It was a good Friday night for former Arkansas women's athletes at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as Sandi Morris and Veronica Campbell-Brown earned silver medals, and Taylor Ellis-Watson helped put herself in position to win a gold.

Morris, the 2015 NCAA Indoor champion as a senior for the Razorbacks, competed in her first Olympic final and took second by clearing 15 feet, 10¾ inches.

Morris, 24, missed three attempts at 16-0¾, including her final try when she appeared to have plenty of height before her left thigh hit the bar and knocked it off. If Morris had cleared that jump, she would have won the gold medal.

Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi took the gold medal. She also cleared a best of 15-10¾, but she was awarded first place based on having one fewer miss than Morris at earlier heights.

"It's really bittersweet," Morris said. "I love the fact that I got a silver medal. I'm so happy about it.

"That last attempt was so close. For a split second in the air, I thought I was a gold medalist."

Morris, who came back from a left wrist fracture she suffered May 20 when her pole broke at a meet in the Czech Republic, said she wasn't be disappointed in her performance Friday night.

"I've dreamed about this day since I was a little girl," she said. "To make it to the Olympics in the first place is just a huge feat. You have to jump through so many hoops to get here. Prelims, finals at the Olympic Trials. Prelims, finals here.

"It's a very, very long journey just to make it to this spot. My goal tonight was to get any medal."

Morris, who set the American record earlier this year at 16-2, made 15-10¾ on her second attempt Friday night, which moved her from fifth to second place.

Former Razorback Tina Sutej, competing for Slovenia, finished 11th in the pole vault with a best clearance of 14-7½.

Campbell-Brown, 34, earned her eighth Olympic medal when she ran on the third leg of Jamaica's 400-meter relay team, which ran 41.36 seconds and finished second to the U.S. team, which won in 41.01.

It was the fifth Olympics in which Campbell-Brown won a medal, including two gold medals in the 200 in 2004 and 2008.

Campbell-Brown, a four-time All-American in her only year competing for Arkansas in 2004, began her Olympic career with a silver medal on Jamaica's 400 relay in 2000.

Ellis-Watson, an 11-time All-American for the Razorbacks who was a senior this past year, ran the second leg on the U.S. women's 1,600 relay, which had the fastest time in the preliminaries at 3:21.42.

The U.S. women will aim for their sixth consecutive gold medal in the 1,600 relay in tonight's final.

While it was a big night for former Arkansas female athletes, former Razorbacks Tyson Gay and Jarrion Lawson lost out on earning a bronze medal in the men's 400 relay.

The U.S. team -- with Gay running the third leg -- crossed the finish line in third behind Jamaica and Japan for an apparent bronze medal, but then was disqualified for what judges ruled was an illegal pass between leadoff man Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin outside of the exchange zone.

Lawson didn't run in Friday night's final, but he would have earned a medal because he ran in Thursday's preliminaries. Lawson also missed out on a medal in the long jump, where he took fourth place.

Kyle Clemons (Jonesboro) ran a leg Friday for the U.S. men's 1,600 relay team, which finished second in the preliminaries with a time of 2:58.38, less than a tenth of a second behind Jamaica. The final will take place tonight.

Sisters Margaux and Isabella Isaksen (Fayetteville) finished 20th and 25th, respectively, in the modern pentathlon.

Sports on 08/20/2016