Los Gatos wrote:
Before he was there no person would have ever thought of that as a place to go to school.
South Carolina has had a very strong vault program.
Year to year top Jumps:
1998: Pat Tvarkunas - 17'0
1999: Pat Tvarkunas - 17'2.5
2000: Pat Tvarkunas - 17'7, Chris Steddum - 16'10, Mike Lamier - 16'8
2001: Chris Steddum - 17'8, Jared Farabee - 16'8
2002: Chris Steddum - 17'9, Jared Farabee - 17'0
2003: Chris Steddum: 17'10, Jared Farabee - 17'3, Greg Royster - 16'9
2004: Chris Steddum - 18'0
2006: Dan McKenzie - 17'1
2007: Dan McKenzie - 17'1
I would be surprised if you could find more than 10-15 schools with a better 10 year history. Furthermore, (and this is the most important stat) of the vaulters listed above, check out their HS PR's.
Pat Tvarkunas: 15'9 (22 inch improvement)
Chris Steddum: 15'9 (27 inch improvement)
Jared Farabee: 15'4 (22 inch improvement)
Greg Royster 16'0 (9 inch improvement)
Dan McKenzie: 13'6 (42 inch improvement)
Not a single 17' out of HS in the bunch.
I think most vaulters would be fairly happy to attend a school with a program like that, I know I was. Having said that, I think Lojo will take USC to the next level and could easily have his two new vaulters over 18' and get his younger guys up to 17ft+ next year.
Just plug to my new "adopted" grad school, Rice University will have a very strong team for the vault:
Jason Colwick - 18'2.5
Shea Kerney - 17'2.5
Blaine Bassler - ~ 17' (HS)