Jack Whitt 18-0.25 (5.49) at Texas Relays

[AVC Coach]

Wow! Nice jump Jack!

[BethelPV]

Impressive that he made it clean!! What a great jump! I remember watching him in Reno this year thinking he would jump high... nice work all involved!!

[polevaulter08nw]

Jack, huge congrats to you and your father! Jumping 18 at 18 is amazing! You can't get a better day than that! Keep up the good work and get some looks at Skippers Record!

[VTechVaulter]

Does anyone see alot of Derek Miles in that jump? or am i just crazy

[smokinvaulter1]

I see exactly what Tim has been telling us to do. Jack is just doing it better than any of us that trains with Tim.

[Tim McMichael]

It is not Petrov's model, although there are major points of similarity. It was a huge risk to go this direction with Jack, but his jump seemed to want to develop along these lines, and it is the vault that I know best. The greatest challenge was the time when his potential became apparent. For about a year he was flagging out and coming up short and this was driving people crazy because they could see that he was jumping much lower than he ought to, especially given the poles he was on and where he was gripping. We had to ignore a lot of this and keep working on the things that would allow his form to develop as it has and then keep faith that it would. Jack has shown great patience, trust, and perseverance. And I can't tell you how happy I am, and even a little bit relieved, that it all worked out. I am also thrilled that he is going to ORU. I am so glad that I will be handing him off to Joe. I can't think of a situation more promising for Jack's future.

You can see the progression in these videos, one from '07 indoors and then his two best this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amKLvAnz ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFUXVIMM ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGMDk7dA01o

At this point he may be on the biggest poles used by a high-schooler ever. I would like to know how big Skippers poles were.

[swtvault]

The 5m 13.9 is a huge pole--for anyone. I also think it is probably the biggest pole used by a HS'er. I do know Jacob Davis was on some big poles while in HS--I seem to remember hearing that they were in the 5m 13.0-14.0 range, but I can't confirm that. Eshbach was on a 4.75 13.2 Spirit when he made the HSR 5.54 in 1999, but that 5m 13.9 is much bigger than that. I would also like to hear from Rick Baggett and find out what sticks Skipper was one. I bet they were right in the same range as Jack's.

[rainbowgirl28]

I got this on my Facebook:

from being coached by Coach Hester at the begging of my career, we would play around with some of Eric and Jacobs poles, in HS Eric Eshbach jumped 18 2 1/2 on a 15 7 205 and Jacob has some 490 like 205 210 and other 5m poles. if remember correct

[kev44000]

Does anyone see alot of Derek Miles in that jump? or am i just crazy

Jack has trained with Derek some. Just before the Pole Vault Summit at Bell Athletics he worked with Jack alot. High bar and other things I highly reccomend Bell Athletics to any vaulter at any level.

[kev44000]

tommy skipper told me at the summit that he was on a 4.90 14.0 when he set the record at 18.03

[vault3rb0y]

I don't care what method, i see a vaulter taking full advantage of his physical capabilities, using his energy very well in the vault. I think that every vaulter needs to maximize what they do well to gain advantage in the vault, and that jack still has a while to grow into his capabilities. The way he vaults right now will allow him to maximize his potential either way, from a higher take-off or more "gymnastic" vault, and it's only a matter of time to see which adjustments he feels most comfortable making. Dont worry so much about the coaching, Tim, imho he is doing as well as he could be!