PoleVaultPower.com

Here are a few state population numbers to compare to high school vaulters. I'll let someone else fill in other state numbers of 15'+, 16'+ and 17'+ vaulters . If I knew where to get numbers of HS students in each state we could use it for a better comparison.

To get other state populations search the US Census Bureau site.

Also, I think we should name the vaulters. If you can't name them, you can't use them.

2002 SEASON

SOUTH CAROLINA
Population: 4,000,000

Chase Shealy, 16' 8"
Mark Johnson, 16' 4"
Trey Bell, 15' 8"
Mitch Greeley, 15' 6"

4 x 15ft+ vaulters: 1 per 1.0 million
2 x 16ft+ vaulters: 1 per 2.0 million

TEXAS
Population: 21,300,000

CALIFORNIA
Population: 34,500,000

ARIZONA
Population: 5,300,000

WASHINGTON
Population: 6,000,000

OREGON
Population: 3,500,000

FLORIDA
Population: 16,400,000

Washington
Tyson Byers 17'1"
Mckane Lee 16'6"
Eric Dormaier 16'0"
Matt Merritt 15'8.25i"
Sam Roberts 15'6"
Evan Whitehall 15'4"
Bo Fisher 15'0"

I won't count Eli Gardner 15'0" in 2001 (Went 14'6" in 2002)

So
7x15' =1 per 857,000
3x16' =1 per 2,000,000
1x17'= 1 per 6,000,000

Almost identical numbers if you take out Tyson. It looks like Washington vaulters have the early lead...

WASHINGTON
Population: 6,000,000
7x15' =1 per 857,000
3x16' =1 per 2,000,000
1x17'= 1 per 6,000,000[/quote]

SOUTH CAROLINA
Population: 4,000,000
4 x 15ft+ vaulters: 1 per 1.0 million
2 x 16ft+ vaulters: 1 per 2.0 million

this is a great thread and all but what does it show comparing # of good vaulters to state population. For example, Texas has a smaller population then California, but Texas has twice as many track and field participants then Cali. We need to find a list of pole vault participants for each state, that would be the most accurate comparison. Actually, then you have to find the difference between 1 year vaulters, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, or more. This would take some major research.

I agree. It's a major project... Your Hired! LOL

We may be able to get the HS T&F participants list fairly easy somewhere. That may be the closest we can get without a major effort. SOmeone locate the T&F numbers by state for us. Maybe it'll be broken down by male/female as well.

I remeber somone posting the stats on Dyestat a couple months ago. Ill just have to dig them up again.

Ok I found some numbers pretty easily on the NFHS site. It is only broken down into number of boys and girls participants for each sport but its a starting point I guess. Don't know how accurate these are either. I don't think it would be possible to get a very accurate number of vaulters in each state.

Nationwide
Track and Field (outdoor) participants
Boys- 494,022
Girls- 415,677
Total- 909,699
Because I don't want to type in a bunch of numbers I'll just do participants in WA, SC, TX, AZ and CA

Boys Girls
AZ- 6,440 4,840
CA- 40,843 33,153
SC- 6,467 5,122
TX- 78,758 65,574
WA- 11,336 9,191


Then theres all kind of statistical inference you could get from these numbers.

I have way too much time on my hands. Maybe I should study more.

I took these stats from another thread:

-TX had 10 guys over 16 last year and 23 over 15
-CA had 1 over 17, 2 over 16, and 15 over 15
-WA had 1 over 17, 1 over 16, and 4 over 15
-SC had 2 over 16, and 3 over 15
-KS had 8 guys over 15
-OH had 7 over 15
-OR had 1 over 17, and 3 over 15
-AZ had 1 over 16, and 4 over 15

I divided the number of guys over 17, 16, and 15 by the number of total track and field participants for each state. The results are the percent of track and field participants in that state that went over that height:
Over 17'
WA-.000088%
CA-.000024%
AZ-0%
SC-0%
TX-0%

Over 16'
SC-.000309%
WA-.000265%
AZ-.000155%
TX-.000127%
CA-.000073%

Over 15'
AZ-.000776%
SC-.000773%
WA-.000618%
CA-.000441%
TX-.000419%

These results show that it takes more than just having lots of athletes to be good. It's what you can do with your athletes that counts the most!

GO AZ!!!! lol

016'00.00" Miller, Jonathan (2002) Bloomingdale HS, FL

015'09.25" Pellegrino, Danny (2002) Maclay, FL

015'06.00" Gaddis, Stephen (2003) Port St. Joe HS, FL

015'03.00" McCarty, Mark (2002) Godby HS, FL

If you can find the participation number for florida, we can see where they stand.

Pretty good numbers, but SC had 4 over 15'. I know because they have all jumped with our CarolinaExtreme.com track club in the past. How does that change your numbers?

Is it SC #1 and AZ #2 in 15 footers?

If so that makes us #1 in 15' and 16' by participants. Or does it? Check your math, I think it's wrong. Let's do it by "1 vaulter X". I'll do it tommorow unless someone beats me to it.