Wisconsin's Consecutive Attempt NFHS Rule Adaptation

[Darth Vaulter]

Wisconsin's high school sports governing body, the WIAA, has an adaptation of the NFHS pole vault rules that requires a vaulter to take his or her second attempt immediately after a miss on the first attempt (and gives the vaulter the option of taking the third attempt immediately if the first two are misses). Do any other states have this rule adaptation?

I've never liked this rule and think that it makes the event less safe. The rule that gives the vaulters 4 minutes between jumps when there are 3 vaulters left in the competition and 6 minutes when there is just one suggests that a vaulter needs recovery time between attempts. Wisconsin vaulters get the extra time at the end of the competition but they apparently don't need it at the beginning. I believe the theory is that it will speed up the competition but it hasn't done so. Pole vault is often still the last event to finish. The vaulter and coach generally consume the entire 90 seconds between attempts (and often more) discussing what went wrong, whether to change the standards placement, and basically trying to get the vaulter's head back where it needs to be for the next attempt. The competitions I've been to where the regular 5-alive rules apply seem to go faster. Overall, Wisconsin vaulters take the same number of jumps, maybe more because the second attempt is rushed, as the vaulters in another state, they just take more time between them.

Thoughts?

On the plus side, Wisconsin has another rule adaptation that is great. When vaulters enter the competition after passing at least three heights, they get 2 minutes of warmup time for each vaulter entering the competition at that height. So, for example, if the opening height in a big girls' competition is 7' and the two best vaulters enter the competition at 10', two hours later, they get 4 minutes of shared time to do anything they want without a bar -- pop ups, full vaults, run throughs, whatever -- instead of just one trip down the runway.

[KirkB]

... an adaptation of the NFHS pole vault rules that requires a vaulter to take his or her second attempt immediately after a miss on the first attempt ...

Weird. I don't understand the rationale of this rule adaptation. That clearly gives vaulters further down the list an unfair advantage, as they already know what their unlucky competitor (who missed and then made a height) did, so they can pass accordingly. What's wrong with the five-alive rule? Waiting for 4 jumpers before you take your second attempt seems like about the right amount of rest in-between.

It's almost always a disadvantage to go first ... it seems like the "luck of the draw" will be even MORE important in WI.

Kirk

[rainbowgirl28]

I've heard of that being done, but I don't like it and I don't think it saves time.

[Divalent]

...On the plus side, Wisconsin has another rule adaptation that is great. When vaulters enter the competition after passing at least three heights, they get 2 minutes of warmup time for each vaulter entering the competition at that height. So, for example, if the opening height in a big girls' competition is 7' and the two best vaulters enter the competition at 10', two hours later, they get 4 minutes of shared time to do anything they want without a bar -- pop ups, full vaults, run throughs, whatever -- instead of just one trip down the runway.

I like this one. Alot.

One of the more serious accidents I witnessed (resulting in a trip to the hospital in an ambulance) was by a vaulter taking her one warmup jump after a large field had been narrowed down to about 3, about an hour after the start of the event on a cold day (she went right, and landed off the pit on concrete: another story...). I also saw a 12'er NH at her opening of 10'6" after sitting for more than an hour in 90+ heat and humidity at the State Meet finals. A lot can change over an hour's time. And I've seen two 15+ boys enter a competition after a whole large field had been eliminated more than 2 hours after the start, and I was pretty nervous one of them would have a problem. (I'm sure their feel for the runway and pole and their visual cues, etc would not be as fresh as it was at the end the the warm up more than two hours earlier. fortunately no problem.)

Vaulters that pass lower heights help shorten the competition, and two minutes seems like a reasonable concession.

(I agree the immediate 2nd attempt rule is probably not fair.)

[Robert schmitt]

I went to Hs in WI in the late 80's and jumped in meets with similar rules. I think there are very few advantages to this. the only thing I liked was some times mentally it was easier to make changes b/c cause the feel of previous jump was fresh in my mind. other than that I don't see any benefit if that is even a benefit b/c you muscles have not had time to restore ATP used in the previous attempt.