Jack Whitt 18-0.25 (5.49) at Texas Relays

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content ... yside.html

High school pole vault record falls
By John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, April 04, 2009

On Thursday, Texas Relays organizers were forced to push back a pole vault competition because of blustery winds that were considered a danger to the athletes. On Friday, the winds were still snapping the flags near the vaulting pit, but it was vaulting records — not the competitors — that were suddenly in jeopardy.

As fans clapped in unison and then cheered in awe and delight, Jack Whitt of Norman (Okla.) North obliterated the 11-year-old high school meet record of 17 feet, 2 inches by soaring 18 feet and one-quarter inch on his third and final vault at that height.

"The jump really didn't feel as good as I wanted it to. I honestly didn't think I was going to make it," said Whitt, a senior.

That didn't stop him from upping the bar to 18-31/4 and giving it three close shots. The height would have been a national high school record and a stadium record, and a clearance would have made placed him No. 1 in the world for 19-and-under juniors.

Even after those misses, his father, Kevin, said, "Man, it couldn't get any better."

As the competition had moved beyond 17 feet, Kevin Whitt had walked down in the stands and yelled to Jack that maybe it was time to switch to a stiffer pole.

"I jumped on a pole I had never planted before," Whitt said of his record-setting vault.

Less than a month ago, Whitt vaulted 17-103/4 to break Joe Dial's Oklahoma state high school record, which had stood since 1981.

"Hey, as long as he's coming to ORU, I'm happy with that," said Dial, who was watching from the stands. The former world record-holder, now the coach at Oral Roberts University, said, "I've been coaching for 23 years, and he's the best talent in the pole vault I have ever seen coming out of high school."

The first time Dial saw Whitt vault, he cleared only 14-6, but Dial had seen enough. He e-mailed Whitt, offering a full scholarship, and Oral Roberts is where Whitt will vault in college.

Whitt started pole vaulting in seventh grade, at his father's urging. At the beginning of his sophomore year, he was jumping a pedestrian 11-6, but within six months he had made a quantum leap to 16 feet.

His junior year, he added "only" nine inches, but this year he broke the 17-foot barrier four times at indoor meets. "It all kind of snowballed. He just keeps getting better," said Kevin Whitt.

Jack Whitt works with a personal coach, a high school coach and his father, who lugs around two cameras. "We video 99 percent of jumps — practice, meets, the whole nine yards," Kevin Whitt said.

Even the wind couldn't stop Whitt on Friday.

"It wasn't heavy enough to bother me," he said. "I felt it kind of push my pole to the left a little bit, but it wasn't enough to do anything to me. It helped me more than affected me."

As for what's next, Whitt said, "I've already met my goal because I wanted to be able to jump 18 before I turned 19."

[KirkB]

According to the PVP Age Group PV Records list http://polevaultpower.com/records/agerecords.php, Jack joins these esteemed athletes who also cleared 18-0 before their 19th birthday ...

18-6.50i Jacob Davis, Orangefield, TX 1997
18-3 Tommy Skipper, Sandy, OR 2003
18-1.25 Joe Dial, 1981
18-1i Scott Roth, Granite Bay, CA 2007

Nice going, Jack!

Kirk

[AVC Coach]

Congrats to Jack!

[Tim McMichael]

Tim McMichael wrote:
I could not be more proud of him.

Tim, I'm proud of YOU!!!

Kirk

I don't feel right taking anywhere close to all the credit. Joe has the only indoor facility available to anybody during the winter so Jack went up there to work with him a lot when it got too cold to jump outside. Jack's dad did all the hard work of hauling him around and paying for lessons for two years too. Then Jack himself is just phenomenal, both as an athlete and as a human being. His long suffering girlfriend, Regan, deserves at least an honorable mention. How many girlfriends show up at practically every practice and meet? She even stopped reading "Twilight" long enough to film from time to time. Something like this can only happen with the help of a lot of people and a lot of things coming together at the right time. It doesn't happen often, but it's fun when it does.

[vault3rb0y]

Wow... thats truly impressive, huge props. Twilight is really addicting, congrats reagan!! LOL j/k

I still remember at the forney meet last year, jack, thinking i was the #1 guy there. Then you come down in a warm-up like a champ and smoke the 16' bungee. I said to myself "woah, this kids the real deal". Sounds funny now that you are 2' higher than that. You proved it, and theres no doubt in my mind you will continue to prove it. Have FUN! I hope to see you at some meets sometime soon.

Jason

[VTechVaulter]

Yeah I'm with Vault3rboy. I saw jack for the first time in person this year at reno and had the same thought. He is the real deal.

Especially for a kid who i a bit underdeveloped physically in terms of strength and speed. As he continues go grow and mature and work hard... its gonna be really fun to see him just continue to get better and better. Congrats Jack!!

[kev44000]

Nice job Jack!!!

Boy I bet OU is really kicking themselves for cutting their pole vault program and their volunteer coach...

I had a big problem with Martin Smith's ego and tactics when it came to the athletes. He would have never jumped for him anyway' regaurdless of who the vault coach was.

[kev44000]

WoW that is cool

:yes:

According to the PVP Age Group PV Records list http://polevaultpower.com/records/agerecords.php, Jack joins these esteemed athletes who also cleared 18-0 before their 19th birthday ...

18-6.50i Jacob Davis, Orangefield, TX 1997
18-3 Tommy Skipper, Sandy, OR 2003
18-1.25 Joe Dial, 1981
18-1i Scott Roth, Granite Bay, CA 2007

Nice going, Jack!

Kirk

[Bubba PV]

Video anyone? Bubba

[kev44000]

it will be up soon we just got back

[kev44000]

Southern Nazarene Univ. (OKC Area)

Oklahoma Christian Univ. (Edmond)

Oklahoma Baptist Univ. (Shawnee)

Oral Roberts Univ. (Tulsa)

There are 4 Schools in Oklahoma that offer academic and or athletics scholarships for the vault!

They are private schools that offer very little financial aid except ORU did give a full scholorship to Jack

[kev44000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGMDk7dA01o
heres the video of the 18'0 1/4 jump at texas relays
grip 15'8
pole 13.9, 5 meter 200
8 lefts 109ft