Top ten College Pole Vault Programs in the country

[aztecvaulter]

WOMEN - DIV I - University ALL-Americans for INDIVIDUALS
1 Arkansas 10 April Stiener, Jennifer Culp, Stacie Manuel, Jennifer Lincoln, Jodi Unger, Stephanie Irwin, Katie Stripling, Sarah Landau, Tina Sutej, Tara Diebold
2 UCLA 8 Erica Hoering, Tracy O'Hara, Chelsea Johnson, Jackie Nguyen, Ingrid Kantola, Tori Anthony, Tori Pena, Katy Viuf
3 San Diego State 4 Aimee Crabtree, Shayla Balentine, Erin Asay, Stephanie Bagan
4 Kansas 4 Candy Mason, Andrea Branson, Amy Linen, Ekaterina Sultanova
5 Washington 4 Kate Soma, Ashley Wildbar, Carly Dockendorf, Kelly DiVesta
6 Oregon 4 Karina Elstrom, Niki Reed-McEwen, Becky Holiday, Melissa Gergel
7 Arizona 4 Andrea Dutoit, Amy Linnen, Connie Jerz, Gabriella Duclos
8 Nebraska 4 Kim Stewart, Jenny Green, Brysun Stately, Natalie Willer
9 Georgia 3 Thorey Elisadottir, Fanni Juhasz Kierney Hitchsaw
10 Cal Poly SLO 3 Bianca Maran, Paula Serrano, Shannon Flett
11 Florida 3 Megan Westfall, Dara Altman Natalie Moser
12 South Carolina 3 Kylene Nixon, Cheryl Terrio, Vica Shobe
13 Stanford 3 Melissa Feinstein, Kathleen Donoghue, Katerina Stefenidi
14 Berkeley 3 Maria Lopez, Katie Morgan, Allison Stokke
15 Idaho 2 Melinda Owen, KC Dahlgren
16 Kansas State 2 Erin Anderson, Breanna Eveland
17 Washington State 2 Jeannette Martus, Tamara Diles
18 Tennessee 2 Leslie Henley, Tracy Carrington
19 Kent State 2 Shannon Gallagher, Jackie Rodgers
20 Purdue 2 Amy Spellmeyer, Mallory Peck
21 BYU 2 Becky Jackson, Ashley Mcallister
22 Rice 2 Beth Hinshaw, Rachel Greff
23 Akron 2 Kira Sims, Carrie Kayes
24 Montana State 2 Shannon Agee-Jones, Elouise Rudy
25 Minnesota 2 Alicia Rue, Samantha Sonnenberg
26 Duke 2 Jilian Schwartz, Amy Fryte
27 Long Beach St 1 Marylou Bodillo
28 USC 1 Brysun Stately
29 Florida State 1 Lacy Janson
30 Freseno State 1 Melissa Price
31 Texas Arlington 1 Marion Meyer
32 Sam Houston State 1 Jennie Sewell
33 W. Virginia 1 Kristen Quackenbush
34 Oklahoma 1 Leslie Dunlap
35 McNeese St. 1 Michele Rzepka
36 Whichita State 1 Jackie Brown
37 Pittsburgh 1 Marissa Dudek
38 Northwestern 1 Laura Chmieleski
39 Princeton 1 Chelo Canino
40 Texas State 1 Melissa Pundt
41 Missouri 1 Jennifer Bennet
42 Montana 1 Suzanne Krings
43 Eastern Michigan 1 Hanna Palamaa
44 Houston 1 Rhian Clarke
45 Oral Roberts 1 Dena Dial
46 Utah State 1 Shae Jones-Blair
47 Nevada 1 Jennifer Aschcroft
48 Liberty 1 Andrea Wildrick
49 South Florida 1 Denise VonEynatten
50 Indiana St 1 Kylie Hutson
51 Virginia Tech 1 Kelly Phillips
52 Wisconsin 1 Jenny Soceka
53 LSU 1 Rachel Laurent
54 Indiana 1 Vera Neuenswander
55 Arizona State 1 April Kubishta
56 Notre Dame 1 Mary Saxer
57 Texas Tech 1 Shade Weygandt
58 North Carolina 1 Sandi Morris
59 Georgia Tech 1 Joanna Wright

59 Universites produced 117 Different All-Americans
from a potential 233 total All-Americans awarded

[dj]

hey

so there you have it for the women....

how far down the list, with the same coach??.. 1-10? and is there a coach that has produced at more than one school??

good stuff

dj

[rainbowgirl28]

and is there a coach that has produced at more than one school??

Kris Grimes (Washington State and Nebraska) and Tom Hays (Arizona and Kansas) come to mind.

[altius]

"Which coach has produced the most All Americans?" And what was the annual progression of these athletes??

[VaultPurple]

I would like to see the top coach's athletes average PRs of their all All Americans. There are really no real factors to determining the best place or coach because every athlete meshes with every coach separately. Some coaches have 17'6 high schoolers graduate jumping 17'8, some have 13' guys jumping 17' by their senior year, and some have 17' guys graduate jumping 15'6. And this could also all go for the same coach depending on the individual athlete. The 17'6 guy that went 17'8 could have been plagued with injury, the 13' kid that went 17' worked his butt off and did everything that was ever asked of him, and the guy that went from 17' to 15'6 could have just been a bad egg who went crazy in college or fought the coach every step of the way because he kept being told by outside sources that he was training wrong.

