Winning Height 6' at Caddo Relays (article)

[vaultgirl1028]

i know!! they like didtn jump after running to the box they kind of clung to the pole and let the pole just tilt and fall into the pit with them clinging on to it.....it took alot not to laugh.

[Aviendha]

I think that in a lot of places the girls opening heights are alot lower then guys, its not fair. At the new jersey state indoor championship the opening for girls was 8ft and for the guys 12ft. I see this all through out the year. It made sence to have the girls height lower for a little while during the first couple of years of compitition. But now it has reached a point where its only hurting the sport. Not everything in life has to be fun and able for everyone to do.

i agree with becca on this one...four feet is not an unfair difference...look at the world records: about 4 feet difference.

[bvpv07]

I don't know, but as a girl I think that 6 feet is too low...how about 7'?
I was at, I will admit, a smaller meet today and the bar started at 6' for varsity girls. Then, when they were done with the first height, some of the girls that had started vaulting this year were dismayed that the bar went up by 6 inch increments...apparently they thought that the bar was going to be moved to 6'1". By the time that my teammates and I came in, we and one girl from another school were the only ones left...and this was at 9'! Sometimes I think that having a higher starting height would be a good idea because it would prevent new vaulters who need to spend some more time on learning basic technique from trying to throw themselves over a bar in an unsafe manner (some jv guys just freak me out and require you to stand ten feet away from the pits so that you don't get him by them or their pole).

[Aviendha]

yeah, guys can be scary...lol

we had a varsity meet this last friday, with 14 girls. Opening was 6', only two people passed to 6-6, and i passed to 7-6 (was going to do 8, but didn't trust where my standards were because of a massive tailwind). Only one of my teammates (who passed to 6-6) and one other girl were left when i came in. I won at 8 feet....sad...
BUT.... i went on and PR'd at 9-9!

I definitely agree that 6 feet really is too low a start for a varsity meet. Should be 7 or even 7-6...unless you're in a state that really isn't very good with vaulting, and any girl you get who can get over a bar is a varsity vaulter...

[souleman]

Ok, I'm for everyone being able to compete.....BUT...I was a fat little kid in 4th grade and I was making 6 feet with a banboo pole and a box that was nothing more than a hole dug in the ground (and I mean DIRT). Yes I know that was back in the dark ages....but........I also vaulted varsity in a couple of meets when I was in 8th grade and the fact was the standards wouldn't go lower than 7'6"......so that was starting height. Some meets were 8 feet and yes, in 8th grade I did 9 feet as a PR for that year so I only got to jump at 2 heights but I wasn't holding any body up and I did make a couple of points for the team with the 8, 8'6" and 9 foot jumps. But 5 points (I think that's what first place gets) for a 6 foot first place? I'd be embarrassed as a coach to take the points. As the the vaulter? Hey he beat.........well nobody...... but I'm not going to take the victory away from him. That too would be wrong. So the answer is, depending on the meet and the situation, agree on an opening height and make it at least higher than the tallest vaulter so at least they're jump a height that is taller than the competitors. Later........................MIke

[squalicumvaulter07]

that is rediculous
that was the winning height ?!
come on

[vaultgirl1028]

I was at a meet and there was like 20 girl vaulter, so i was like yes! some good competition. but by the time i had come in at 7ft. (they started at 5') there was only like 4 or 5 girls left.

[bvpv07]

Kinda curious here, but just how low can the bar go?

My school had 10' standards, so that without extensions they go to down to 8'. We add extensions on for competitions, and then they can go down to 6'.

I didn't even know that the bar could go down to 4'6" or whatever it started at at that meet.

So, what is the lowest opening height that you guys have seen or heard about at meets? The lowest that I've seen is 6'.

[VaulteRachello]

the bar can only go so low, at some point its just a question of if you can make it to the pit!

[rainbowgirl28]

I think the pit is about 3'6" high, depending on how you have it set up. I've seen masters marks in the 3 and 4 foot range. Nothing wrong with that. I don't think I've ever seen a high school meet start any lower than 5 feet.

[RidinHigh]

In my point of view I believe it is completely rediculous to have any high school boys PV competition start below 8 feet at the lowest. Just the other day I was at a quad meet at a local high school and the vaulters from the other schools wanted the opening height to be 5'. I kind of mummbled to myself "Are you serious". I mean I understand that they might just be learners in some cases, but all of the guys were ones I had vaulted with in the year prior. So I ended up having to sit around waiting for the 5 of them to work their way up for like and hour and a half. Maybe I should mention that the best one of them ended up clearing 7' out of the bunch. It really sucked b/c I hate vaulting by myself with absolutly no competition. I ended up coming in at 11', but after clearing my first 2 heights I just didn't have anyone to push me so I just told the official I was done. I always have fun vaulting, but it is tough when it is only me, the official, and my coach standing there. Isn't it a competiton!

Oh by the way maybe I should also mention that the winning height for the girls was 8'6". A foot and a half higher than the 2nd place guy.

[Pat Coffee]

When the vault first started in MN, opening height was 4 ft. One girl came down the runway, stalled on top, and stradled the bar. Since the pit is 2 1/2 feet high, she landed on her feet with the bar between her legs. She still had a hold of the pole. She threw back the pole, and stepped over the bar. The official called it a make. I will never forget all the people laughing. I agree that starting heights should be higher, but it is nice to see new vaulters having some success early on.