Austra Skujyte, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist in the heptathlon, will headline the first decathlon ever held exclusively for women in the United States at the second annual Audrey Walton Combined Events competition in Columbia, Mo., on April 14-15.

Skujyte, the 25-year-old Lithuanian who tallied a personal best 6,435 points in the heptathlon to finish runner-up in Athens, has her eyes set on the recently ratified world record of 8,150 points set by Marie Collonville of France last September.

"Austra has been progressively excited about it," said Kansas State head coach Cliff Rovelto, who also coaches Skujyte. "No one has seen her pole vault before, but she,s been working on that since after her senior year and she,s shown nice progress in the event. With having significant experience in all of the other events, and with where she is in her training, she,s in good shape to break the world record."

The women,s decathlon modifies the heptathlon by making it identical to the men's event by adding the 100 meters, discus and pole vault, while replacing the 200 and 800 with the 400 and 1500.

Although Skujyte has never competed in the ten-event competition, Rovelto is cautiously optimistic about her chances to challenge Collonville's record.

"When you,re talking about a world record, you can,t just automatically say that you are going to break it, it,s a tough record," Rovelto said. "But, if the weather is good, and if she makes solid marks across the board, and even if she has a sub-par event, the record could be in trouble."

The IAAF's recent ratification of a world record has legitimized the fledgling women's event, said Rick McGuire, head coach at the University of Missouri.

"Several competitions have been held in Europe and I think it,s time for the U.S. to see the significance of the event," McGuire said. "For the honor and for the good of the sport, Coach Rovelto and I decided to make this part of the Audrey Walton meet this year, and we are excited to put this on the front burner of the track and field world."

Lindsay Grigoriev and Breanna Eveland from Kansas State and Missouri,s Liz Young will join Skujyte in the four-woman field. The two- day Walton meet will also feature a traditional women,s heptathlon and men,s decathlon.