Taylor Washington[2][3] (née Ellis-Watson) is an American track and field athlete. She was a member of the winning relay team for the United States Olympic team in the women's 4 × 400 meter relay for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Ellis-Watson first attended college at the University of Pittsburgh where she was named All-Big East Conference in track.[5] After two years, she transferred from Pittsburgh to the University of Arkansas seeking the increased competition that comes at an SEC track school.[4][5] In November 2013 and December 2014, Ellis-Watson had surgery on her left foot to repair a stress fracture. Ellis-Watson was an 11-time All-American at Arkansas and was part of the school's 2015 indoor track and 2016 outdoor track national championship teams.[4] Although she graduated from college 2015, Ellis-Watson began working towards her post-graduate degree in counseling and continuing to compete in the NCAA through 2016.[5]
At the 2016 Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Ellis-Watson finished fourth in the 400 meters with a personal best time of 50.25.[4][5] She missed qualifying for the individual 400 meter .08 of a second. The result was still good enough to earn Ellis-Watson a spot on the U.S. 4 x 400 women's relay team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[4] At the Olympics, Ellis-Watson ran the second leg of the preliminary round of the 4 × 400 relay with a split of 50.81 seconds.[6] Although Ellis-Watson did not race in the finals, she won gold for being part of the winning relay team.[6]
Former Arkansas women's track and field team captain Taylor Washington (née: Ellis-Watson) was honored at the 2017 NCAA Convention which was held January 18–21, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee.[7]
As of 2016, Ellis-Watson is engaged to be married to fellow track athlete Wesley Washington.[5][9] The pair met while Ellis-Watson was a student at the University of Pittsburgh.[5]
_(Taylor_Ellis-Watson_cropped).jpg)
