Carter Morton, 2020 Greene County High School graduate and current University of Northern Iowa student athlete, competed in the Texas Greatest Athlete Decathlon June 1-2 in Dallas.
Morton underwent ankle surgery in November and was under a medical redshirt for the 2023-2024 NCAA season. He was granted the opportunity by the NCAA D1 to compete unattached in the Texas decathlon and had to pay his own way without his collegiate coach present.
His parents, Chad and Deb Morton of Jefferson, accompanied him to Texas and helped with coaching, managing equipment and transportation.
Being under a medical redshirt means he had not competed at all since the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships in May of 2023, where he was named the Most Valuable Athlete of the meet. He was also the reigning Drake Relays Decathlon Champion in 2023.
Morton’s goal for entering the Texas decathlon was to get a competition in this year and potentially score a career best in points, hoping to qualify for the US Olympic trials later this month. Morton did score a career high of 7509 points, but came up just short of qualifying for the Olympic trials, where only 18 decathletes are accepted.
He will continue to train and plans to compete for UNI for the 2024-2025 indoor season but will redshirt for the outdoor season in 2025. He will have a full year of eligibility for UNI for the 2025-2026 season barring any injuries.
He will enter UNI this fall in his fifth year working towards a double major in finance and sports administration as well as double minors in strength and conditioning and entrepreneurship.
His statistics from the Texas competition are:
Day 1: 100 meter 11.06 seconds (5th), Long jump 7.24 m (1st – PR for Decathlon LJ), Shot put 11.78 m (12th), High jump 2.08 m (1st), 400 m 50.00 sec (6th).
Day 2: 110HH 15.18 sec (5th), Discus 36.46 m (9th), Pole vault 4.76 m (1st-PR), Javelin 50.69 m (5th), 1500 m 4:45.11 (1st). ~courtesy of The Scranton Journal
