Hog Calls

Transfers discover move a good one

Arkansas' Taylor Ellis-Watson (right) runs Saturday, April 23, 2016, in the 100 meters during the John McDonnell Invitational at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Taylor Ellis-Watson, Payton Stumbaugh, Alex Gochenour and Sandi Morris contributed to the indoor and outdoor track titles of the Arkansas Razorbacks' triple crown of SEC women's cross country, indoor and outdoor victories.

Ellis-Watson and Gochenour return from last year's NCAA Indoor Championship team and are joined by sophomore Stumbaugh on these No. 1 ranked Razorbacks, who are favored to win the NCAA Outdoor next week in Eugene, Ore.

All share another bond. Before Arkansas, they were somewhere else.

Morris, the 2015 NCAA Indoor pole vault champion, first vaulted at North Carolina.

All-American quarter-miler Ellis-Watson first ran for Pittsburgh. All-American heptathletes Gochenour and Stumbaugh performed first at LSU and Oklahoma, respectively.

"We have been kind of Transfer U, and they have done well," Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said.

So well that they regret not coming to Arkansas first. They relish their present while recalling their past elsewhere.

"I loved Pittsburgh and love my home state," said Philadelphia's Ellis-Watson, a two-time NCAA runner-up in the 400 meters and 400 relay who is heading to the Olympic Trials. "But I just needed a different coaching style and this just fits me perfectly. I wasn't progressing there like I knew I should. I needed a good opportunity with medical staff that wasn't available at Pittsburgh that's available here. I just needed a different experience and this was the experience I needed."

Some think transfers are malcontents, but these four -- Morris continues training with Arkansas' vaulters -- are consummate teammates, Harter and assistants Chris Johnson and Bryan Compton say.

Along with NCAA champion distance runner Dominique Scott, seniors Ellis-Watson and Gochenour "have really been our rocks in leadership," Johnson said.

The coaches say their research begins whenever a potential transfer initiates interest.

"You talk to the athlete and talk to the coaches that coached the athlete and talk to the high school coaches," Johnson said. "You say, 'If you are going to come here, you can't go backwards. You accept some rights, accept some wrongs and move forward."

Said Harter said: "The philosophy is try and develop each individual to realize her dreams and goals, but they join a united front as a team. We are all in this together."

Through her five Arkansas years, Scott said transfers come running to join something rather than running away from something.

"They come to the Arkansas Razorbacks and they are going to have the best coaching that there is in the States," Scott said. "They are going to have the Nike sponsorship behind the school. They are going to have a big athletic budget that can fly out to the big meets all over the country and be at the best level at the best track and field program.

"I am not surprised that we get transfers. If I hadn't come to the Hogs originally, I think I would have transferred here."

Sports on 06/04/2016