A high school boy who vaults at all usually clears somewhere between 10 and 12 feet. A girl usually clears 8 to 10. Those numbers move faster than anything else in track, because vault is a skill event and one season of decent coaching can add three feet. The ladder below runs freshman through senior, then keeps climbing to state-qualifier and national-class marks, in feet and meters both. Read the notes under the table before you compare yourself to any of it. The full ladder from youth through the world record sits in how high a pole vaulter can jump.
Most high school vaulters have been vaulting for under two years. The median mark at a regular-season meet therefore reflects athletes still learning the plant, not athletes anywhere near their ceiling. Compare yourself to your own grade and your own months in the pit rather than to the school record on the wall. For a comparison against the other vertical event, see the high jump ladder for high school boys.
Iowa and Alaska do not contest pole vault at the high school level, and Utah runs girls vault only in its largest classifications. Plenty of schools in states that do offer it own no pit and employ no vault coach, so their athletes travel to club sessions. Depth varies enormously by region.
NFHS rules require a pole rated at or above the vaulter's weight, and manufacturers must mark that rating plus a maximum handhold band on every pole. If your program owns four poles, your ceiling for the season is whatever the stiffest one allows, no matter how good your run looks. Approach speed sets the grip you can hold, so vault progress tends to track sprinting, and the 100m ranges for high school boys give you that number.
Grip height follows run speed and a takeoff you trust, and both of those show up on video long before they show up on the standards. Film one vault from the side and AI grades your plant timing and swing against vaulters clearing the next bar up.
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Competitive ranges pulled from state opening heights and national lists, not published medians. State cutoffs vary hugely by state and classification, so treat the qualifier row as a national middle.
| Level | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| Freshman | 8'0" - 10'6" (2.44 - 3.20 m) | 6'0" - 8'0" (1.83 - 2.44 m) |
| Sophomore | 10'0" - 12'0" (3.05 - 3.66 m) | 7'6" - 9'6" (2.29 - 2.90 m) |
| Junior | 11'6" - 13'6" (3.51 - 4.11 m) | 8'6" - 10'6" (2.59 - 3.20 m) |
| Senior | 12'6" - 14'6" (3.81 - 4.42 m) | 9'6" - 11'6" (2.90 - 3.51 m) |
| Varsity median, all grades | 10'0" - 12'0" (3.05 - 3.66 m) | 8'0" - 10'0" (2.44 - 3.05 m) |
| State qualifier | 13'6" - 15'6" (4.11 - 4.72 m) | 10'6" - 12'6" (3.20 - 3.81 m) |
| State champion, large state | 15'6" - 17'0" (4.72 - 5.18 m) | 12'6" - 13'6" (3.81 - 4.11 m) |
| National class, US top 25 | 16'6" and up (5.03 m and up) | 13'0" and up (3.96 m and up) |
| High school record | 19'10.25" (6.05 m), Armand Duplantis, 2018 | 15'3" (4.65 m), Hana Moll, 2023 |
Common questions athletes and coaches ask about this topic.
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