[dj]

hey

yes there are all kinds of variables... most not related to coaching…

the Arkansas women have proven themselves, the Tennessee men proved themselves, Tom Hayes has proven himself..

those are the ones I know and have seen the results from.. it obvious UCLA can "pull-in" the talent and keep them producing also…

and there's more opportunities than these based on this list…

some vaulters will and can produce anywhere.. some will not produce anywhere…

a pit, poles and a set of eyes… and a "desire" by the athlete..

Go to a school where you will be happy even if you were not in pole vault/track.. and then make whatever you desire happen…

That's how I recruited when I coached the college level.. and I lost a few (like Pat Manson) but a coach may not stay at a school your full 4 years…

But looks like the best programs have had longer term coaches…

dj

[B]

I agree with DJ, Altius, Bob, how much improvement from HS to College is a good indicator along with continuity in the program. So what is good improvement? Two feet? 3 feet? Of course tougher the higher the bar goes. 16 HS to 18 University? It takes around 5.60 to win NCAA, so that is generally were the bar is set. Now you guys have got me all fired up, because you love to see kids succeed and keep improving, makes me revved up for track season!
I don't know everyone elses stats, but here are some UT Men FYI:
10 AA
5 NCAA Championships
22 SEC PV Championships since 1990, in the best track conference in the country, with Mike Holloway(FLA) and Russ B (LSU) , G. Duplantis (LSU) who won many during that time.
7 over 18'1", so 5.50 will get you # 8 on the top ten list. I think they will add a couple more this year, Joe is doing it right and Chase is coming
5.98 school/NCAA record, true senior (Lawrence had jumped 16-6 when we signed him and for you kids out there he did not get a full ride, but he earned it real quick.)
Russel Johnson is doing a GREAT job (eight conference champs streak at one point, AA's, with a great group of kids this year. Very thankful that he picked up the torch.)(and of course he is #2 on the UT college list at 5.65, one of the smartest people I know and loves the vault, great young coach)
2 Alumni with Olympic Medals

Great Athletes make great coaches, but coaches can make a great difference

My personal (I'm old school) all time college program favorites would be Ark State (Kochel Era), ACU (Coach Hood and the Boys) and KU (Attig and now Hayes), totally uncool to vote for yourself.
Thanks for the forum to get fired up on a friday afternoon
Good luck to everybody this year
Go Vols! Beat Bama (I think Jan has me on this one this year, so for Jan, Roll Tide!)
B

[altius]

How does Amy Linnen turn up in two programs?

[rainbowgirl28]

How does Amy Linnen turn up in two programs?

By transferring schools and jumping well at both of them.

[PViewer]

Looking at these programs, then looking at their own descriptions of the current coaching staff, there seems to be a lot of hyperbole. In two years at xyz college: coached 27 league champions, mentored 4 all-americans and won 6 league titles. It is hard for an interested athlete to know where to go if they want to vault in college. If there have been multiple coaches in a short time span, how should a college be evaluated? Is it true that colleges that are in the running for national champions would give equal emphasis to all track and field events or are there colleges that have always had a reputation as a good vault school, sprint school etc.. and concentrate their scoring there?

[utVOLter]

I'm certainly biased... but to add to B's post earlier about Tennessee

History: UT Vaulters and Alumni
5 NCAA Champions
32 SEC Champions
28 All-American certificates
3 Olympic Trials Winners
2001 Goodwill Games Champion
2004 Olympic Gold Medalist
2000 Olympic Silver Medalist
1999 Indoor World Champion

Tennessee Vaulters - Improvement from High School - High school PR is in ()

Chase Brannon: 17' 8.25 (15') - currently a sophomore on the team
John Coyne: 17' 9" (16')
Clint Binder: 17' 3" (15')
Russ Johnson: 18' 6" (15' 6")
Tim O'Hare: 16' 3" (14')
Tom Pappas: 16' 10" (14') - Deca
Aric Long: 17' (No PV) - Deca
Justin Daler: 18' 4 (16')
Adam Smith: 18' 4" (16')
Robert Rasnick: 17' 4.5" (15' 8") - currently a senior on team
Tim Mack: 18' 4" (13'6") ** 2 years @ Malone
Brad Holtz: 17' 8" (15' 9")
Rich Fulford : 18' 4" (14' 6")
Joe Berry: 17' 9" (16' 6") - senior on team
Lawrence Johnson: 19' 7.5" (17' 6")
Michael Hogue: 17' 8" (15' 10")
Andy Lane: 17' 2" (15')
Jangy Addy: 14' 7" (No PV) - Deca
Chris Helwick: 17'1" (14' 6") - Deca
Michael Ayers: 17'00" (15'6") **Transferred after Soph. year

Unless I'm mistaken, all of these marks are from coaching by either Jim BeMiller (former coach) or Russ Johnson (current coach).

[CowtownPV]

Yes it is impressive when a collge coach takes a 14' guy and turns him into an 18' footer but sometimes its just as big of a challenge turning the 17' hs kid into an elite jumper. So many of our elite HS kids in all sports never make it big in college for many reasons. To me the bottom line is did their kids improve and did they jump high.