Trend Lines - Pole Vault


Andrea Willis currently holds the Colorado high school pole vault record, but trend lines suggest it could be threatened before too long.

Next up for a glance at trend lines is the pole vault. In this article, we will consider only the outdoor pole vault. The pole vault isn't too much different indoor or out, but the outdoor marks alone probably give us a slightly better window and how things are progressing than trying to merge indoor and outdoor results or consider only indoor results. 

The boys pole vault records, and especially in the larger classifications, tend to be older records, indicating there were some very good vaulters before Colorado Track XC came on the scene and started archiving results at all levels of pole vaulting. So, it would be instructive to be able to see data trends over the last, say, 20 years, but I'm not aware of any place that data exists. Rather, I'm of the opinion that most meet data dating back to 2007 or earlier is now pretty much lost forever.

Still, we can learn something by looking at the data from 2009 forward (2008 data is probably more than 50%, but still partial). 

If you've been checking these articles as they've been appearing, you know that I've been picking an "elite" mark and a high-achievement mark for both genders and counting performances that meet or exceed those marks as a yardstick to measures trends in performances. For the pole vault, I've selected 15-0 and 13-6 for boys and 12-0 and 10-6 for girls. 

Here's what the number of athletes reaching those marks looks like over the last several years:

Boys Pole Vault

Year 15-0+ 13-6+
2009 2 23
2010 1 21
2011 1 21
2012 6 27
2013 4 28
2014 6 29
2015 6 27
2016 5 26
2017 6 29


Girls Pole Vault

Year 12-0+ 10-6+
2009 1 11
2010 3 12
2011 0 8
2012 1 16
2013 4 20
2014 4 20
2015 1 26
2016 5 24
2017 3 23

There is a solid hint in both cases that performances are trending upward overall. Both boys and girls witnessed a spike in higher end performances somewhere around 2012 or 2013. Boys performances have largely flatlined since that time, though it appears girls are still climbing (and especially at the 10-6 standard). 

One confounding variable here, though, is that more schools are adding the pole vault lately, even as pole vault coaching during the school day is becoming increasingly difficult to come by. So, is what we're seeing more a case of more schools vaulting or a slight upward tick in performances? I'll leave the pole vault types to discuss that among themselves.