HS Rule Change for 2011 - 2 Min Warmup instead of 1 Run Thru

[Chukam All]

What happens with this rule when one of the vaulters entering the competition is away running on the track when the height change in question comes around?

We had this happen at the Illinois "Indoor State Meet". Most of the coaches wanted me to declare that the vaulter had to take his 2 warm up minutes as the standards were being raised, as the rules state. If he is not at the pit at the time of the height change, he's SOL. Some, myself included, felt this was unfair to the kid. I did what every good event official should do, I went to the Meet Referee for a ruling. I was told that the official stance in Illinois would be that the "prefered" method is to have all the jumpers entering the competition at a height take their warm-up time together (3 vaulters X 2 minutes each = 6 minutes total for all). But since one had been excussed to run a race on the track, the other two would get 4 minutes of warm-up, we would then re-start the competition jumping, and the third vaulter would get his 2 minute warm-up time when he returned to the pit. Is this what other states are doing? Or do other states make the mistake of hurting the vaulter who was off competing in other events by using the SOL stance?

[Vaultref]

[quote="Chukam All"]What happens with this rule when one of the vaulters entering the competition is away running on the track when the height change in question comes around?
....quote]

What is your procedure for an excuse absence? What ever it is you should be following that to the tee.
We follow what is documented in the NFHS case book with whatever time-limit the games committe decides.

If your example occurred here, the result would look like this...
Start the warm-up time with the vaulters present. Once the excused absence time as expired... raise the bar
to the next height and off we go.
Once that third vaulter comes back.. it's his/her choice.. start vaulting when your turn comes up or pass to next height.

Now lets say this third vaulter comes back just as the prior warm-up is ending.. and lets say again the time has expired.. but you haven't raised the bar. A little common sense can go a long way.. give him/her a warm-up period of 2-minutes or ask if he/she wants to pass and take it on the next height. You're being flexible without putting anyone at an advantage or disadvantage nor making up your own rules. Put the bar up and get going.
Yeah, I'm sure there will be what if this or what if that.. let common sense prevail.

When an athlete leaves for another event, it is a coaching problem to solve on what to do next not an officials problem.


Side note to that official who combines the NCAA warm-up time.. Don't combine the time.. follow the rule book whether you like it or not. All you do is create problems for the rest of us NCAA officials who do it correctly. Bring them on the warm-up runway in the order they appear on the sheet. Let them do whatever the want with the two minutes. Most never take more than one jump, but its their time to waste or wisely use.

[Chukam All]

Now lets say this third vaulter comes back just as the prior warm-up is ending...

And in fact this is what happened. He returned just as I was walking back from talking to the Referee. So his 2 minutes started right after the other two's 4 minutes expired. No extra wait for the rest of the field at all.

I was looking to see if other states have made different interpretations than the one made in Illinois. Assuming that no violations of the excused time limits have occured:

Are other states letting athletes take their warm-up time after the other compeditors have started jumping a particular height?

Are they sticking absolutely to the "at height change" part of the rule?