Vaulters running the 200 meters

[BethelPV]

I also jumped 16+ in high school, and did the 300 hurdles, LJ, and 4x100 at every meet. Qualified for State in the LJ, PV, and 4x100 and was all-state in the PV and 4x100. Also helped our team win a Regional Championship by doing the other events as well, so I guess when it comes to HS i am all for the vaulters doing other events. Even in college I did the PV, 4x100, and TJ, as well as a little bit of JAV to help score points in our meets...

[chasing6]

I am dealing with a head coach who is insistant on all of my vaulters to run the 200 meters in all of our events. In my opinion vaulters don't run around corners very well. What do ya'll think?

It's important for high school vaulters to run other events. The earlier they are in their development, the more they should be doing this. However, it doesn't mean they have to run a specific race every single meet, and it will depend somewhat on the kid, what they like doing, and if they are injury prone. I think making all of the vaulters run the 200 every meet is dumb, but as a high school coach, you bet I made my kids do 2-3 other events every meet unless it was an Invitational, and they all ran the 4x400 at least once.

If your vaulters have a history of only doing the vault at every meet, I think a good compromise with your coach would be that the kids do at least one or two other events at all of the weekday meets, but let the kids pick the events. You could make them all run the 200 at least once, but there is no need to do it every meet.

I totally agree. Strangely, this same scenario is playing out at one of the HS is my area. Needless to say the vaulters are up in arms, and when they told me about this new coach I replied, "You mean you've gone through 3-4 years of HS and never done another event???" Part of the fun of track and field is trying everything at least once, if only to have some respect for your fellow athlete's accomplishments. It wasn't until my senior year of college that I stopped doing at least 3 events in meets (granted I was a decathlete for 2 of those years) and I still entertain the idea of dusting off my HJ spikes and trying for that 6'4" bar again.

I guess what I'm saying is embrace the chance to have some fun and show your team mates what great athletes we vaulters are. We are supposed to be the studs on the team anyway.

[birdi_gurlie]

I was A 16'+ vaulter in high school that ran the 200, 400, 4x100 and 4x400 and qualified for state in all of them.

Sweet! Nice job!
I, unfortunately, will be lucky to qualify for ONE, but I don't really care.
[If I only qualify in one, or none for that matter, I'll still go along and take pics and such, as usual.]

[baggettpv]

Dave,
Email me at baggettpv@aol.com. Talked to Stuart this Sat and I want really want to stay in contact with you guys. Alan want to come down and do a clinic with you in early June.

Rick

[Dave eckes]

Hey Rick,
WOW! how bout that vaulter in the 200.

CRABBIN @ CLAMMIN

[baggettpv]

I agree with the other's. 400 and shorter. Hurdles too. All this in dual meets. Save the invites for PV only (maybe).

Rick

[ILUVPOLEVAULT]

I have vaulted myself and also have done some coaching. During the season i have found that running other events such as the 100/110 hurdles, high jump and sprints can really help your vaulting. they all involve speed, jumping, and having a strong take off leg. I think in post season you should compete in the event that you show true ability, but as for someone who makes it to state in hurdles and polevault, obviously they have strenghs in both areas and I do no believe that running the hurdles would make you too tired to jump. I have always found that when I ran hurdles, it either pumped me up, or loosened my muscles just in time for the vault. Just my opinion.

[pv161]

I agree that vaulters should try other events but only if its something they want to do not something they are forced to do. If they are fast enough to score points they probably want to do it but if the coach knows they have no chance of scoring and just wants them to run for the conditioning thats what practice is for. Just curious, has anyone seen a coach require all his sprinters and jumpers to vault in every meet?

[AVC Coach]

Most of the time, your good pole vaulters are your best athletes on the track team. I don't know any intelligent coaches that would look at a kid and say "You can't really do anything else very well, so let's try the pole vault". I had a girl that graduated last year who was a 13'6" vaulter along with being a 2-time state champion in the 100m hurdles. She also triple jumped and ran relays in our conference meet to add to our point total.

