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The most dangerous place on the field: the pole vault pit.
"The two most dangerous events in track and field are javelin and pole vault," Nash said. "And we don't allow javelin throwing in New York."
Three years ago, Binghamton rebuilt its pole vault pit after a vaulter came down and struck his head.
"The mat itself is much bigger," Garbarino said. "And everything around it is padded."
Garbarino and his coaches encourage their vaulters to use helmets, but don't require it. No helmet has been designed to meet the specific needs of a vaulter.
Pole vaulting is a sport where parents can do little more than trust the experts. That, Klein said, is what coaches and trainers are there for.
At the same time, she said, it's easy to check to see if a helmet fits snugly or is cracked. And Smith and Barney said any coach should be willing to consider if extra equipment would help improve safety.
With 525,000 high school athletes in New York state -- in sports from baseball to wrestling -- plus tens of thousands more in youth leagues and travel leagues, injuries are bound to happen. Safety, Smith said, must evolve as the games and players do.
"No one knows the future," he said. "And I don't know if anybody is going to come up with the one right answer."
