Collegiate Record Sends Morris to National Athlete of the Week

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the third time during the 2015 season, senior Sandi Morris has been named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week. Morris broke the collegiate record in the pole vault to win the SEC outdoor title for a second-consecutive year. Her performance helped the top-ranked Razorbacks win the SEC outdoor team title and complete the program’s third SEC Triple Crown.

With the win secured and the bar set to an all-time collegiate best, Morris cleared on her second attempt at 4.72m/15-5.75 to break the record for the second time this season. The world-leading clearance also represents the program and SEC meet records. Morris is the third Razorback in program history to win back-to-back SEC outdoor titles, joining the list with Katie Stripling (2008, ’09) and former collegiate-record holder Tina Sutej (2010, ’11).

Morris broke Sutej’s record in April with her clearance of 4.62m/15-1.75 at the John McDonnell Invitational. Her effort at the SEC Championships replaced the previous record of 4.71m/15-5.5 set by Demi Payne of Stephen F. Austin. The win also gives Morris a sweep of the SEC indoor and outdoor titles during the 2015 season to go along with her NCAA indoor title. Morris has now won 13 of 15 competitions this year including five of six during her outdoor campaign.

In its last outing, Arkansas won the SEC Outdoor Championships in Starkville, Miss., to complete the program’s third SEC Triple Crown. The Razorbacks racked up 127.5 points behind six event titles by Morris in the pole vault, Taylor Ellis-Watson at 400 meters, Dominique Scott at 1,500 and 5,000 meters, Diane Robison at 10,000 meters and Jessica Kamilos in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The 2015 SEC Outdoor Championships will also air as a two-hour highlight show May 21 on ESPNU at 7 p.m. (CT) with Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson handling play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively, with Jill Montgomery reporting from the track. Arkansas is one of eight SEC teams ranked in this week’s national poll with six of those inside the top 10.

Arkansas returns to competition May 28-30 at the NCAA West Preliminary in Austin, Texas. The top-12 qualifiers in each event from the NCAA Preliminary meets advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships which will be contested June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.