UC San Diego pole vaulter dies after missing pit

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- A college pole vaulter has died after missing the landing pad during practice at the University of California, San Diego's La Jolla campus.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office says 19-year-old Leon Roach landed head first on concrete during a training jump Saturday.

Roach immediately became unresponsive, according to the coroner's report.

He was pronounced brain dead at a hospital. An autopsy is pending.

A memorial service will be held this week in Huntington Beach, where Roach graduated from Marina High School.

That's horrible

That is very sad, considering pole vaulting is not an overly dangerous sport, but freak accidents do happen.

Sadly true.

If I remember correctly we didn't have pole vaulting at my high school, just high jump. I am certain that none of the schools near me had javelin.

Mine doesnt' have pole vaulting or javelin.

This a horrible tragedy.......my prayers go out to his family

Why was concrete so close to the landing pad; don't they usually have em in the middle of a grass field?

gs78 wrote:

Why was concrete so close to the landing pad; don't they usually have em in the middle of a grass field?

Some schools have them in a grassed area, with a blacktop running lane, others are set up on blacktop.


blacktop lane with grass pit area.

My high school had the foam landing pit laid on blacktop. They also can set them up indoors on a gym floor. Since the pit landing pads are normally very wide, it does not matter how they are set, as long as a good foam pit is used.

I wonder if this school was using an old smaller landing pad that was not big enough.

I wonder if there's a way to widen those landing pads. I realize this was a freak accident and all, but still - I think landing on anything but that landing pad would've been fatal.

catbox_9 wrote:

I wonder if there's a way to widen those landing pads. I realize this was a freak accident and all, but still - I think landing on anything but that landing pad would've been fatal.

When you google pole vault landing pits (or pads) there is a wide range in sizes. They should require that large wide side pads be required.

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

I wonder if there's a way to widen those landing pads. I realize this was a freak accident and all, but still - I think landing on anything but that landing pad would've been fatal.

When you google pole vault landing pits (or pads) there is a wide range in sizes. They should require that large wide side pads be required.

Yeah, especially for college and high school-type athletes. I suppose a world-class pole vaulter might be able to get by with a smaller one, but I'd guess this guy wasn't an Olympic hopeful or anything like that.