BIG TEN TRACK AND FIELD Pole vault changes in place

The death of Penn State's Kevin Dare has made safety a premium factor.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Fifteen months after Kevin Dare died in a pole vault accident at the Big Ten indoor championships at the University of Minnesota, changes are in place for this weekend's outdoor meet at Bierman Track and Field Stadium.
After the Penn State sophomore's death, rules were changed at a pace unusual for organizations such as the Big Ten and NCAA.
"People are certainly more mindful of safety issues," Gophers men's coach Phil Lundin said.
But others say there has been overreaction and that new safety provisions will reduce heights and price some high schools out of the event.
"When something like that happens, everybody thinks everything's got to change," said Purdue senior Pooh Williams, the top-ranked vaulter in the Big Ten. "But Kevin Dare's was a freak accident."
Fell into steel box
Dare died when, experts agree, he did not penetrate the pit area deeply enough and descended straight down, head first, into the steel takeoff box that vaulters use to catapult themselves into the air.
The box is imbedded in the track; vaulters jam their poles into it to give them lift.
After his son's death, Ed Dare met with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and made a pact:
"We can't let anybody ever go through that again," Dare said.
With help from Curley, Dare sent an e-mail to Penn State alumni and friends asking them for their ideas to make the sport safer.
In suburban Denver, Bill Farrell, a 1959 Penn State grad, received the e-mail. He is part owner and marketing chief for a company called Skydex. The technology uses tiny hemispheres -- like tennis balls cut in half -- placed on top of each other. That helps absorb force when a child falls off the monkey bars, for instance.
Farrell thought a soft box for pole vault takeoffs could help save lives.
New soft box developed
Farrell contacted Curley, who invited him to visit Penn State. By April, barely six weeks after Dare's death, Skydex engineers began designing soft box models and comparing their absorption of force with the standard steel boxes.
By November, the first soft boxes, at a cost of $3,195, were in production. Penn State was the first customer.
Dare and Curley were pushing the use of helmets even though vaulters contend they limit peripheral vision and could cause neck injuries if the helmet snapped back on them.
"To date, there isn't a pole vault specific helmet," Curley said. "What can you recommend to a pole vaulter?"
Using the Skydex force absorption technology, an Illinois company, Eventys, is in the final stages of developing a pole vault helmet.
By June, the NCAA was requiring its members to enlarge the pits to increase the padded areas. In August, the Big Ten mandated a more demanding landing system. It requires the marking off of "a preferred landing zone" on the pit.
In addition, conference coaches and vaulters must attend an annual safety clinic.
"If you don't have a good coach," Williams said, "don't pole vault. Coaches should be certified. There are so many out there with no clue."