There seems to be the mentality that the pole vault is a sport of it's own. As nice as that sounds, it's still just ONE event in TRACK & FIELD. There's always going to be those kids that aren't blessed with speed, but are very skilled technically in the vault. I have a bunch of those. They probably won't have to worry about being called on to run a sprint event since most of our meets have a participation limit in each event - eliminating them from the pool.

I think it's a great idea for vaulters to run other events if possible. Obviously you don't want a kid to go run the 400m in the middle of the pole vault, but an extra event or two, with the right timing, can be good for them.

[Pogo Stick]

Most of the time, your good pole vaulters are your best athletes on the track team. I don't know any intelligent coaches that would look at a kid and say "You can't really do anything else very well, so let's try the pole vault". I had a girl that graduated last year who was a 13'6" vaulter along with being a 2-time state champion in the 100m hurdles. She also triple jumped and ran relays in our conference meet to add to our point total.

Some of the best vaulters were very good in decathlon:
Aleksandr Averbukh 8084 points
Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz 7692 points (11,40 - 7.17 - 13.62 - 2.04 - 50,03 - 15,32 - 35.46 - 5.50 - 47.30 - 4.35,9)
Jean Galfione 7415 points

Some other T&F specialist with respectable decathlon scores or other events results:
Ralph Boston, Olympic long jump champion, former world record holder: 8045 points
Udo Beyer Olympic shot put champion, former world record holder: high jump 6’4, long jump 22’5.Keep in mind he was 135kg (300 lb)
Guy Drut, '76 Olympic champion in 110 hurdles compete in decathlon and cleared 17' in pole vault (in early '70)

Also: Estonian decathloner Erki Nool and french decathloner Sébastien Levicq had PB 5.60

[Pogo Stick]

Some of the best vaulters were very good in decathlon:
Aleksandr Averbukh 8084 points
Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz 7692 points (11,40 - 7.17 - 13.62 - 2.04 - 50,03 - 15,32 - 35.46 - 5.50 - 47.30 - 4.35,9)
Jean Galfione 7415 points

I was far from elite vaulter, but I was doing the following (events with at least one official result):
- pole vault, long jump, high jump, triple jump
- 60m, 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m
- 110m hurdles, 400 hurdles
- disc, hammer throw
- decathlon (that mean javelin, 1500 m)

Except decathlon, disc and hammer, which I did for fun, I was doing all other events for my club (see my avatar). All of us jumpers did other events when needed. And I have lot of fun doing for example hammer throw or running 400 hurdles.

[VaultPurple]

Its all situation of course, but In my opinion the pole vaulter should be the most athletic person on the team, therefor has the most to contribute to the team. Hardly see that in highschool because of the people that get 'stuck' in the vault. But if you have a 15+ vaulter that can run under 11 in the 100 and long jumps over 22 foot then he better be competing in those events atleast up to the point for a confrence title. And if the team is a contender for the team state title, then they better do them there if there is a possability they could score half a point. Every half a point matters. The NC state meet was won by half a point this year and the winning team had a high jumper tie for last place and get half a point. Now the diffrence comes in when your the only athlete on the team that ever scores and your at a big meet then what you do is up to you, but look at Mike Morrison back in high school, he jumped 17'6 and scored over 40 points at the state championships.

The only reason I think my thinking varies from other coaches is that I believe these athletes should be able to practice just the vault for the most part. There is no need to give up practice time for the event you plan on competing in in college, but if you are better than some of the people on your team with minimal practice at an event than let them do it. A good athletic and cordinated vaulter needs no additional practice to run the 100, maybe a few min to work on hand offs if they are on a relay, and if they are doing hurdles maybe do their vault warm up with hurdle drills just so they know how to do them. As far as long jump, the approach and take off is almost identical to that of the vault, so not additonl practice there.

Any 'elite' athlete should just be athletic no matter what the event, and the name of the game is ATHLETICS. I know a guy that throws 60' in the shot that got 4th in the state in the 55 with 6.59, long jumps 22', runs the 100 in 11.00.

If I was more athletic then I would have tried to compete in as many events as I could, but im relatively slow. But i could still help off the team as a decient leg on the 4x8 (2:12) and long jump high jump something at meets where I knew the other team was just bad at those events.