Ellis-Watson Shines At Texas Invitational
AUSTIN, Texas – Returning to Austin for its second-consecutive competition at Mike A. Myers Stadium, the No. 1 Arkansas women’s track and field team had a spectacular day made up of event wins and personal best marks.
Taylor Ellis-Watson led the Razorbacks, running lifetime bests in the 100 and 200-meter dashes in the cool and cloudy conditions.
Top Performances
Yet to open her outdoor season in her premier event (400), 2016 Southeastern Conference indoor champion Ellis-Watson still had quite the day in Austin putting on a clinic in the shorter sprint events. The current NCAA 200 leader ran a new personal best in 100 of 11.50 seconds earning the No. 5 spot on the Razorbacks’ all-time best list.
Ellis-Watson returned to the track for the 200 validating her claim as the NCAA leader with an improved time of 22.63 to place first. Her performance eclipsed her previous best by .30 seconds and ranks the Philadelphia native as the second-best 200 performer in the world as of April 16.
Freshman Ceara Watson, was the top collegiate finisher in the 800 placing second behind ProHog Chrishuna Williams. Watson crossed the finish line in a personal best of 2:06.87 – the fifth fastest performance in the SEC this season.
In the 400, junior Daina Harper ran the best time of the day, clocking 52.70 in heat one to finish in first place. Her time was one hundredths of a second off her lifetime best.
The third Razorback victory of the day came from Lexi Weeks in the pole vault. The 2016 NCAA indoor champion cleared 14-10 on her second attempt to place first ahead of an extremely competitive field
Arkansas also placed three Razorbacks in the top five of the 100 hurdles with Payton Stumbaugh second, Taliyah Brooks fourth and Alex Gochenour fifth.
Brooks closed out the day for the Razorbacks placing first in the long jump with 20-5 ¼.
Coach Johnson on Team’s Efforts
“We had some good things happen for us team-wise but will go back home and work out a few things to prepare for the rest of the season. Taylor [Ellis-Watson] had an exceptional day. She executed the race extremely well in the 200 and it produced a lifetime best performance. She also ran a solid 100 which did its part to set her up very well for good results in the 200.”
Results – Texas Invitational
100 – Ellis-Watson (8) 11.50, Parker (17) 11.88
200 – Ellis-Watson (1) 22.63, Harper (12) 24.12, Herman (13) 24.13, Gochenour (20) 24.69, Brooks (26) 25.07, J. Williams (33) 25.95
400 – Harper (1) 52.70, Watson (9) 55.71
800 – Watson (2) 2:06.87, Sawyer (11) 2:11.03
100H – Stumbaugh (2) 13.20, Brooks (4) 13.40, Gochenour (5) 13.44, Herman (12) 13.73, Brown (14) 13.95, J. Williams (22) 14.73
400H – Brown (15) 1:01.15, Swinton (18) 1:01.82, Birch (24) 1:08.51
4×100 – Parker, Ellis-Watson, Harper and Stumbaugh (4) 45.57
4×400 – Swinton, Harper, Birch, Watson (3) 3:37.61
Pole Vault – L. Weeks (1) 14-10, Zimlich (5) 13-10, T. Weeks (6) 13-10, Voskamp (9) 13-4 ¼
Long Jump – Brooks (1) 20-5 ¼, Herman (6) 19-6, Gochenour (7) 19-4 ¾
Shot Put – Dennis (6) 49-6.25
Javelin Throw – Swenson (14) 132-9
Arkansas returns home to John McDonnell Field April 22-23 for the John McDonnell Invitational.
Tickets are just $5 for adults and youth 17 and under get in free. Visit arkansasrazorbacks.com or call 800-982-HOGS and get your tickets today.
For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.
