ARKANSAS TWILIGHT

Morris wins it, but unsatisfied

Arkansas pole vaulter Sandi Morris warms up during the Razorback Invitational on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.
Arkansas pole vaulter Sandi Morris warms up during the Razorback Invitational on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas senior Sandi Morris was kind of low even after going what most female college pole vaulters would consider pretty high.

Morris cleared 14 feet, 9 inches Friday night to win the Arkansas Twilight meet at John McDonnell field -- a height that matches the second-best mark in the college ranks this outdoors season, but is well short of Morris' NCAA outdoor record of 15-1 1/4 set April 10.

Morris, the NCAA indoor champion, missed three attempts at 15-3 3/4 Friday night after making 14-9 on her final attempt.

"I was disappointed in my performance to be honest," she said. "My form was really off. It feels great to be able to jump 14-9 and be disappointed with that. I guess I'm just ready for bigger things."

Arkansas field events coach Bryan Compton said Morris' disappointment is understandable.

"If she had jumped 14-9 last year, it would have been like 'Wow!' " Compton said. "But she's improved so much in one year that her mentality has changed to where if she's going to be world-class, that can't be an acceptable bar."

Arkansas junior All-American Taylor Ellis-Watson won the 200 (23.14) and 400 (52.16) for the No. 2 Razorbacks' women's team and ran the anchor leg leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay team (3:41.06).

"We kind of trained through the meet, and with Taylor running the way she did today, it's a lot of promise for the future," Arkansas sprints coach Chris Johnson said. "She executed well."

Freshman Kenzo Cotton was a highlight for Arkansas' men's team, winning the 100 (10.36) and 200 (20.82).

Razorbacks sophomore Omar McLeod, a two-time NCAA indoor champion in the 60-meter hurdles who won the 110-meter hurdles at the Drake Relays in a school-record 13.21 last weekend, ran on the 1,600 relay Friday night along with Arkansas junior Jarrion Lawson, an NCAA long jump champion.

Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said he wanted to give McLeod and Lawson a break from their specialty events two weeks before the SEC Championships.

"You can only go to the well so many times," Bucknam said. "We didn't want to push it."

McLeod and Lawson helped the Razorbacks' relay run 3:09.16.

"Jarrion has got so much potential in the sprints, and he's getting healthy," Bucknam said. "That's going to bode well for his long jump, but also on our relays."

Arkansas senior pole vaulter Andrew Irwin, a two-time NCAA champion and five-time All-American, no-heighted, missing three attempts at 17-6 1/2.

"It just didn't work out for him today," said Razorbacks assistant Doug Case, who coaches the vaulters. "We're working on his run a little bit, trying to get it sorted out, and he just didn't dial it in."

Morris she wasn't dialed in to vault well Friday night, either.

"I had a good week of practice, but today I just wasn't putting it together," she said. "It's hard to pinpoint what went wrong. I was all over the place."

Arkansas freshman Desiree Freier cleared 14-0 1/2 to tie for second with former Razorback All-American April Steiner Bennett, who finished eighth at the 2008 Olympics.

Steiner Bennett, 35, moved Arizona to Northwest Arkansas last summer to resume training with Compton a goal of taking a shot at making the 2016 Olympic team before retiring from vaulting.

"Sandi is one of my biggest competitors for the Olympic team," Steiner Bennett said. "She's so talented it's unbelievable. I'm so excited to watch her career unfold.

"She's doing so many amazing things, but still has a lot of room for improvement. I wouldn't be surprised if she's a 16-foot vaulter some day."

Sports on 05/02/2015

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