Message from the writer: Thank you all so much for your support! Over the past two months we’ve grown to hundreds of readers and several premium subscribers! Thank you for your patience with this article. Between track season, planning a wedding, and getting a house, there’s a lot going on :). We’re about to enter the outdoor season and what I think is the most exciting time of the year for pole vault in non-olympic years. Nationals, Texas Relays, and much more to come!
High School State Championships and The Road to Nationals
In this edition of PoleVaultOnline, we’re starting with high school because of the sheer amount of activity that happens at this point in the year. With New Balance and Nike Nationals quickly approaching, we’ve already seen initial heat sheets released. Click on the photos below to see the full sheets for championships. From the number of entries it is clear that at the Championship division New Balance is the favored event by athletes.
New Balance National Championship Entries
Nike National Championship Entries
As a reminder, New Balance Nationals is being held in Boston at their facility while Nike Nationals will be at the venue that’s held the event for years, The New York Armory. You’ll notice many athletes at NBN are competing unattached as it’s no longer an NFHS event where as Nike is now the NFHS sanctioned event where most athletes are listed with a school or club. Between being two events and NCAAs being the same weekend, you’ll be sure to notice less college coaches than historically.
High School State Championships
Over the past two to three weeks, high schools have been competing for their state championships… in some states. States like Florida, where I’m at, there really isn’t an indoor track season. For us, track begins in February as outdoor. For this reason, the indoor and outdoor national leaderboard’s can look quite different. If you’re not familiar with how the United States runs high school sports, sports are split into divisions based on the size of the school. For example, in a state like Maryland “1A” refers to high schools of a smaller size while “4A” is the largest class of public high school in the state. Additionally, private schools often compete amongst each other for state championship rights. For this reason, many states (maybe all of them) don’t actually have a single state champion but a state champion in each division. Championship meet season is normally the only time schools are separated by class, the regular season you’ll nearly always see a mixture of schools.
Some big states have had their state championships and for many athletes this is their very last chance to get into nationals or maybe move up to the championship division.
In Pennsylvania, junior Logan Gossard won with 15’6” and Katie Urbine won with 13’6”. Sophomore Veronica Vacca placed second with 13’0”!! She’s going to be one to watch over the next years.
In New York, junior Neil Howard won with 15’9” and Ella Galloway won with 12’6”.
After a decade of solid pole vault growth in the state of Maryland, this year’s state championships showed a stage of rebuilding, but the Girls 3A competition came down to a jump off that ultimately saw Elisa Ramos win with 12’03”. The Maryland area is rich in pole vault clubs and should be exciting to watch over the next several years.
Out in Wyoming, sophomore Kavin Hoff won with 14’6”! The sophomore has staedily increased his marks this indoor season with states being his personal best.
If you’re wondering how the Moll sisters fared at their state meet….well it doesn’t look like they have one. According to the Washington interscholastic activities association, they only have an outdoor state meet which is held at the end of May.
If you’re a state champion or your state meet has yet to happen, email me with the results of your event or a video to be included in next week’s post.
I will be heavily covering both New Balance and Nike Nationals next week. I was fortunate enough to compete at NBN at the Championship level. As an athlete who had a PR in the mid 15’s in high school, it was an extremely tough meet.
My Tips for Competing at High School Nationals
Try to get in at least a full 24 hours before you’re competing. Traveling can be tiring and even worse, cramped - you want to have adequate time to get loose. If you land at 10pm on Friday and compete Saturday morning, you may not be 100%.
Focus on mindfulness and staying calm in the week and hours leading up to competing. Getting excited for a big meet is fantastic; however, too much focus on the grandeur of the event can lead to getting mentally tired which will lead to feeling physically tired.
Don’t try a new run length if you’ve never competed at these facilities. These runways are FAST and may even feel bouncy. If you normally do 7 lefts, don’t go back to 8 for the first time here even if you’ve tried it in practice a time of two. Your run length may be slightly different from your home or club facility.
Comparison is the thief of joy. For many competitors at nationals, you’re the champion of your hometown. This could be the first meet you have more than 1 or 2 competitors that are at and above your level. Don’t be the guy in line asking what poles everyone is on or what their PR is. That doesn’t help your jump. I’ll save your time. There will be vaulters on 14’ poles who are AMAZING at getting upside down. There will be vaulters on 16’ poles who are still working heavily on their top end and everything in between.
If you’re at nationals, this likely isn’t the end of your pole vault career. Don’t make it all about your performance. This is your opportunity to meet athletes from around the country who you’ll be competing with at the college level. Families are traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to see their kids compete. Tell your family thank you. Tell the officials thank you. Introduce yourself to other vaulters and athletes of other events you find impressive. Five years down the road, you can remember nationals as the height you jumped and just that - OR you can remember nationals for the incredible experience and the people you met. Share
Who’s At NCAA Nationals?
March 10 and 11th, 2023 the NCAA Indoor Championships are set to begin at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Across the men competing, there’s a 42cm gap between the 1st and 16th seed and in the women, a 24cm gap showing how close the women’s competition is going to be.
Personally, if Sondre is having a good day, I don’t see how he doesn’t win. His 5.90m jump was huge and being back at NM I could see him going closer to 6m. However, if he has an average day, Zach Bradford and Branson Ellis are going to give him a run. I expect the winning jump to be at least 5.85m. Zach has been incredibly reliable this year and Branson seems to be hitting his season peak at the perfect time.
On the women’s side, there’s just a 2 inch gap among the top 4 meaning it’s anyone’s to take. After hitting 4.45m in the first meet of the year, it took Sydney Horn until her conference meet to up her best to 4.50m. With her sister at the meet, Sydney should have an extra level of comfort performing at a stellar facility. On the other hand Marleen and Amanda are dominant competitors and Amanda has been amazingly consistent this indoor season. I expect it’ll take at least a 4.55m jump to be crowned NCAA champion.
European Championships
Sondre Guttormsen and Wilma Murto are your European champions!! I wonder when the last time it was two nordic countries to take home the gold. You’ll also notice a key absence from the men’s competition - Mondo. Based on Mondo’s social media, it does not appear he was planning to attend the meet.
Men’s Championship Results
Women’s Championship Results
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