DES MOINES, Iowa – Northern Iowa's Carter Morton and former Texas A&M athlete Shaina Burns lead after the first day of the multi-events as competition heats up in the 113^th Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom.

A personal best in the high jump and steady performance in the four other events helped Morton rack up 3,991 points in the decathlon on Wednesday as pleasant, sunny weather made for near ideal conditions at Drake Stadium.

Burns won three of the first four events in the heptathlon to end the day with 3,631 points – good for a lead of nearly 200 points.
Morton, a junior, is coming off a career-best 7,210-point performance in Azusa, Calif. two weeks ago and was the Missouri Valley Conference indoor heptathlon champion this year. He cleared 6 feet, 11 inches (2.11 meters) to win the high jump and went 23-6 ¾ (7.18m) for a first-place finish in the long jump. He also finished second in the 400 and shot put and fourth in the 100.

UNI teammate Zach Butcher is second with 3,957 points after winning the three other events. Sal Capaldo, a freshman at the University of Iowa competing unattached, is third with 3,520 points and UNI freshman Brody Lovell holds down fourth place with 3,476.

Butcher, fifth at Drake last year and the MVC champion in 2021, started the day by winning the 100 in 10.82 seconds, a career best. He threw 42-10 ¼ (13.06), also a PR, to win the shot put and sped to a 48.32-second clocking to win the 400. That also was a personal best.

Burns, who was fourth in the pentathlon at the USA Indoor Championships this year, won the 100 in 13.65, cleared 5-8 ¾ (1.75m) for a first-place finish in the high jump and threw 46-6 (14.17m) to win the shot put.

Jordan Gray, who was an All-American and 10-time conference champion at Kennesaw State, is second with 3,467 points, former Iowa high school star Alex Gochenour-Brondyke is third with 3,391 and Iowa State sophomore Sydney Willits is fourth with 3,281 points.

Gochenour-Brondyke won the final event of the day, sprinting to a time of 24.51 in the 200. She won 13-state championships and fourth Drake Relays titles while at Logan-Magnolia High School, then competed at LSU and Arkansas. She's now a volunteer assistant coach at Iowa State.

The decathlon will resume Thursday at 10 a.m., finishing with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500. The heptathlon picks up again at 11 a.m. with the long jump and finishes with the javelin and 800.