FAYETTEVILLE – Representing the University of Arkansas women’s track and field team and Team USA, Taylor Ellis-Watson and Sandi Morris won a combined three medals, including two golds, this weekend at the 2014 NACAC U-23 Championships in Kamloops, British Columbia. Ellis-Watson won gold with the 4x400-meter relay team and silver at 400 meters while Morris set a championship record on her way to winning the pole vault.
Ellis-Watson opened the global competition Saturday with a second-place finish at 400 meters, crossing the finish line in 52.05 to claim silver. She returned to the track Sunday afternoon to run a leg on the 4x400-meter relay that put together a time of 3:35.79 to win a gold medal. Ellis-Watson finishes the 2014 season with a personal best of 51.78, a time she set in the final at the USA Championships in June.
In Saturday’s pole vault final, Morris finished nearly two feet beyond her nearest competition with a meet-record clearance of 4.40m/14-5.25 to win global gold. She surpassed the previous record of 4.36m/14-3.5 set by Melanie Blouin of Canada during the 2012 event. Morris closes out her year with a personal-best mark of 4.55m/14-11, which she set in a runner-up effort at the USA Championships in June.
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