JJ Juilfs commits to Washington...

We generally leave the announcements of high school seniors announcing their intents to attend college to the recruiting/specialty high school track & field web sites like ESPN Rise (formerly DyeStat) and MileSplit, but could not pass on this item posted in the Eugene Register Guard on Friday.

Sheldon High School senior JJ Juilfs (left/photo courtesy OR.milesplit.com), the top returning pole vaulter in the nation, verbally committed to attending the University of Washington, and is expected to sign his letter of intent on the national signing day of February 2nd.

Per NCAA rules, the school cannot comment on Juilfs until the letter is officially in hand after the signing date.

“The entire time I felt like I had a choice between the best track program in the nation and the best pole vault program, and I felt with the success Washington has had with vaulters, that was a deciding factor,” he said.

Juilfs, who became the third vaulter in Oregon state history to clear 17 feet with his personal best of 17-0 3/4 at last year's Oregon State 6A championships, said he has been leaning toward Washington for a while but Oregon made a strong push with new assistant coach Jamie Cook, who will coach the vaulters.

You can read the full article here.