June 28, 2013
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State track and field head coach Shelia Burrell has been named to the USA coaching staff at the 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Medellin, Colombia. Burrell will coach the women's jumps and combined events.
The Pan Am Junior Athletics Championships, which will take place from Aug. 23-25, will showcase many of the top international junior athletes from the ages of 16 to 19. The U.S. Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month served as the U.S. selection meet for the Pan Am Junior Championships. This year's Team USA squad will look to best the 72 medals won by Team USA at the 2011 Pan Am Junior Athletics Championships.
Current junior Allison Reaser competed in the 2011 Pan Am Junior Athletics Championships, taking fourth in the heptathlon with 5,162 points.
It is certainly not the first time that Burrell has represented Team USA. Burrell was a coach for the U.S. relay pool at the 2010 Penn Relays, which featured American stars Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross, Lashinda Demus, Carmelita Jeter and Natasha Hastings, among others. As a heptathlete, Burrell also was a five-time U.S. national champion (1999, 2001-04), a bronze medalist at the 2001 World Championships and a two-time Olympian, including a fourth-place showing at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
This year, Burrell guided the Aztecs to a 23rd-place tie at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and a 25th-place tie at the indoor meet. She also led SDSU to its first MW outdoor title since 2003 and first indoor championship in the league's 14-year history.
Along the way, Burrell has been named the MW Women's Coach of the Year at both the outdoor and indoor meet, the USTFCCCA Women's Indoor West Region Coach of the Year and the Coach of the Meet at the Cal/Nevada Championships.