Carter Morton nears Olympic Trial after returning from injury

By CHRISTIAN ROYSTON croyston@iowainformation.com

Coming off a season-ending injury Carter Morton took no time getting back to his old self.

Even after a year of not competing, Morton placed second in his first meet back to fall just a few spots back of qualifying for the Olympic Trials. Morton, a Greene County High School graduate, is a senior at Northern Iowa who competes in the decathlon.

From the start, his coaches knew he was special, as he used his innate athleticism to excel in all his events, especially jumping. Morton earned a name for himself right away.

“I always told myself, ‘If he’s not going to look at me, I’m gonna make him look at me,’” Morton said.

So when the opportunity arose for Morton to compete in hopes of making the Olympic Trials for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, his coach and teammates were fully behind him. They knew he was capable of competing well with the best of the best.

Morton was coming off a strong outdoor season in 2023. He was the Drake Relays Decathlon Champion in 2023 and was named the Most Valuable Athlete in his final meet of the season, the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships. 

However, when the next season started up, Morton found out that he needed surgery on his ankle. According to Morton, it was not a sudden injury. Over time, he started to notice something was off, as it would hurt more and more.

Finally, before the next season started, Morton decided to get an MRI.

“Sure enough, I had two or three fully torn ligaments,” Morton said.

Morton also had a split-tear in the tendon in his ankle. 

The seriousness of the injury came as a small surprise to Morton, as he had competed through the pain for a while. He would just tape up his ankle and get to work.

Morton even continued to set new standards for himself with the injury.

“I jumped my PR with the torn ligaments I had,” Morton said.

Luckily for Morton, he used the connections that he had to give him a chance to recover as fast as possible. Morton got in with the podiatrist for the Minnesota Vikings.

“I always tell everybody that he did Kirk Cousins’ achilles on a Monday and then he came and did my surgery on a Friday. So, that’s kinda cool,” Morton said.

With the best surgeon he could get, Morton’s recovery was expected to be around 8-12 weeks. However, his recovery was slower than expected. With the 2024 outdoor season quickly coming to a close, there was one last chance for Morton to get a meet in with hopes of placing high enough to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

Around a month before that final meet, Morton went back to his surgeon to see if everything was alright. There were no further complications, so all Morton could do was trust the process and hope that everything would work out for him in the end.

Morton is a religious person, as he has a bible study group with his teammates. So when times got hard, that is who he looked to.

“I had to trust in God’s plan for myself,” Morton said.

Morton’s teammates and coach were always in his corner. According to Morton, everyone on the team is close with each other. Even with Morton not competing for an entire year, his teammates still stood by his side and helped him the entire way.

“We’re all close. Everybody cares for everybody,” Morton said.

Even though Morton could not get on the track and compete, he made sure he was still a great teammate too. He always excelled in jumping events, especially high jump, so he acted a coach of sorts for his teammates throughout the year.

If his teammates had questions, Morton had answers, and if they need tips, he would be there to help them out. Morton also worked hard in the classroom, making the dean’s list in the year that he had to medically redshirt.

With Morton working hard, his coach worked just as hard to make sure he was healthy enough to get at least one meet in before the season closed. If Morton could have even one chance at having a shot at the Olympic Trials, the season would be a success.

The Texas Greatest Athlete Decathlon was approaching, and less than a month before the meet started, Morton’s coach asked if he wanted to compete. All Morton had been getting were nos all year long, so when his coach asked him that question, Morton said, “Heck yeah. Let’s do it.”

The Texas decathlon was set to take place June 1 and June 2 in Dallas, Texas, and by that time, Morton was extremely close to 100%. The only issue going into the meet was not his health, but the fact that Morton could not compete for UNI. He had to go unattached.

Morton’s parents have also been a rock throughout his life. When he decided that he wanted to compete unattached, that meant he would have to get down to Texas by himself.

Morton drove down with his dad, and his mom flew in the Friday night before the meet. His parents and himself would be the only coaches he would have throughout the weekend.

With a field of over 20 athletes, all competing in the decathlon, Morton placed second with a score of 7,509. That was a personal best score for Morton.

Despite Morton still slightly hesitant on his jumping events, he finished first in the high jump, with a jump of 2.08 meters, and first in the long jump, with a PR of 7.24 meters. Morton also set a PR in the pole vault with 4.76 meters to take first, and finished first the 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:45.11. Morton finished top 10 in all but one event, and top five in all but three events.

“Personally, I think I could have done a little bit better, but coming off an injury and not competing for a whole year, I’m just happy I got through it without any major injuries,” Morton said.

Morton’s coach entered his score to see if he would qualify for the Olympic Trials, just in case. With the trials only accepting 18 decathletes, Morton said he was around four spots from making the cut.

Entered his score to see if he qualified for the Olympic Trials. He was around four to five spots out.

“I wasn’t planning on making it this year with that score,” Morton said.

Morton knows he can do better, which is why he is planning to continue competing in the future. He has two indoor seasons and one outdoor season left of eligibility, so he plans to compete for UNI in the 2024-25 indoor season, then compete unattached for the outdoor season before coming back for one final year to do the entire 2025-26 season.

Going back to UNI for his sixth year will allow him to complete his two majors in financial management and sports administration, and his two minors in strength and conditioning and entrepreneurship.

After college, Morton plans to continue competing on the professional level.

“I want to try to go professional if that’s an opportunity that I’m able to do,” Morton said.

The next big goal for Morton will be the 2025 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. With Morton continuing to improve, and the Texas decathlon being a good sign going forward, he has high hopes for achieving his goals.