Posted: April 22, 2004

Athletics: World Leader Headlines New Drake Relays Event

DES MOINES, IOWA — One of the new events added to the 95th running of the Drake Relays is a women's Olympic mini-multis featuring two performers who are expected to compete in the heptathlon in the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Both Austra Skujyte from Lithuania and Shelia Burrell competed in the 2000 Olympics. This event will feature athletes competing in the 100 hurdles, shot put and long jump Thursday.

Skujyte, 24, is the 2004 world leader in the heptathlon having scored a personal best 6,345 points in Tucson, Ariz., March 24. She was ranked No. 9 in the world in the heptathlon last year. She won the heptathlon at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships, while competing for Kansas State.

Burrell, 32, has been ranked No. 1 in the U.S. since 2001. Burrell won the U.S. Outdoor Championships in 1999, 2002 and 2003.

Skujyte was third in the pentathlon in the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary, March 5, setting a Lithuania national record. She finished 10th in the 2003 World Outdoor Championships with 6,077 points.

Burrell was ranked No. 3 in world in the heptathlon in 2002 and No. 4 in the world in 2001 after finishing third in the World Outdoor Championships with a personal best of 6,472 points.

Burrell was second in the heptathlon at the 1999 Pan American Games in Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, and seventh in the 1998 Goodwill Games. The Albuquerque, N.M., native was second in the 2000 Olympic Trials as well as the 1998 and 2001 U.S. Outdoor Championships and was runner-up at the 2000 Olympic Trials. She was ranked second in the U.S. in the heptathlon in both 1999 and 2000.

Burrell soared a personal best of 21-6 3/4 in the long jump at the 2002 U.S. Outdoor Championships. Burrell owns personal bests of 13.05 in the 100 hurdles and 22.92 in the 200, both set at the 2001 World Championships.