University of Northern Iowa track and field freshman Carter Morton from Jefferson finished in fifth place in the heptathlon and he was also fifth in a separate event, the men’s high jump, at the Missouri Valley Conference indoor meet. The coed event started on Friday and ended yesterday inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The host Panthers won the men’s team title with 167.5 points, just ahead of Indiana State at 165.

Morton sat in seventh place among 13 competitors after the first four of the seven event heptathlon on Saturday, but a big second day propelled him to fifth. His highest finish in any of the events came in Sunday’s first competition, the 60 meter hurdles. He was third in 8.62 seconds, and followed that up by clearing 12′ 6″ in the pole vault, good for sixth place. The 1,000 meter run was the last of the seven heptathlon events and he was sixth in 3:05.90. Morton totaled 4,696 points and was fifth in the overall standings. UNI went 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 in the heptathlon, garnering valuable points in the team race.

As if the freshman from Greene County High School didn’t have enough to do, he squeezed in a fifth place finish in the men’s high jump, clearing 6′ 6-3/4″, which was 5′-1/4″ higher than he jumped just one day earlier in the heptathlon high jump.