Duplantis breaks PV record; Murphy, Piperi shine

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Lafayette LA junior Mondo Duplantis has big aspirations for 2017. He wants to make it to the IAAF World Championships in London in the pole vault and his new year got off to a great start Saturday.

Duplantis cleared 18 feet, 5 inches on his third attempt at the Louisiana State University High School Classic to break his own national high school record in the indoor pole vault. It's the highest clearance in U.S. prep history, topping the 18-4.75 outdoors last year by Christopher Nilsen of Park Hill.

"It feels pretty unreal. It's a great way to start the season," Duplantis said. "I thought I was ready to jump 18 feet for sure, but I didn't think I'd go 18-5. I got onto big enough poles to do it."

Duplantis has grown an inch and a half since last summer. He said he's now up 5 feet 11 and 150 pounds.

The season-opening result, 5.61 in meters, is No. 8 on the all-time World Junior list. For Duplantis, who competes internationally for his mother's home country, it's also a national junior record for Sweden.

Duplantis said he is aiming for 5.70 meters this season, which is 18-8. Should he achieve that height, Duplantis would break the World Junior record of 18-7.5 (5.68m) set in 2008 by Germany's Raphael Holzdeppe.

Duplantis came into the competition with a first-attempt make at 17 feet. At 17-7.75, he made the bar on his second try. At 18-2, he broke his own national indoor record (18-0.50 in 2016) on his first try. Then at 18-5, he missed twice before making it. 

He plans to vault again in two weeks at LSU.

Duplantis' record-breaking jump wasn't the only prep highlight Saturday. 

At the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games on Staten Island, N.Y., Lake Braddock VA senior Kate Murphy ripped through the 3,000 meters in 9:14.12. It's the second-fastest prep performance ever on a standard 200-meter track behind Mary Cain (9:04.51) in 2013. Alexa Efraimson and Cain both ran faster on an oversized track. 

Murphy ran 9:17.01 outdoors last summer at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in Poland. 

At the Texas A&M Invitational, Adrian Piperi from The Woodlands TX opened his season Friday in the shot put with a US#1 mark of 72-2.50 – good for No. 4 all-time. 

It was as if Piperi fired a shot over the bow of the USS Geist. 

Jordan Geist of Knoch PA, responded with a US#1 72-9.75 shot put at Youngstown State. That mark is a quarter-inch improvement on his No. 3 all-time performance from 2016. He has already broken the high school national record this winter with the 16-pound ball (68-4) and also thrown 70-6 with the 6-kg implement.