First organized in 1989 in Fresno and moved to Reno in 1992, event won’t be held in January for first time due to new state restrictions reducing size of groups; Meet directors still planning to organize online clinic for athletes and coaches

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The UCS Spirit National Pole Vault Summit, annually scheduled for mid-January at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center in Nevada, has been canceled for 2021, according to event co-director Brian Yokoyama, also the men’s and women’s national chair for USATF High Performance and Development.

“Like California, Nevada is experiencing an increase in COVID numbers and the new guidelines limit numbers to just 50 at a time,” Yokoyama said. “The prior limit was 250, which we had developed ideas making the event feasible.”

It marks the first time since Bob Fraley, the former director of track and field at Fresno State for 28 years, started the Pole Vault Summit in Fresno in 1989 that the event will not be held. The Pole Vault Summit moved to Reno in 1992 and has been held there each year since.

“This is the first and hopefully only time the Summit has not been held,”  Yokoyama said. “We hope to once again host the event in January 2022.”

Yokoyama remains committed to working with meet directors following their meeting Tuesday to create an online platform next month for the clinic to continue to provide virtual instruction for athletes and coaches.

More than 3,000 signups annually, including youth, high school, college, professional and Masters athletes, along with coaches and parents, have gathered in Reno in recent years for the three-day event.

World record holder Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, a Swedish athlete who attended high school in Louisiana before competing one year collegiately for LSU and then signing a professional contract with Puma, has competed at the Pole Vault Summit for more than a decade.

In addition to Duplantis, Olympic gold medalists Katerina Stefanidi, Renaud Lavillenie, Thiago Braz da Silva, Jenn Suhr, Steve Hooker, Tim Mack, Nick Hysong and Stacy Dragila have all attended the Pole Vault Summit, along with U.S. champions Sam Kendricks, Sandi Morris, Katie Nageotte, Scott Houston and Andrew Irwin, as well as recent NCAA Division 1 winners Chris Nilsen of South Dakota and Matt Ludwig of Akron, plus sisters Tori Hoggard and Lexi Jacobus of Arkansas.