America's Elite Youth

[ras]

Reading this old topic viewtopic.php?f=1&t=174&start=0&hilit=girl+jump+grade made me wonder - What marks currently define the “best of the best” for America’s elite youth? I would think that the proper measure would be somewhere close to the heights that would include only a handful of active jumpers at any one time (as posted at sanctioned meets).

On the boys side, it has always seemed pretty simple - “Jump your age”. It appears the top marks tend to be fairly linear and increase at about 1 foot per year. Therefore you get:

Age Height
12 12’
13 13’
14 14’
15 15’
16 16’
17 17’
18 18’
19 19’

The active jumpers that I could find would then be:

Spencer McCorkel , Scott Roth, and Maston Wallace


Girls seem to be a little more difficult. Looks like no girl has ever jumped her age (although as least one has come close). Seems like a good corresponding measure for the girls would be AGE minus 2 feet. However, it appears that the girls experience the same rapid improvements as the boys only until the age of 15 or so. At this point, it looks like improvements should be measured more in inches per year than feet per year. Keeping the same criteria, does this sound about right for the girls?

Age Height
12 10’
13 11’
14 12’
15 13’
16 13’3”
17 13’6”
18 13’9”
19 14’0”

The active girls I could find would then be:

Jessica Doyle, Shade Weygandt, Katie Veith , Mary Saxer, and Tiffany Maskulinksi

Which active vaulters am I missing and do you feel these marks (especially for the girls) need to be moved up or down?

[KirkB]

Your link seems broken ... maybe you meant this thread? http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=174&start=0&hilit=girl+jump+grade

... where it talks about girls vaulting their grade?

For boys, Jack Whitt is a bit of an anomoly ... vaulting 18' at age 18 ... but way below that in all previous years. But if you're going to mention today's elite youth then you MUST include him!

Kirk

[rainbowgirl28]

I guess it depends on how you are defining best of the best. The parameters you gave define the best of the best all-time, as opposed to what might define the top few kids every year.

[ras]

Good point. You are correct - these would be best all time. Although the intent was not so much to identify the individuals but rather to identify the age based set of marks that establish this truly elite level. The vaulters were listed as data points in an attempt to prove the legitimacy of the set of marks (that they are both obtainable and extremely rare).

Thanks for the reminder on Jack. He would make the boys list climb to 4 active vaulters:

Spencer McCorkel , Scott Roth, Maston Wallace, and Jack Whitt

[pv161]

JJ Juilfs, 16' at age 16 last season

[ras]

Wow! Lots of great young jumpers:

Girls:
Jessica Doyle, Shade Weygandt, Katie Veith, Mary Saxer, Tiffany Maskulinksi, Karmen Auble

Boys:
Spencer McCorkel , Scott Roth, Maston Wallace, and Jack Whitt, JJ Juilfs

[AVC Coach]

Sam Ewing jumped 5.20m (17'00.75") this summer as a 17 year old.

[FLY-NHG]

[quote][/quote] "Meaux" Morgann LeLeux a 16yr old and a Jr.at Catholic High New Iberia,La. is another still active in high school vaulting who has hit every number on your chart so far.....

[starkey480]

dont forget andreas and mondo duplantis! they jumped their age last year