Dragila Progressions and Records

[roger/over]

Stacy's recent announcement of her retirement from vaulting, and even more recent news that she is expecting a baby, makes it unlikely that she will reach any more vaulting personal bests or records. Just to make sure that PVP subscribers are aware of just how great has been her contributions to our sport, I'll post her indoor and outdoor progressions and national and world records as I have them. I will, of course, appreciate any corrections or additions.


Dragila Indoor Progression and Records

3.05i 1994-02-26 1 Pocatello (as Stacy Mikaelson)
3.12i 1995-02-10 1 Pocatello
3.35i 1995-02-26 1 Pocatello
3.45i 1996-01-13 en Pocatello
3.66i 1996-01-13 en Pocatello
3.75i 1996-01-13 en Pocatello
3.89i 1996-01-13 en Pocatello NR
3.96i 1996-01-13 1 Pocatello NR
4.00i 1996-01-19 1= Reno NRT (tied with Melissa Price for first and record)
4.05i 1996-02-10 1 Pocatello NR
4.05i 1996-03-10 en Atlanta NR=
4.10i 1996-03-10 1 Atlanta NR (Price took record to 4.12 at Fresno on 1996-03-17)
4.14i 1997-01-11 en Pocatello NR
4.27i 1997-01-11 1 Pocatello NR
4.30i 1997-01-24 1 Reno NR
4.30i 1997-03-09 en Paris-Bercy NR=
4.35i 1997-03-09 en Paris-Bercy NR
4.40i 1997-03-09 1 Paris-Bercy NR/WIR= (tied Emma George's indoor record)
4.48i 1998-03-08 1 Sindelfingen NR/WIR (Mueller took record to 4.49 at New York on 1999-02-05, improved to 4.50 at Roxbury on 1999-02-07)
4.51i 2000-01-28 1 Pocatello NR (WR Emma George 4.60m)
4.57i 2000-02-19 en Pocatello NR/WIR (WR Emma George 4.60m)
4.61i 2000-02-19 1 Pocatello NR/WR
4.62i 2000-03-03 1 Atlanta NR/WR
4.63i 2001-02-02 1 New York NR/WR= (tied Stacy's WR of 2000-07-23 outdoors)
4.65i 2001-02-09 1 Pocatello (IAAF ruled "exhibition" as guest at college dual meet)
4.66i 2001-02-17 en Pocatello NR/WR
4.70i 2001-02-17 1 Pocatello NR/WR
4.71i 2003-02-01 1 Boston NR (WR Stacy 4.81 on 2001-06-03; WIR Feofanova 4.75 on 2002-03-03)
4.72i 2003-02-07 1 New York NR (WR Stacy 4.81 on 2001-06-03; WIR Feofanova 4.75 on 2002-03-03)
4.78i 2003-03-02 1 Boston NR/WIR (WR Stacy 4.81)
4.81i 2004-03-06 2 Budapest NR (Isinbayeva WR 4.86 in winning this meet)

Dragila Outdoor Progression and Records

3.35 1995-04-08 1 Provo
3.35 1995-06-06 en Eugene
3.40 1995-06-06 1 Eugene
3.40 1995-06-16 en Sacramento
3.50 1995-06-16 2 Sacramento
3.70 1995-08-21 2 Gateshead
4.13 1996-04-20 1 Lawrence NR
4.15 1996-06-02 en Abbotsford NR
4.19 1996-06-02 1 Abbotsford NR
4.20 1996-06-19 1 Atlanta NR
4.22 1997-04-12 1 Eugene NR
4.24 1997-04-20 1 Walnut NR
4.28 1997-04-25 1 Provo NR
4.30 1997-05-10 en Modesto NR
4.45 1997-05-10 1 Modesto NR
4.46 1999-04-19 1 Walnut NR
4.47 1999-06-06 en Uniondale NR
4.54 1999-06-06 1 Uniondale NR
4.60 1999-08-21 1 Sevilla NR/WR= (tied Emma George's WR)
4.60 2000-05-21 1 Modesto (no application made by USATF)
4.62 2000-05-26 1 Phoenix (delayed drugs test not accepted by IAAF)
4.63 2000-07-23 1 Sacramento NR/WR
4.66 2001-04-27 en Pocatello NR/WOB (Stacy's WR indoors better at 4.70)
4.70 2001-04-27 1 Pocatello NR/WR=
4.71 2001-06-09 en Palo Alto NR/WR
4.81 2001-06-09 1 Palo Alto NR/WR
4.83 2004-08-06 1 Ostrava NR/WOB (Isinbayeva's WR indoors better at 4.90)

