4m girls/5m boys in that age group? It is difficult to say because in the US our rankings are focused on grade and not age. It is common for kids to be "old" for their grade.

Here are the top boys who were probably age eligible:
B-PV 23 16-01.00 Ebbets, Caleb (2012) ( Lee County, GA) Westover Relays (GA), 2010-04-17 (#1)
B-PV 25 16-00.00 Watson, Reese (2012) ( Spring, TX) TX 5A Region 2 (TX), 2010-05-03 (#1)
B-PV 25 16-00.00 Blankenship, Jacob (2012) ( Lincoln, OH) OH D1 Districts (OH), 2010-05-22 (#1)
B-PV 54 15-07.00 Sonnen, Josh (2012) ( Midlothian, TX) TX District 16 - 4A (TX), 2010-04-14 (#1)

Most of these boys are probably _not_ age eliglble, but a few may have been:
B-PV 3 17-00.75 Juilfs, JJ (2011) ( Henry D Sheldon, OR) OR 6A State Meet (OR), 2010-05-29 (#1)
B-PV 5 17-00.00 Irwin, Andrew (2011) ( Mount Ida, AR) AR Meet of Champions (AR), 2010-05-08 (#1)
B-PV 9 16-09.00 Uhle, Chris (2011) ( Olentangy Liberty, OH) OH 1A State Meet (OH), 2010-06-05 (#1)
B-PV 13 16-06.00 Duplantis, Andreas (2011) ( Lafayette, LA) Great Southwest Classic (NM), 2010-06-05 (#1) (competes for Sweden anyway)
B-PV 13 16-06.00 Yamoah, Jordan (2011) ( Arlington, NY) NY State Champs (NY), 2010-06-12 (#1)
B-PV 15 16-04.75 Uhle, Christopher (2011) ( Olentangy Liberty, OH) US Junior Nationals (IA), 2010-06-27 (#7)
B-PV 17 16-04.00 Duvio, Dalton (2011) ( John Curtis, LA) Clovis Street Vault (CA), 2010-08-06
B-PV 19 16-03.00 Uhle, Joey (2011) ( Olentangy Liberty, OH) OH D1 Districts (OH), 2010-05-22 (#1)
B-PV 25 16-00.00 Barr, Evan (2011) ( Loyola, CA) Mission League Finals (CA), 2010-05-06 (#1)
B-PV 25 16-00.00 Feazell, John (2011) ( Mansfield, TX) AAU JO Nationals YMYW (VA), 2010-08-07 (#2)
B-PV 25 16-00.00 Gilbert, Regan (2011) ( Harker Heights, TX) TX 5A Region 2 (TX), 2010-05-03 (#3)
B-PV 25 16-00.00 Volz, Drew (2011) ( Bloomington South, IN) IN State Meet (IN), 2010-06-04 (#1)



Again, here are the girls that were probably age eligible:
G-PV 23 12-06.25 Bone, Robin (2012) ( Darien, CT) FCAIC Champs (CT), 2010-05-25 (#1)
G-PV 24 12-06.00 Johnson, Jessie (2012) ( Argyle, TX) AAU District TX Southwestern (TX), 2010-06-12 (#1)
G-PV 24 12-06.00 Wooten, Brittany (2012) ( Tomball, TX) TX 5A State Meet (TX), 2010-05-15 (#1)
G-PV 46 12-04.00 Virdi, Cimran (2012) ( Las Lomas, CA) Diablo Foothill Athletic League Finals (CA), 2010-05-14 (#1)
G-PV 49 12-03.50 Zimmerly, Jeslyn (2012) ( Westview, IN) USATF Youth - Intermediate (IL), 2010-07-04 (#1)
G-PV 50 12-03.00 Braidic, Ellie (2012) ( Pandora-Gilboa, OH) OH Div. 3 State Meet (OH), 2010-06-05 (#1)
G-PV 50 12-03.00 Hotaling, Amanda (2012) ( North Baltimore, OH) OH Div. 3 State Meet (OH), 2010-06-05 (#1)
G-PV 50 12-03.00 Rische, Victoria (2012) ( Foothill, CA) Orange County Champs (CA), 2010-04-24 (#1)
G-PV 50 12-03.00 Stangl, Brittany (2012) ( Watertown, SD) SD 2A State (SD), 2010-05-29 (#1)
G-PV 63 12-01.00 Wieber, Kirstie (2012) ( Pewamo-Westphalia, MI) LSJ Honor Roll Meet (MI), 2010-06-02 (#1)
G-PV 63 12-01.00 Hancock, Hadley-Reed (2012) ( Deerfield-Windsor Academy, GA) Stratford v Deerfield-Windsor (GA), 2010-03-24 (#1)


And here are some girls that are probably not eligible, but a few may have been:

G-PV 1 14-00.00 Leleux, Morgann (2011) ( Catholic New Iberia, LA) Quintana Beach Vault (TX), 2010-06-19 (#1)
G-PV 8 13-01.00 Grove, Emily (2011) ( Pontiac, IL) AAU Area 10 Illinois YMYW (IL), 2010-07-11 (#1)
G-PV 12 13-00.00 Petrillose, Kaitlin (2011) ( Mcneil, TX) TX District 16 - 5A (TX), 2010-04-13 (#1)
G-PV 18 12-08.25 Oleson, Stephanie (2011) ( Henrico, VA) NB Nationals (NC), 2010-06-19 (#5)




Now consider the system. Most US kids do not start vaulting until age 14-15. They are seeing big improvements from year to year. Nearly all of the personal bests set above were set _after_ the selection meet. At the time of the selection meet, many of these athletes may not have known, may not have been qualified, may not have thought they had a chance of being competitive, or just may not have been competitive at that point.

Also factor in that the travel expense to the meet is not a trivial amount for many of these families. And that being right in the middle of the school year, many would not want their students to miss more school than necessary, knowing that they will probably miss a lot of school for the upcoming season.





I understand the difficulty they had in scheduling the meet, but I just do not think it's possible to come close to selecting an international team in early April for a meet in August. I don't think the athletes we sent were our best, but they weren't necessarily that far off the best we had to offer in that age group. However, both came from parts of the country with early track seasons and they obviously peaked months and months ago. Sorry, but the kids who perform best on April 3rd are not going to be the kids who perform the best in mid-August.

Thanks for the info, Rainbowgirl. That's really helpful in clarifying the picture for me.

I was also under the impression that 18-year-olds were eligible.

I'm interested in knowing though, how much financial assistance (if any) are the families given for an international trip like this?

-Andrew

Andy_C wrote:Thanks for the info, Rainbowgirl. That's really helpful in clarifying the picture for me.

I was also under the impression that 18-year-olds were eligible.

I'm interested in knowing though, how much financial assistance (if any) are the families given for an international trip like this?

-Andrew

The requirements are born in 1993 or 1994.

I assume USATF paid for the trip for the winning athletes, but I highly doubt they gave any assistance to family members.

The girl who represented the us didn't have a real good day, but she had been over 13' MANY times in practice. I was there and was proud of her!! She is also a 10th grader AND YOU CERTAINLY HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF HER!!