“Year Of The Vault” Ends In Epic Duel

Before 2015, there had only been one indoor clearance over 15 feet by a female pole vaulter in collegiate history during the collegiate season (Kaitlin Petrillose of Texas in 2014).

That number increased to 10 after the 2015 indoor campaign.

Before 2015, there had only been three total clearances over 15 feet outdoors by female pole vaulters in collegiate history (Chelsea Johnson of UCLA and Lacy Janson of Florida State each had one in 2006; Tina Sutej of Arkansas did so in 2011).

That number increased to 15 after the 2015 outdoor season.

And, before 2015, there had not been a single clearance over 15 feet at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships by a female pole vaulter.

That number, just like all of the others, jumped exponentially as “The Year of the Vault” ended with an epic duel at Hayward Field between Arkansas’ Sandi Morris and Stephen F. Austin’s Demi Payne, the same two women who took the event to heights it had never been.

After a remarkable indoor season where the duo combined for nine clearance of 15 feet or more, including a still-standing absolute collegiate record of 4.75m (15-7) by Payne and a meet record-tying effort of 4.60m (15-1) by Morris to win the individual title at the NCAA Championships, they turned their attention outdoors and to the four-year-old collegiate best of 4.61m (15-1½) established by Tina Sutej of Arkansas in 2011.

Based on their performances under a roof, it was only a matter of time until Morris and Payne took things to another level. That just so happened to be in mid-April at the John McDonnell Invitational when Morris went 4.62m (15-1¾) for the first of three instances that the outdoor record would change hands between them (It also happened twice in the span of five days when Payne cleared 4.71m (15-5½) at the Southland Conference Championships on May 10 to better her own record of 4.66m (15-3½) from two weeks earlier, then Morris hit 4.72m (15-5¾) at the SEC Outdoor Championships on May 15).

Morris and Payne finally met again at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in mid-June. Collegiate track & field fans expected an incredible battle and that’s exactly what transpired.

They both went through 4.55m (14-11) without a miss: Morris cleared four bars and passed on four others; Payne topped three and passed five. It was just a matter of who would blink first.

Payne continued to pressure Morris with first-attempt clearances on each of the next three bars – 4.60m (15-1), 4.65m (15-3) and 4.70m (15-5). Morris needed two attempts on each of the first two and then passed on her final two attempts at 4.70m to meet Payne at 4.75m (15-7).

Neither woman registered a clean shot to tie Payne’s absolute collegiate record from the indoor season, thus handing Payne the title based on the previous bars – the first podium topped by an SFA athlete in meet history.