Hog calls

Pole vaulters' hopes cracked, not broken

United States' Sandi Morris reacts after a jump in the women's pole vault finals, Thursday, March 17, 2016, at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

FAYETTEVILLE -- The U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials are two weeks off for world class pole-vaulters Sandi Morris and Demi Payne.

Too bad it's not two months.

Morris, a 2015 University of Arkansas graduate, and 2016 Stephen F. Austin University graduate Payne expected to be priming themselves to make the U.S. Olympic team in Eugene, Ore., on July 8.

Instead, they are fighting to regain a grip on their chances.

Payne dislocated her thumb when her pole broke during April's Texas Relays.

Morris, who turned professional after her 2015 senior season NCAA Outdoor, broke a bone in her wrist on a broken pole in Czechoslovakia.

Their histories intertwine. During the 2015 indoor season, Payne, the transfer from the University of Kansas to Stephen F. Austin, and Morris, the transfer from the University of North Carolina to Arkansas, consistently one-upped each other resetting the collegiate indoor record.

Payne's 15-7 got the last collegiate indoor record.

Morris won the 2015 NCAA Indoor.

Payne won the 2015 NCAA Outdoor with Morris second. Morris place fourth at the 2015 World Outdoor Championships and second at the 2016 World Indoor Championships.

Both soared personal bests above 16-feet. Payne soared 16-0¾. Morris soared 16-3.

Now they commiserate, more sore than soaring.

"Demi and I are competitors but we are friendly competitors," Morris said. "We have kept in touch. It's kind of ironic that we were both injured with a pole break in an Olympic year. I know she has continued train and I would not be surprised if she showed up at the Trials ready to make the team."

That's what Morris vows to do. Under Arkansas women's pole vault coach Bryan Compton's tutoring, Morris trained hard even without the pole that she now carries on approach and asserts she will first plant before July 7.

"You can't pole vault without a wrist," Morris said. "So I do a lot of long jump work to keep my takeoff and a lot of running stuff and taking it back to conditioning. My wrist now can do low impact. The key is going in confident that I didn't forget how to pole vault in six weeks."

Morris easily could feel sorry for herself.

"It did happen at a very unfortunate time," Morris said. "Seven weeks from the Olympic Trials when I am a favorite to make the Olympic team. The main thing for me is staying positive and that everything happens for a reason."

She has followed Compton's reasoning upon transferring.

"From the day I got to Arkansas he told me, 'You can jump about 15 feet your way or you can break the world record my way," Morris said. "And I believe him. I give all the credit to my coach because he is the one who told me day in and day out: 'You can do it. You have the physical ability to do it. You just have to have the persistence to do it."

Sports on 06/27/2016