Morton sees double at Drake Relays

Published by editor on Wed, 05/03/2023 - 3:14pm

Hampton-Dumont-CAL sophomore Charlee Morton spins to throw the discus at the Drake Relays Thursday in Des Moines. Morton won both the discus and shot put during the event.

By:

John Jensen

Mid-America Publishing

DES MOINES — If one is good, two would be even better.

That was the attitude for Hampton-Dumont/CAL sophomore Charlee Morton who became the school’s second-ever Drake Relays champion with a victory in the discus Thursday and then doubled-up with a win Friday in the shot put.

“I knew, right when I got the win in discus, I wanted to get the win in shot put,” Morton said after winning the shot put. “Shot put was my stronger suit coming in, so I was just even more confident in myself. It’s a really great feeling to have both.”

Morton set the bar high for herself with a career-best effort in the discus Thursday. Her first throw of the day went 146 feet, 3 inches, shattering her previous career best by more than 13 feet. It was a mark no other athlete in the field touched, with Pleasant Valley’s Reese Goodlet coming closest with a 142-foot, 9-inch throw that came only minutes after Morton’s opening toss.

“I was hoping to get 130ish with my first throw,” Morton said during media availability after winning the discus. “Definitely getting that first throw as the best throw made everybody else have to chase after me.”

Morton said she first thought she heard 140-6 after her first throw, a mark she said she would have been happy with.

“Then, my dad was like, ‘146 feet.’ I was completely surprised,” she said.

Morton’s best throw prior to Thursday had been 133 feet, a mark that at the time was a school record but only eighth-best among the 24 Drake Relays qualifiers in the event. Five of her six throws Thursday went farther than her mark coming into the event.

Morton’s Thursday title was the second in Bulldog history, joining Sarah Harms who won the shot put in 2004. Less than a day later, Morton became H-D/CAL’s first two-time Drake champion.

Unlike Thursday in the discus, Morton trailed early in the shot put competition, albeit only briefly. Bishop Garrigan’s Audi Crooks set the early mark to beat with a throw of 42 feet, 10 ¾ inches. That mark lasted all of one throw, as Morton stepped up next and took the lead with a career-best 43-foot, 3 ½ inch toss.

“Right when I threw it I knew it was going to be good,” Morton said. “When I got that my face lit up – I almost started crying – it was just so great, it was the best feeling in the world.

“Once I got that 43 I was like, ‘Oh my God, a 43,’” she said.

Her mark held up through four more rounds, with Crooks’ early throw also standing up for second place.

Morton is the first athlete to sweep the shot put and discus since Tipton’s Jamie Koffron completed the feat in both 2018 and 2019.

Her next challenge is the State Championships, where she finished seventh in the discus and 11th in the shot put last year.

Morton was not the only Bulldog to see success at the 2023 Drake Relays. The Hampton-Dumont/CAL boys’ 4 x 100-meter relay team reached the final of its event before placing fifth.

The Bulldogs entered the event with high expectations, carrying the state’s sixth-fastest time into the 96-team field. They were sixth in the preliminary heats in 43.17 seconds and ran even better in the finals, coming home in 43.0 seconds.

Sean Strohmayer, Mid-America Publishing, contributed to this report.