FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas senior Sandi Morris has set the women's collegiate pole vault record again.
This time she did it outdoors.
Morris cleared 15-1 3/4 Saturday night at the John McDonnell Invitational to break the college record of 15-1 1/2 set by former Razorback Tina Sutej in 2011 at the SEC Championships.
"Maybe I'll get to hold this record for more than 18 hours this time," Morris said. "That would be nice, but I'm really hoping I'll break my own record again a time or two."
Morris set the college indoor record Jan. 19 in Fayetteville by clearing 15-1 1/2, but the next day Stephen F. Austin senior Demi Payne cleared 15-2 1/4 at a meet in College Station, Texas.
Payne jumped earlier Saturday at a meet in Austin, Texas, and cleared 14-9.
"Sandi's got the record for at least a week," Arkansas field events coach Bryan Compton said with a laugh.
Payne pushed the college indoor record to 15-7 later in the season, but she no-heighted at the NCAA Indoor meet while Morris won with a 15-1 vault.
Compton said he expects Morris and Payne to keep pushing each other for the outdoor record.
"Demi's going to see what Sandi did and they're going play tag with it," Compton said. "It's just good for college athletics to have these two girls jumping so high."
Morris jumped better than 15 feet several times indoors with a best of 15-3, and she has routinely cleared 15 feet in practice.
"She just did what she normally does," Compton said of his seemingly low-key reaction Saturday night. "She's a 15-foot vaulter pretty much every day, so this isn't a surprise."
Compton, who also coached Sutej, said she won't be disappointed her college record was broken.
"I'm sure Tina will be happy the record is going to another Razorback," he said.
After Morris cleared 15-1 3/4 on her first attempt at that height Saturday night, she missed three attempts at 15-5 3/4.
"I'm kind of disappointed I didn't get that next bar," she said. "I've got bigger fish to fry."
Compton said Morris' misses Saturday night after she set the record will help in future attempts.
"That was our plan, to go up a few more inches," Compton said. "We wanted to take a look to see what we need to do to clear that."
Morris said she expected to do well because it was a home meet with perfect weather conditions, including a slight tailwind for the vaulters to help push them go faster down the runway.
The fact she set the record in front of small crowd after the meet's over events had been over for about 45 minutes didn't bother Morris.
"I feel like it actually helps you calm down, and when you're relaxed you can really focus," she said. "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."
Morris said she believes she isn't close to hitting her ceiling in the vault. Her previous outdoor best prior to Saturday night was 14-11 at the Texas Relays on March 28 to open this season.
"I'm hoping to get as close to 16 feet as I can," she said. "I know if I have the perfect jump with the right pole, I can go really high."
Sports on 04/12/2015