DES MOINES – A packed crowd around the sunny blue oval of the Drake Relays saw an ISU freshman take his first Relay’s victory Saturday.

Julian Morris, a two-time Minnesota state champion in high school, won the high jump with a jump of 6 feet, 10.15 inches. Although not from the state, Morris said he feels the importance of winning at Drake as an ISU athlete.

“It means a lot, especially going to Iowa State,” Morris said. “Everybody knows about Drake. Everybody talks about it all year long.”

Winners at Drake are given a white flag with the Drake Relays emblem on it, and are allowed a victory lap to salute the fans. Morris said he relished the opportunity.

“That felt amazing. That flag, it must cost five cents max, and it holds so much value,” Morris said. “When you walk around, you do your little victory lap and everybody cheers, it means something.”

The mark qualified him for NCAA Regionals, but is the lowest possible mark to do so. Morris said he would need to improve to have a chance in the upcoming Big 12 Championships and Regionals next month.

“What I just jumped now might not do much from now on,” Morris said. “This is a foundation. Winning Drake was a big milestone, but I have to show some big improvement to hold my own for the rest of the year.”

The regionally qualified 4x400m relay team of Tony Stanfield, Jared Lewis, Elijah Braimah and Jared Graham finished fifth in a loaded field which included three other teams from the Big 12 and in-state rival Northern Iowa. The 3:07.85 finish against the strong competition left Iowa State knowing they could do better, said coach Steve Lynn.

“The guys have been through it now and they know they can run faster,” Lynn said. “They did a good job today. It’s not like they were jogging out there by any stretch. We’re not at 100 percent right now, but we’re getting closer.” The same team finished fourth in the 4x200m on Friday.

Kiel Uhl started off events for the Cyclones Thursday night in the 5,000m run, finishing just .23 out of the Regional qualifying mark of 14 minutes 12 seconds. Lynn said Uhl, who is majoring in architecture, has been losing sleep at night to finish his school workload, but now should be able to hit the Regional mark.

“Now he’s done with those projects, you’ll see him improve greatly,” Lynn said.

Along with winning the shuttle hurdle relay, other top 10 finishes for the Cyclones included the distance medley team of Johnny Reel, James Robinson, David Lantz and Kevin Born, who took fifth, while Robbie Utterback was eighth in the discuss. On Friday, the 4×1,600m team of Born, Jayden Russ, Reel and Brandon Rooney took third. Guor Majak was seventh in the 5,000-m on Thursday.

Next up for the Cyclones is the Big 12 Outdoor Championships on May 11-13 in Lincoln, Neb.