IHSA State Track Meet Biggest F*** Up EVER!!!

[Mitch]

Ok so the Illinois State track meet in 2008 should be thrown out of the record books and basically should be redone but obviously that will never happen.

Ok so it was an ok day swirling winds but whatever, they had the standards flipped on the regular red steel high school standards on the highest 2 holes.

With all of this said they were off a whole foot the entire meet. They didn't measure a SINGLE height until a state record attempt of 17-1 which was attempted by Jr. Josh Winder. He had previously cleared 16-6, 16-9, and 17-0 but you need to subtract a foot for all of those heights to get the real heights. I ended up jumping only 15-6 with the subtraction included but it messed Mick Viken and myself up. I had every bar by like 2 feet including my 15-6 jump. I was blowing through but figured I would stay where i was at because I THOUGHT i was jumping at bigger heights. This isn't even about me so I will stop ranting and raving.

So since the officials knew how bad they f***** when they were planning to go up an inch for the record after going from 17 but when in reality they had to go up a foot and one inch. Of course the officials being such mocho men decided to keep their mouths shuts to cover their as***. In the end they decided to say that the standards were only 3" off and the "official" results are posted as such. So with all these marks you need to subtract 9" from the results to get the REAL results.


Videos never lie, I am jumping on a 15-6 170 and the bar is at "15-9" but REALLY 14-9. My standards are buried and I am holding 15' and the pole just BARELY clears the bar. You do the math and see the evidence I can't say anymore........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjv4vBWYTw


Here are the "official" results but yet very UNOFFICIAL (subtract 9 inches from these results to get the real ones)

Class AA Pole Vault Finals Results

1 Josh Winder (Jr), Plainfield (Central) 16'09"
2 Mitchell Erickson (Sr), Chicago Heights (Marian) 16'03"
3 Greg Haugh (Sr), Roselle (Lake Park) 15'06"
4 Peter Geraghty (Jr), Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest) 15'06"
5 Mick Viken (Jr), Rolling Meadows 15'03"
6 Eric Forbes (Sr), Park Ridge (Maine South) 14'09"
7 Kyle Reid (Jr), Hoffman Estates (Conant) 14'09"
8 Joe Roberts (Sr), Bloomington (H.S.) 14'06"
9 Logan Pflibsen (So), Streator (Twp.) 14'03"
10 Max Anaya (Sr), Berwyn-Cicero (Morton) 14'03"
11 Matthew Page (Jr), Chicago Heights (Bloom Twp.) 14'00"
12 Barrett Guzaldo (Jr), Park Ridge (Maine South) 14'00"
13 Sam Wildeman (Jr), Naperville (Neuqua Valley) 14'00"
14 Sam Sleeper (Sr), Bloomington (H.S.) 13'06"

[rilegan]

wow, you'd think it would be hard for people who have officiated the vault to screw up that bad.

[accept fear]

i dont know. a whole foot seems a like its too much. there is no way that when i thought i was jumping at 14'3" it was actually 13'3". i mean dont you think that you would notice? with that many experienced vaulters there, someone would have to notice a whole foot. i would agree that it is somewhere from 3"-6" lower though.


but generally this is just ridiculous!! how can you do this at the state meet??? first of all, one of the officials sitting down by the pit HAD A TAPE MEASURER IN HIS BELT!! pull it out and measure the dang bar!! i also hate how they didnt even announce this whole thing...

[AVC Coach]

Wow! There's no way that's even in the 16's.

[drcurran]

Did anyone, athlete or coach, ask or question the bar height? The officials should have measured the bar at the opening height. Anyone can make a mistake, but a foot? What a shame for the athletes!

Dan

[jumpingbean913]

Wow, you would think that if you guys made it all the way to State, that they would AT LEAST give you guys a fair chance at making good heights. How incredibly unfair.

[Mitch]

Supposedly someone went out and measured the opening height in the morning before anyone got their. What happened was the person who measured knew to only add 1 foot to the back markings not 2 feet like the guys during the competition most likely did.

[kev44000]

What a joke. Also Mitch are you still comming to OU??? I have heard they may not do pole vault anymore. They quit recruiting me a month ago.

[Mitch]

No more OU Jack. I'm not quite sure I will end up to tell you the truth.... This isn't the position I though I would be in only one month ago.

[kev44000]

Wow that hurts i wanted to go there. Man I am sorry this happened to you. I guess Sam Kranz is looking also. let me know where you end up.

[Mitch]

For sure

[1yeldud1]

Before the meet is started the standards should be measured and the individual pins should be labeled with a majic marker as to their heights with the standards at their lowest height. The crossbar should NEVER be raised until the official with the clipboard requests - and after the crosasbar is raised the adult that raised it should report said movement to the same official. When the crossbar is raised the actual height raised should be verified by a single adult (visually and possibly by a measuring tool) - I have found that the marking on the standards are almost ALWAYS off - at our state meet we had to add 2 inches to the actual sticker on the standards to make the heights perfect (this was due to the "slope" of the track to permit proper water drainage). As a pole vault official I cannot fathom how this could happen - We measure and use a plumb bob to verify standard locations and heights at EVERY meet we go to - this whole process generally takes less than 30 minutes -