CHANGES IN VAULT IN OFFING?

Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer

In the wake of Tuesday's death of a Hart High School pole vaulter, coaches, athletes and administrators admit the event is dangerous but wonder what other steps can be taken to prevent future accidents.

Heath Taylor, 17, died after landing on the far end of the mat and hitting his head on concrete during a practice at Hart, according to school and hospital officials.

His death comes four months after a prep vaulter in Illinois died from similar injuries and a week after a Peninsula High discus thrower died after being hit by a discus.

``It's the most dangerous (event) we have in track and field,'' Southern Section commissioner Dean Crowley said of the pole vault.

There have been nine high school deaths involving pole vaulters between 1982 and 1994, according to Fred Mueller, a researcher at the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research in Chapel Hill, N.C. There also have been six permanent disability injuries and five serious fractures with full recovery.

Safety concerns, rising costs of poles and lack of qualified coaches have caused schools and at least three leagues to drop the event in recent years, even though girls now compete in it.

The Channel League, located in Ventura County, dropped the pole vault three years ago. Brian Fitzgerald, athletic director at Rio Mesa in Oxnard, said there were three concerns.

``One was safety and liability,'' he said. ``The other was lack of qualified people to coach and teach the event. And the third concern was a cost factor because poles and pits are expensive and we were coming into an era when girls were starting to vault.''

The states of Iowa and Alaska dropped the pole vault from all high school competition over similar concerns, said Jan Johnson, pole vault safety chairman for USA Track and Field.

To strengthen safety in the event, Dick Schindler, the assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Associations in Kanasas City, Mo., said his organization implemented several new rules in 1995. They included banning the use of training poles during practice, more careful inspecting of poles in competition and mandating the landing area be a minimum 16 feet, 6 inches by 16 feet, 6 inches. Vaulters must also use a pole rated appropriately to their weight.

Another rule says there must be at least two inches of padding on all hard surfaces around the vaulting area, Johnson said.

The current debate over pole vault safety concerns the use of helmets. Johnson, the pole vault safety chairman for USA Track and Field, encourages people to use helmets similar to what hockey players, in-line skaters and skateboarders use. At the recent Arcadia Invitational, one vaulter wore a helmet.

To date, there are no rules mandating use of helmets, Schindler said. Crowley said he liked the idea and might recommend it to the national high school federation. It's not known whether a helmet would have saved Taylor's life.

Johnson and Schindler expressed doubt helmets would become standard equipment soon.

``If we're going to mandate helmets,'' Johnson said, ``the schools and their lawyers and the rest of the bureaucracy will say, `OK, give us a specifically designed helmet.' None exists. . . . Some protection is better than no protection.''

Many expressed hope the event isn't headed toward extinction.

``I think a kid is safer vaulting on campus than driving a car,'' said Mel Hein, track coach at Taft and a former pole vaulter at USC. ``In every sport a kid does, there's a minute chance for injury.''

VAULTING INJURIES

Injuries among high school pole vaulters from 1982-1994:

9 deaths

6 permanent disabilities

5 serious fractures

Source: National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research in Chapel Hill, N.C.

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