Taylor Ewert Chooses The University Of Arkansas

One of the most versatile and accomplished runners/walkers in recent memory, Ewert has decided to fully utilize her skills at Arkansas, verbally committing to the Razorbacks.

"When I was looking for a school, I did a lot of research," Ewert said. "I really wanted a program with history and the stats to back it up. I talked to a lot of coaches and did quite a few home visits before deciding where I wanted to visit."  

"I wanted a program that was open to allowing me to continue to racewalk and run. I wanted a program that could help me get to the next step in my running career and give me the guidance. Those were two big factors that played into my decision."

Ewert has put her running and racewalking skills on display in Ohio, the U.S. and internationally for several years. While representing the Beavercreek Beavers and Southwest Ohio TC, Ewert has accumulated five individual state titles, five New Balance national victories and five USATF crowns, in addition to paving the way to an Ohio Division I team title last fall in cross country for Howard Russ' squad. And she still has cross country and indoor and outdoor track campaigns to complete this year.

Only 16 at the time, Ewert won the U.S. U-20 10,000-meter racewalk title in the summer of 2018 and followed that up with a PR of more than 3 minutes in finishing 10th in the IAAF U-20 championships in Finland. The previous summer, she won the national U-20 titles in the 10K race walk and was sixth in the Pan-American U-20 final in Peru. 

In the 2019 indoor and outdoor track seasons, Ewert was ranked No. 1 in Ohio in a total of 10 races/distances, adding top 20 national rankings in all of those events and top 8 in half of that group.

(Taylor Ewert is set to join an accomplished and experienced Razorbacks program)  

One of the top track and XC programs nationally, Arkansas is coming off a banner year that saw the Razorback women sweep the NCAA indoor and outdoor track team titles. Lance Harter's program also won the indoor title in 2015 and finished second in 2016 and 2018, in addition to the 2016 outdoor title. The Razorbacks also have accumulated 10 individual outdoor titles, scored in all but six of the NCAA women's outdoor championship meets and won six Southeastern Conference triple crowns (indoor, outdoor and XC).

"I made the call of only doing two officials because of my schedule and feeling like it was the best move," Ewert said of balancing her fall harrier schedule with recruiting. "I enjoyed talking and getting to know coaches, and even though it was a tough decision at the end, I knew deep down what school was right for me!"

Ewert, whose brother Ben runs for the Louisville Cardinals, is still only 17 and won't turn 18 until after this year's Ohio state XC championships at National Trail Raceway.