Mondo's collegiate debut … and finale

[Dave]

The kid grew up in Louisiana ferkrisakes. The LSU uniform is important to him and winning the NCAA FOR LSU (as opposed to for himself) must be a huge priority.

Did his dad win some NCAA meets? That would be an additional reason to focus on it.

[polevaultpower]

I don't think UCLA puts as much of a focus on indoor track as LSU. The Pac12 does not sponsor indoor track, so they have the MPSF, and I don't think that holds quite as much weight as your "real" conference.

I don't think UCLA would be as excited about letting him go to Europe if their team was ranked as high as LSU.

[jazzcyclist]

And his school didn't stóp him from going to Glasgow? What an abomination.

This is the sort of thing would have been discussed when he was recruited last year, and that's between him and UCLA. Why should LSU have to do business the same way UCLA does?

If you want to see evidence that the NCAA Championships are vastly more popular to American track fans than the European Championships, just look at the amount of traffic recent NCAA and Euro threads have generated. There's no contest and NCAA's are arguably a better meet than Euros.

[jazzcyclist]

Did his dad win some NCAA meets? That would be an additional reason to focus on it.

He never won an NCAA title but he did win an SEC title in 1986.

[polevaultpower]

To think about it another way, this probably isn't Sondre's year to really shine in the NCAA. He is right up there, and anything could happen, but Mondo is most likely to win indoors and outdoors, and you have so many other guys at 5.70+, it's ridiculous.

Next year, you probably lose Mondo, you lose Ludwig, King, Wooten, Al-Hizam, Volz... and don't get me wrong, the talent level will still be ridiculous, and this year's freshmen are phenomenal, but Sondre's odds of being NCAA Champ improve significantly.

So maybe this is a good year to let him try Euro Champs, see how he does on a short turnaround, you have a happy athlete and a happy dad and more data to work with for making those decisions in future years.

For Mondo, this is probably going to be his only NCAA Indoor Champs, and as others mentioned, the competition level may well be higher here than the Euro Champs.

Winning NCAAs, and especially winning with a big mark, means a lot to Mondo, it makes sense for him to focus on this.

[donley2]

Frankly the competition right now is better in NCAA than in Europe.

The rest of your post I understand. This part I don't see any facts that would back up this assertion.

[Atticus]

The rest of your post I understand. This part I don't see any facts that would back up this assertion.

After Kendricks, there are 3 NCAA Ch vaulters before there are 3 Euro Ch vaulters on the current world list.

[donley2]

After Kendricks, there are 3 NCAA Ch vaulters before there are 3 Euro Ch vaulters on the current world list.

I am confused, are Lisek and Lavillenie not competing at Euro Indoor Champs. Never mind. I see what you are saying now. But that is counting Mondo as one of the 3 which in the context of this discussion does not make sense to me.

[Jshapco2]

I am confused, are Lisek and Lavillenie not competing at Euro Indoor Champs. Never mind. I see what you are saying now. But that is counting Mondo as one of the 3 which in the context of this discussion does not make sense to me.

Sweden has Jakobson. He just jumped 5.82. Poor guy is probably the most bitter person on the planet that Mondo competes for Sweden. If Mondo skips Euro indoors its this guys once chance at glory!

[Atticus]

But that is counting Mondo as one of the 3 which in the context of this discussion does not make sense to me.

Because he will compete at NCAA not Euro.