Pole Vault Accident Is Probed

As more details come to light about the death of a high school pole vaulter, track-and-field experts are questioning a possible gap in safety precautions at the scene of the accident.

Heath Taylor, 17, was killed Tuesday when he landed deep in the pit and bounced off the back of the landing mat, striking his head on asphalt during a practice at Hart High in Valencia.

At a Thursday track meet, a reporter overheard an assistant coach and a team member discussing the incident. They said Taylor showed good form early in the jump, then seemed to catapult forward. Both expressed surprise at how far Taylor’s vault carried.

Hart administrators have been reluctant to discuss details and have shielded coaches and athletes from speaking directly to reporters.

“It is true that he landed in the back part of the pit and then went off the end of the mat,” Principal Laurence Strauss said. Strauss also confirmed that the assistant coach and athlete had witnessed the accident.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office said Taylor’s death, from severe head trauma, was accidental.

The school’s 20-by-22-foot landing mat exceeds the safety standards published by the National Federation of State High School Assns. But the federation also recommends that any “hard or unyielding surfaces” adjacent to the mat be covered with “2-inch dense foam or other suitable material.”

“It seems like they had a good-sized pit, but there have been instances where people have stumbled getting out of the pit [after a jump] and fallen off and conked their heads,” said Jan Johnson, a safety official with the USA Track and Field Assn. “That’s why the federation rules say that hard surfaces should be padded.”