On This Day: Morris Breaks Outdoor Collegiate Pole Vault Record
A 2015 track and field season full of pole vault records for Razorback senior Sandi Morris included an outdoor collegiate record on this day, April 11, when she scaled a height of 15 feet, 1 ¾ inches (4.62) during the John McDonnell Invitational.
Following are excerpts and notes from Bob Holt’s account of the record in a 2015 edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The performance by Morris bettered the previous record of 15-1 ½ (4.61) set in 2011 by another Arkansas vaulter, Tina Sutej, when she claimed the SEC Outdoor title.
Razorback assistant coach Bryan Compton, who coached both vaulters, noted at the time, “I’m sure Tina will be happy the record is going to another Razorback.”
Competing in her home venue, with perfect weather conditions that included a slight tailwind for the vaulters to help push them faster down the runway, Morris cleared the record height on her first attempt in front of a small crowd that remained after the rest of the meet had finished 45 minutes earlier.
“I feel like it actually helps you calm down, and when you’re relaxed you can really focus,” Morris said in the article. “I didn’t feel rushed. I didn’t feel nervous. I was just out here on my home turf doing what I know how to do.”
Raising the bar another 10 centimeters higher to 15-5 ¾ (4.72) Morris missed three tries at the height.
“I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get the next bar,” Morris noted. “I’ve got bigger fish to fry. I’m hoping to get as close to 16 feet as I can. I know if I have the perfect jump with the right pole, I can go really high.”
Compton added: “That was our plan, to go up a few more inches. We wanted to see what we need to do to clear that.”
During the 2015 indoor season, Morris broke the collegiate record with a 15-1 ½ (4.61) vault in a mid-January home dual meet versus Texas, bettering the previous record of 15-1 (4.60) set by a Longhorn, Kaitlin Petrillose, in 2014.
Morris’ indoor collegiate record lasted less than a full day, though, having been improved to 15-2 ¼ (4.63) by SFA’s Demi Payne during a meet in College Station. A week later, Payne vaulted the indoor collegiate record up to 15-7 (4.75) at altitude in Albuquerque.
Improvements by Morris to 15-3 (4.65) at the Razorback Invitational in late January and 15-3 ½ (4.66) in winning the SEC Indoor title in February established low-altitude collegiate records with each performance.
Following her outdoor record at the McDonnell Invitational, Morris quipped: “Maybe I’ll get to hold this record for more than 18 hours this time. That would be nice, but I’m really hoping I’ll break my own record again a time or two.”
Her prophecy came true when Morris won the SEC title in May with a collegiate record of 15-5 ¾ (4.72), topping the recent record of 15-5 ½ (4.71) set by Payne five days earlier. Morris’ mark remained the outdoor collegiate record until 2019.
