US star Diana Pickler sets new Drake Relays mark in heptathlon

Pickler breaks heptathlon mark at Drake Realys

DES MOINES, Iowa — What Diana Pickler considered a tune up was strong enough for a meet record at the Drake Relays.

Pickler, the defending U.S. champion in the heptathlon, broke the Drake record in the heptathlon with 6,040 points Thursday, notching the second-best mark in the world this year.

Pickler, making her first appearance at Drake, snapped the record set by Jacquelyn Johnson in 2009 to highlight the first full day of competition at the 101st Drake Relays.

Pickler had originally planned to focus on individual events leading up to the prestigious Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria, at the end of May, but she made a late change to fit Drake into her schedule.

“I know that I’m extremely fit. I’m just a little rusty and not as sharp technically, so that’s what I’m going to go back and really get fine-tuned going into my major meets at the end of the year,” said Pickler, who set a personal best of 6,290 at the U.S. outdoor championships last year.

Pickler had it when it mattered, though.

She needed to hit 2 minutes, 18 seconds in the final event, the 800 meters, to break Johnson’s mark. Behind a strong finishing kick in the final 75 meters, Pickler finished in 2:16.73.

Pickler topped Johnson’s mark by 20 points, marking the third straight year the heptathlon meet record was broken.

“That makes it fun, the history of Drake Relays, to be on the board. That’s exciting. I was shooting for that going into the 800, so it made it exciting,” Pickler said. “I’m honored to get that and kind of move forward from here.”

Kent State’s Diana Dumitrescu was second in the heptathlon with 5,518 points, followed by Kasey Hill with 5,505 points. But perhaps the most noteworthy athlete in the heptathlon was one who didn’t even finish; 14-year-old Shaina Burns of Prior Lake, Minn.

Burns made her high school’s varsity team last year in seventh grade and quickly set her sights on qualifying for the USATF junior nationals. They don’t throw the javelin in Minnesota, though, so Burns picked Drake, an open meet, in hopes of notching a javelin mark good enough to qualify.

Burns’s javelin throw was 83 feet — the lowest in the field — and she said a pre-existing illness kept her from running in the final event, the 800. Still, it was an eye-opening meet for an eighth-grader still learning the sport.

“It was actually really cool,” Burns said. “At first you’re like ‘Wow, it’s Diana Pickler. It’s like, Olympians.’ It’s also kind of inspiring. You kind of feel like you want to keep up. You want to show them that you want to be able to try and prove yourself.”

The University of Minnesota took the top two spots in the decathlon, with Gophers senior R.J. McGinnis taking first and freshman teammate Jack Szmanda taking second.

McGinnis finished second at Drake in 2009 to Mat Clark, who failed to clear a height in the pole vault. McGinnis got his day going by taking the 110-meter hurdles in 14.87 and throwing 135 feet, 11 inches in the discus.

“Typically I’m a bigger day one guy. But that started off kind of rough yesterday and I had the mentality of coming out and doing the best I could in each event,” McGinnis said.

Grand View (Iowa) sophomore Obsie Birru won the women’s university 10,000 at 35:50.18, become the first female athlete from the Des Moines school to win an event at Drake.

Texas-El Paso sophomore Risper Kimaiyo won the women’s 5,000 in 16:39.43, while Mississippi senior Barnabas Kirui took the men’s 5,000 in 14:14.49. Ole Miss’s Martin Kirui, Barnabas’s brother, won the men’s 3,000 steeplechase in 8:46.68, the fastest time at Drake since 1994.

A pair of Iowa prep stars stole the show late in the day with national bests for 2010. Katie Flood of Dowling Catholic in West Des Moines, Iowa, ran a meet record of 9:43.39 in 3,000 and Dike-New Hartford’s Hannah Willms won the high jump in 6-1, becoming the first girl to top 6 feet this year.

With temperatures in the low 70s and a light wind, Thursday offered the kind of conditions Drake officials dream of. Friday and Saturday’s weather might not be so generous, though, with showers expected on both days.

College events highlight Friday’s schedule, with the invitational events slated for Saturday.