Before ACU
Ella competed at the TAPPS 4A State Meet all 4 years of HS for Trinity Christian Academy in Willow Park, TX. She placed 4 th in the discus as a freshman; 2 nd in the discus as a sophomore, 1 st in the discus and 8 th in the shot put as a junior, and finished her HS career by repeating as the TAPPS 4A state champ in the discus and placing 4 th in the shot put. Following her junior year, Ella placed 5 th in the AAU Junior Olympic 17-18 discus. This past summer, competing unattached, she won the USATF Region 12 Junior Olympic Championships with a new personal best of 148-6/45.26m (a mark that placed her as the #18 best Texas HS thrower, as well as being ranked #92 in the U.S.) She finished the summer by finishing 6 th at the USATF Junior Olympics Championships in Savannah, GA.

Personal
Ella was a 2025 graduate of Trinity Christian Academy, where she was an Academic All-State member all 4 years and on the A Honor Roll. Her parents are Jason and Kristen Cockrum and she has a sister – Olivia. Her father, Col. Jason “Smokin” Cockrum, played football for the Air Force Academy and is on the Wall of Honor at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian. Ella’s uncle, Keith Cockrum, was a 4 year starter at safety for Texas Tech and in 1999, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation’s National Scholar-Athletes Hall of Fame.