[Bubba PV]

Thanks Roger. Excellent tribute for a true superstar.

See you in Kamloops? Bubba

[MinutiaeMan]

Do you have the same thing for Melissa Price? I'm interested mainly in the outdoor series from the Nike/Cal Poly Invitational, at San Luis Obispo, on March 16, 1996, but a complete progression would be excellent. Price topped off the San Luis Obispo competition, I believe, with a 4.01, but I don't know what she did en route.

[Bubba PV]

I think she went on to jump 4.32? Roger? Bubba

[roger/over]

I'll work on a progression for her, but it may take a few days. My friend Gérard Dumas lists 107 indoor and outdoor results for Price in the third edition of his "Who's Who in Pole Vaulting," but doesn't show her national records. Mirko Jalava <tilastopaja.net> lists 69 results and shows her world rankings and (some) national records. Gérard and I did USA progressions that credit her with five indoor and ten outdoor records; eight of the latter all in 1995! It's going to take me awhile to get my mind around all of this and try to combine the progressions and records.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to help with the question of enroute marks toward her 4.01 at San Luis Obispo. That only tied her national record at Walnut the previous year, so clearances less than that wouldn't be shown in the lists of records and results that I keep on file.

[vaultmd]

I think she went on to jump 4.32? Roger? Bubba

Whatever she jumped at UCI that day is her PR.

I'm terribly remiss in getting the tape to her

[roger/over]

One more time, and I'll sign off for now. The reference to "UCI" is confusing to me. Both Dumas and Jalava have her indoor personal best as 4.25 in winning the NCAA Championships at Indianapolis on 5 March 1999, and her outdoor personal best as 4.36 in winning at Houston (WAC) on 23 May 1998.

[MinutiaeMan]

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to help with the question of enroute marks toward her 4.01 at San Luis Obispo. That only tied her national record at Walnut the previous year, so clearances less than that wouldn't be shown in the lists of records and results that I keep on file.

Good point. Here's why I ask. I'm working on the collegiate record progressions, all men's and women's events, 1980-present, and this is the only missing puzzle piece except for some details from the year the women switched to a different javelin.

Collegiate recordkeeping at present is kind of like those times when the heavyweight boxing title has been split. FAST, the Federation of American Statisticians of Track, has been publishing statistical annuals for at least three decades, most recently in conjunction with USATF. Scott Davis, who I think is still the director of the Mt. SAC Relays, is the FAST president. FAST tracks the outdoor collegiate record, including performances in the remainder of the outdoor season, following the NCAAs, by athletes who were collegians during the spring outdoor season. Track & Field News did it the same way until 1994, and then switched practices, and now construes collegiate records to consist only of performances achieved during the collegiate season ending with the NCAAs. Better performances after the NCAAs become sort of asterisk-only Track & Field News collegiate records. In events like the pole vault, moreover, I think Track & Field News construes indoor performances as eligible to be collegiate records, whereas FAST sticks to outdoor performances and keeps indoor performances separate.

Without regard to the pros or cons of how FAST and Track & Field News do things, I'm working on the progressions of the FAST-version outdoor collegiate records, albeit with attention to any indoor collegiate mark which, when achieved, was superior to the then-exising outdoor collegiate record.

