Drake Relays 2023: UNI’s Carter Morton wins decathlon, Loras relay team breaks record

DES MOINES — Northern Iowa’s Carter Morton celebrated his first Drake Relays win by pouring water on his head, catching his breath, and expressing contempt.

“I hate that race,” Morton said after clinching the decathlon title Thursday on the famed blue oval.

But he loved the result.

That race — the 1,500-meter run — sapped all of Morton’s energy and proved to be a fitting, if grueling way to cap his personal-best winning effort of 7,454 points. Panther teammate Zack Butcher took second with 6,975 points.

“I think of the 1,500 as, like, you want something really bad, right?” said Carter, a former Greene County standout. “But you have to do something to go through it. There’s steps to do it and that’s the last step. It’s like that’s the boss in a video game. You’ve gotta beat that boss and sometimes you fall short, but this time I think I beat him.”

Carter gave UNI its first decathlon win at the Relays since Daniel Gooris claimed back-to-back crowns in 2012 and 2013. Four Panthers — Morton, Butcher, and former Cedar Rapids Kennedy standouts Brody Lovell and Drew Bartels — finished among the top seven. Butcher, who starred at Western Dubuque before joining UNI’s program, has placed second multiple times at the Relays.

“I never was able to make it to the top,” Butcher said. “I had a chance today in college. It was close, but it (helps) when you have really good teammates like that, too, so I’ll take another second place at the Drake Relays. I’ll keep stacking them.”

Loras sets Drake Relays record in 4x800

That’s precisely what Loras did while winning its second straight college division Relays title in the 3,200-meter relay. The Duhawks’ quartet of Wyatt Kelly, Ryan Harvey, Carter Oberfoell and Mike Jasa didn’t just win, though. They shattered Cal Poly Pamona’s Relays record that had stood since 1981 and also eclipsed their own NCAA Division III record. Loras finished in a blistering time of 7:22.17, which topped the previous Relays benchmark by more than five seconds.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Kelly, who ran the first leg. “We came out here and knew we were all pretty fit. We were looking to do something special and we definitely delivered.”

Their record-setting race came with a narrator, too. As the Duhawks settled in, longtime Relays announcer Mike Jay began informing the crowd that history could be hanging in the balance. And when Oberfoell handed the baton to former Cedar Rapids Prairie star Mike Jasa for the anchor leg, Jay’s voice rose sharply. Jasa — a Division III indoor national champion — noticed, giving it all he had down the stretch as the crowd rose to its fight, roaring its approval.

“I tell these guys and I tell anyone and I tell my wife that I usually can’t hear people when I run,” said Jasa, who ran an impressive 1:48.16 anchor leg. “Usually your heart’s beating so fast and you’re so focused, but today and the crowd, I could hear everything he was saying. I could hear my coach in the stands saying, ‘You can go break the record.’ Don’t just go easy because I have other events. Our goal was to run fast and be part of something special, and I feel like that’s what it was.”

Drake notches first women’s Relays win in 28 years

Brooke Mullins surged to a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, becoming Drake’s first women’s champion at the Relays since 1995. Mullins, a native of Queensland, NSW, Australia, finished in a school-record 10:13.94.

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