28-YEAR OLD RECORD FALLS

Records are meant to be broken. Just ask Jack Whitt from Norman North. During the Putnam City Invitational on March 7th, Whitt vaulted into the record books passing former Marlow vaulter Joe Dial. Whitt gave VYPE this statement about the event. "The meet was The Putnam City Invitational on March 7, 2009. It was a very windy day and I had a good warm up to go along with it. When the bar was raised to 15'6 Jonathan Webb(Moore) and I were the only two competitors left (15'6 was my opening height). After 15'6 clearance by both of us the bar went to 16'0. I made the bar and he missed but still taking second place. After making 16'0 I raised the bar to 17'0 and made it. I then moved the bar to 17'4 and made it. When the bar was raised to 17'10 3/4 I had my first miss of the competition. I then went to a new pole that I have never jumped on and ended up clearing the bar on my second attempt. The previous State Record was set by Joe Dial (my future coach) of Marlow in 1981 at 17'9 1/2. After making 17'10 3/4 I raised the bar to a new National Outdoor Record 18'3 1/4. I made two good attempts at 18'3 1/4 but I was unable to break Tommy Skipper's National Record of 18'3. As of now, I am the seventh all-time high school pole vaulter outdoors." Coach Joe Dial was not available for comment. Jack is featured in the April edition of VYPE with fellow Norman North soccer player, Jack Coleman. Send us your comments about Whitt's accomplishment to brad.heath@vype.com