The issue with Melissa Price then becomes that her high school record from 1995 was way better than the (FAST version) collegiate record which was in place at the end of 1995 outdoor competition, a 12-01 1/2 by Stacy Dragila, Idaho State, to place 2nd at the Great Britain vs. United States dual meet in Gateshead, England, on August 21, 1995. Indoors in 1996, Dragila and Price had a spate of marks superior to that 12-01 1/2, leading to a 13-06 1/4 by Price, in Fresno, on February 17, 1996. Then things moved back outdoors, however where for FAST-version purposes matters reverted to the mere 12-01 1/2, and on March 16, 1996, at San Luis Obispo, Price now a collegiate freshman, took the outdoor collegiate record all the way to 13-02, except that I don't know what she did en route.

Hence the question. I sent an e-mail also to Davis, but haven't heard back. I can either start things with Price's 13-02 from March 16, 1996, or can start with an 11-06 1/4 by Tyra Holt, Stanford, from the Stanford Festival on March 25, 2005, but with the missing Price puzzle piece. Or, likewise with the missing Price puzzle piece, I can even start indoors at 10-00 in 1994, and take it up to where Holt's performance finally produces an outdoor record that's superior to all the preceding indoor collegiate marks. The last of these options puts Jocelyn Chase, UCLA, and Shannon Walker, Bates, into the mix, both indoors, along with Dragila, Price, and Holt.

[roger/over]

MELISSA PRICE PROGRESSIONS
(Birthdate: 20 September 1977

Price Indoor Progression

3.53i (en) Reno 20 Jan 1995 NR
3.70i (1) Reno 20 Jan 1995 NR
3.71i (1) Los Angeles 11 Feb 1995 NR
4.00i (1=) Reno 19 Jan 1996 NR
4.12i (1) Fresno 17 Feb 1996 NR
4.20i (1) Reno 23 Jan 1998
4.22i (1) Indianapolis 13 March 1998
4.25i (1) Indianapolis 5 March 1999


Price Outdoor Progression

3.38 (1) Fresno 8 April 1994
3.40 (1) Fresno 6 June 1994
3.51 (1) Fresno 13 July 1994
3.68 (en) Visalia 28 April 1995 NR
3.71 (1) Visalia 28 April 1995 NR
3.81 (1) Norwalk 3 June 1995 NR
3.83 (en) Sacramento 16 June 1995 NR
3.89 (1) Sacramento 16 June 1995 NR
3.91 (en) Walnut 24 June 1995 NR
4.01* (1) Walnut 24 June 1995 NR
4.01* (1) San Luis Obispo 16 March 1996 NR
4.10 (1) Fresno 13 April 1996 NR
4.10 (1) Modesto 11 May 1996
4.12 (1) Fresno 21 March 1998
4.14 (1) Fresno 28 March 1998
4.25 (2) Fresno 4 April 1998
4.27 (1) Fresno 26 April 1998
4.36 (1) Houston 23 May 1998

• - although both of these are recorded as 4.01m, Dumas has the original measurement at Walnut as 13’1 3/4” and that at San Luis Obispo as 13’2”.

There were several inconsistencies in the outdoor marks from the several sources I used for these summaries. I would very much appreciate corrections or additions. It became clear, early on, that her birthdate and the 1994 data would have predicted other good high school marks, but I couldn’t find a source for those. Note that she was only sixteen when she cleared the first three heights on my outdoor list.

[MinutiaeMan]

4.01* (1) San Luis Obispo 16 March 1996 NR
4.10 (1) Fresno 13 April 1996 NR
4.10 (1) Modesto 11 May 1996
4.12 (1) Fresno 21 March 1998
4.14 (1) Fresno 28 March 1998
4.25 (2) Fresno 4 April 1998
4.27 (1) Fresno 26 April 1998
4.36 (1) Houston 23 May 1998

This tracks exactly what I have on the Collegiate Record progression, except for a 4.15 on 4 April 1998 en route to the 4.25, if you want to include that. And yes, I think the 16 March 1996 winning height is an imperial 13-02 converting to a 4.01.