Morris captures pole vault title at USATF Championships

DES MOINES, Iowa — Arkansas wrapped up competition at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships Sunday afternoon with three Razorbacks competing in the women’s pole vault.

Fresh off the NCAA Championships, current Razorbacks Lexi Jacobus and Tori Hoggard stepped to the runway, joining Arkansas alum Sandi Morris.

Hoggard and Jacobus each cleared two bars on the day. Hoggard cleared the first bar on the initial attempt while clearing her second bar of the day on the third try. Jacobus cleared 4.30m (14′-1.25″) on her second attempt and needed three looks at 4.45m (14′-7.25″) to make a clean pass.

Hoggard finished seventh, while Jacobus took ninth-place in the event, both cleared4.45m (14′-7.25″).

Morris, who entered the event as the absolute world leader with her mark from indoors where she cleared 4.95m (16′-2.75″), controlled the competition for most of the day, finishing with a day’s best clearance of 4.80m (15′-9″) to capture the 2018 USATF Championship.

Jenn Suhr, who entered the meet holding the world outdoor lead in the pole vault at 4.93m (16′-2″), finished third in the competition with a best of 4.60m (15′-1″).

“It was fun,” said Morris. “We had a lot to deal with, there was actually quite the swirl of winds, which can be quite difficult in the pole vault. I finally entered the competition and didn’t get to finish at the end I was really excited to take my attempts at the world lead. I took one attempt at it and had a miss at it and I was feeling really strong but had to shut it down,” Morris finished.

This is the second-straight USATF Outdoor Championship for Morris, and her fourth-overall USATF title in the event adding to her titles from USATF Indoors in 2016 and 2017.