DES MOINES, Iowa – German Olympian Till Steinforth and American Jordan Gray emerged as the leaders after Day One of the multi events on Wednesday, the opening competition in the 115^th Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom.
 
Steinforth, the defending Drake Relays champion, won four of the five events in compiling 4,478 points to lead at the halfway point of the decathlon. Gray, second at Drake last year and third in 2023, rang up 3,511 points for a comfortable lead after four of the seven events in the heptathlon.
 
Temperatures in the mid-70s warmed the athletes as they competed on Drake Stadium's Blue Oval under mostly sunny skies with a breeze blowing in from the south.
 
Steinforth, a junior at Nebraska who was 15^th at the Paris Olympics last year, got off to a fast start in his outdoor debut by winning the 100 in 10.65 and capped his day with a personal best in the 400, winning that race with a time of 47.96.
 
In between, he won the long jump at 25-11 (7.90m), threw 50-1 ¾ (15.28) to win the shot put and finished second in the high jump with a clearance of 6-6 (1.98m).
 
Steinforth will be looking at topping the 8,053 points he scored at Drake last year when the competition finishes on Thursday. He has a personal best of 8,287.
 
Steinforth was the Big Ten champion in the decathlon and long jump in 2023 and took third in the heptathlon and seventh in the long jump at the 2024 NCAA indoor championships.
 
Carter Morton, who is redshirting at Northern Iowa this outdoor season, holds second place with 4,143 points and is followed by Iowa freshman Abraham Vogelsang with 4,092, UNI's Zack Butcher with 4,043 and Kansas State's Emil Uhlin with 3,918.
 
Morton won the long jump by clearing 6-10 ¾ (2.10), just a quarter of an inch shy of his personal best. He missed his three jumps at 6-11 ¾ (2.13m). Morton also came up with a third-place finish in the long jump at 24-4 ½ (7.43m).
 
Vogelsang is making a strong showing after competing in a decathlon just a week ago at the Mt. SAC Relays. His best finishes were third in the shot put and high jump. Vogelsang was the Big Ten freshman of the year indoors and finished sixth in the heptathlon at the NCAA indoor championships.
 
Gray was the bronze medalist in the heptathlon for Team USA at the 2023 Pan-American games and is the American record holder in the women's decathlon. She started the competition by winning the 110 hurdles in 13.81, which gave her a quick 1,005 points.
 
Gray also finished first in the shot put, throwing 46-2 ½ (14.08m), tied for second in the high jump at 5-5 ¼ (1.66m) and took third in the 200 in 24.85.
 
She was followed in the standings by Emily Swanson of Sioux Falls with 3,227 points, Minnesota State's Vitoriia Ermolaeva with 3,205, Northern Iowa's Joey Perry with 3,194 and Minnesota State's Miranda Lauvstad with 3,187.
 
Lauvstad, runner-up in the pentathlon at the NCAA Division II indoor championships this year, won the 200 in 24.01. Wisconsin sophomore Kyla Saleh cleared 5-6 ½ (1.69m) to win the high jump. Saleh was seventh overall with 3,093 points.
 
The decathlon finishes Thursday with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500. The heptathlon closes with the long jump, javelin and 800.