Women's pole vaulting at the Indoor Track Meet at A&M. She went to high school in Texas, sent a video to A&M and never got a call. She was recruited by Tech and OU.

Hard to call out Pat Henry on who he recruits after all the hardware. Could be not enough scholarships to spread around.

I wonder how many other athletes sent notes to A&M wanting to be recruited. Priorities have to be made on recruiting time, and I think I'll give Pat Henry the benefit of the doubt as hes favored to sweep both conference titles.

Tough mentality to get used to, but that happens when you're the absolute best. I'm sure Alabama football, Duke basketball, UNC soccer, etc. all get, and ignore, lots of letters from lots of players that end up being really successful.

I'd bet that 95% of the top 400 HS T&F athletes in the country contact Pat Henry every year. At least, they should...

So how many points will she ever score in the NCAA championship? That seems to be Henry's criterion. I don't think 4th place in a conference meet projects to competing for a national title.

Walk on?

quote:

---

I don't think 4th place in a conference meet projects to competing for a national title.

---

Well, what does it project? I am not sure myself what fourth place projects. My point is, she was one of only two freshmen competing in the women's pole vault. She was competing against juniors and seniors. How many NCAA pole vault champions took first or second in Conference track meets their freshman year?



[This message has been edited by WolfCall (edited 2/25/2012 11:07a).]

Wolf Call - you obviously have some personal connection to Katie Adair. So here's a better question - was she willing to walk on? If not, when you have close to your choice of runners, is a 4th-place pole vaulter worth money over, say, Olivia Ekpone, who runs multiple events (including relays)?

Or even jumpers like Jena Hemann and Chelsea Utley, who jump multiple events AND do the pentathlon?

Those are the types of girls who she was competing against for spots.

Adair is doing one event, and one event only for OU, and that's the pole vault. There's room for that on a team like OU. There's no room for that on a team like A&M that's looking for nothing but Championships.

I'm glad that she has a chip on her shoulder about it. It will make her better at what she does.


[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 2/25/2012 11:26a).]

She doesn't have a chip on her shoulder. I do.

AGBlastoff, you make some good points.

Adair is happy at OU and actually closer to her parents and her West Texas home.

Henry recruits sprinters and jumpers who compete in and score points in the World Junior Champonships. What he's interested in is just at a completely different level from your friend or daughter is doing. That's his formula for winning national championships and it works.

Why bother if we don't have money to offer? It would just be a waste of her time.

Wolfcall - have you looked at our women's roster? There are 56 names on it by my quick count. There are only 18 scholarships to give women for T&F and CC. So on average those girls are getting less than 1/3 of a scholarship. Your friend, as fine an athlete as she may be, would probably have had to walk on and maybe earn a fraction later.

Is this a joke? I don't think Pat Henry is too upset about "missing out" on a single field event athlete. He's doing just fine with what he's got.

quote:

---

How many NCAA pole vault champions took first or second in Conference track meets their freshman year?

---

How many women's NCAA 200 meter champions took first or second in conference track meets their freshman year? How about 400 meter champions?

I think there is a limit of 18 track scholarships for women and I think 17 individual events. I'm sure the coaches spend a lot a time trying to divvy up their resources to get a championship team.

Asimakis also throws the javelin in addition to vaulting. If I am not mistaken she finished in the top 15 in the jav at the NCAA meet last year. She scored regularly at lesser meets. That is pretty versatile.

quote:

---

...She was competing against juniors and seniors.

---

So was every freshman out there - that's what freshmen do. Aggie freshman Kamaria Brown earned high point honors for the meet. Top time in the world so far this season in winning the 200 meters, 2nd in the 400 meters as the 3rd fastest Aggie ever in that event, and a member of the 2nd place 4X400 relay team. That's 20 points - 4 times what the 4th place pole vaulter earned. Not a good trade-off.

Eighteen scholarships to cover 19 indoor events, 21 outdoor events, plus cross country. How many T&F athletes do the Aggies carry that compete in just a single event? I can't think of one.

[This message has been edited by JR69 (edited 2/26/2012 11:34p).]

Maybe Sam in the javelin.

You're probably right oklaunion. But with only 12 scholarships for men, a larger pool of athletes to choose from, and the same number of events to cover, its even tougher to spread it around for the men.

Well, this was an enlightening thread. Thanks for pointing out the freshman stud and thanks for the counter points of why she likely did not get a look.

And I can't believe we got this far without a Rule# 1 comment!