COLUMN: Relays champ gets the best of every situation

From Adam Steinmetz's "Wide Open," Fall '95 Jamaican cab drivers will try to fleece you any way possible. Having grown up in Jamaica, Guthrie-Gresham knew the trick. So when the driver tried to charge Guthrie-Gresham 80 Jamaican dollars for the cab ride to the stadium, she blew her top. She burst into a diatribe in her native tongue, which her coach, Norm Gordon, did not understand. He could only guess that a lot of the English translations for those words contained four letters. He remembers it vividly, though, because he had never seen his track star get so upset. She ended up paying 40 dollars, exactly what she thought the ride was worth. Nobody gets the best of Diane Guthrie-Gresham. Certainly not on the track, they don't. Well, yes, one woman has scored more points in a collegiate heptathlon than Diane Guthrie-Gresham scored as she ran away with the heptathlon at sun-drenched Franklin Field. Does the name Jackie Joyner-Kersee ring a bell? How incredible were Guthrie-Gresham's scores in the seven events? Well, when Penn's assistant women's track coach Tony Tenisci read her scores to one of his athletes, she responded by muttering the name of the last guy to walk on water. Guthrie-Gresham, a George Mason senior, is so dominant that her current competitors come asking for autographs and photographs. And she is mature and modest enough to make them feel comfortable about doing so. In fact, the only competitor she chases is the toughest competitor of all -- herself. That is why she was so exhilarated yesterday. She came to the Penn Relays knowing she could give a mediocre performance and win anyway. Usually a prescription for disaster, this realization left her relaxed. She shattered her own Penn Relays record of 6,041 points. And you could tell from her broad and infectious smile that winning was not just a relief. It was an accomplishment. She would enjoy this one. Because it was her last one. And because it was her best one. She was especially ecstatic about setting a personal best in what is normally her weakest event, the 800 meters. "I have been training harder in the 800 because I know when I get out there I have to run close to a 2:20," she said. Two years ago she represented Jamaica in the long jump at Barcelona. She scratched on all three jumps. This time, though, she will have a full year to train without the burdens of schoolwork. And she is not that far away from greatness. Yesterday's score would place her in the top 10 of the world. Yes, folks, Jamaica contributes more to the Olympics than a comical bobsled team. While her melodic accent gets you thinking of white sand and reggae, Guthrie-Gresham does not come from the tourist hot-spots of Jamaica. She comes from a rural area, where the 150-mile trek to Kingston takes six hours because the roads are poor. A track scholarship is the quickest way out. It is the opportunity for a better life. Her track credentials are equally impressive. This winter she won the NCAA Indoor Long Jump Championship. Yesterday she captured her fourth Penn Relays heptathlon title. Only three other athletes have won individual titles in the same event four times. She has now won 12 Penn Relays watches and kept only two. She has decorated the wrists of her mother, father, siblings, husband, high school coach and even an ex-boyfriend. Had she not been sidelined with an ankle injury in 1993, she would have been the first athlete to ever win the heptathlon in four consecutive years. So of course, she is a perfectionist, right? "No, I don't think so. Now my husband, he is a perfectionist." She hopes that his salary combined with a sponsorship will give her enough money to train full-time next year for the Olympics. There will be meets in Europe and equipment and travel around the United States, and all of that adds up. Meanwhile, she has finals to worry about. And that nagging paper. It is amazing how she juggles the roles. Student, athlete, wife, teammate, friend, watch-giver. Those who bemoan the state of college athletics should take five minutes to talk with Guthrie-Gresham. Unless, of course, you drive a cab. Adam Steinmetz is a Wharton senior from West Palm Beach, Fla., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian. This is the final edition of Wide Open.