Officials mess up the bar for Stokke

[rainbowgirl28]

http://dailypilot.com/articles/2007/05/ ... rack26.txt

Stokke, Buckley win
TRACK AND FIELD: Amid controversy, Newport Harbor pole vaulter takes title, while CdM senior takes first in 1,600 meters.

By Soraya Nadia McDonald

NORWALKâ€â€

[SweetPVJumps]

oh man, thats such a bummer. i dont blame her at all for being frustrated. i would be MAJORLY mad at the officials if i thought i PRed a couple times when i didnt because of their error

[Vaultref]

Double bummer if I read the report correctly..

Measurements for height "X" are taken before a jump NOT after it.

[drcurran]

I am sorry to hear the officials made a mistake. As an official I try my darn-est to do everything correctly. If a laser measuring device is use and every bar is measured before the vault, there is less chance of this happening.

Dan

PS - At a small meet at Widener University (Chester, PA) we had 5 competitors left. We had been using extenders and only the bottom peg. After the vault at 3.05m we were up high enough to get rid of the extenders and use the top peg of the "real" standards, we dropped the standards down and promptly vaulted at 3.05m again. Did not realize my mistake until the last vaulter was completing her vault. Luck for us all 5 made 3.05 the second time, but I was not happy with myself for not measuring the bar. From now on every bar gets measured!

[vaultmd]

I used to be self-conscious when I would interupt a competition to remeasure/recalibrate the standards. But then I noticed that the athletes don't seem to mind because they know I am trying to protect them.

It should be noted that in Allison's case, the CIF Southern Section meets don't always have USATF-certified officials working the pole vault. Even the state meet doesn't always have them. There are plenty of really good USATF officials down there, so I doubt that one of them was working the meet.

[ILUVPOLEVAULT]

the officials in the vault are great officials and it was a mistake. Unfortunatly you cant really afford to make a mistake that big at masters! When you have a vaulter jumping to tie the national best for the year, you better be sure that you are making every measurement correctly. Allison has enough going on to have to worry about making sure the officials did measurements right. Its a sad mistake but in the end both of the officials have earned many years of respect and probably can guarentee that this wont happen again.

as for you al, good luck tomorrow at state!