Carter Morton Photo by Sue Rieder

Day one of the two day Drake Relays decathlon was held on Wednesday at Drake Stadium.in Des Moines and Carter Morton of Jefferson has a slim lead with five events and five to go today. Morton is a third year University of Northern Iowa athlete who totaled 3,391 points, a career best day one total. Morton’s UNI teammate Zach Butcher is close behind with 3,357 points. Those two are well over 400 points ahead of the rest of the field.

Morton set two personal bests on Wednesday including clearing the high jump bar at 6′ 11″ and running the 400 meter dash in 49.55 seconds. He was second in the 400, but added the long jump to his day one victories with a best leap of 23′ 6-3/4″. Morton placed fourth in the 100 meter dash and fifth in the shot put.

The action continues today at 10 a.m. with the discus throw, 110 meter high hurdles, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500 meter run.