April 24, 2002

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Pole vaulter Jaret Willi, triple jumper Shelton Scott and shot put and discus thrower Jay Heddell head up the Southeast Missouri State University track performers who have been selected to compete in the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa beginning on Thursday.

Willi has already claimed the pole vault title this season at the Alabama Relays and All Sport Classic and has the best vault in the Ohio Valley Conference this season at 17-feet. He was sixth at last year's Drake Relays.

Heddell claimed the shot put title at the Alabama Relays and has the best shot put and discus throw in the OVC this season. He has thrown 58-feet 9 ½ inches in the shot put and 170-feet 10-inches in the discus.

Scott will be in the triple jump where he has a best this season of 49-feet 7 ¼-inches.

Willi, Heddell and Scott will be defending champions at the OVC championships on May 3-4 at the Abe Stuber Track & Field Complex.

The Southeast men will also be in the sprint medley and 4 X 400-meter relay events at Drake. The team will include Jason Campbell, Chaz Brown, Adam Shupe and Michael Bobo.

The Southeast women's team will also be in the sprint medley and 4 X 400-meter relays with a team of Kaci Pilcher, Hannah Stuckenschneider, LaQuita Andrews and Lyndsey Stevenson on the sprint medley team with Laura VanHoevelaak running instead of Pilcher in the 4 X 400.

Individual entries for the Southeast women will include VanHoevelaak in the 400-meter hurdles and Heather Jenkins in the shot put and discus.

Preliminaries in the pole vault and begin on Saturday with prelims in the other events scheduled on Friday. Most finals are on Saturday.

Other members of the Southeast track teams will compete at the UMKC Invitational or a meet at Murray State on Saturday.