Guthrie-Gresham wins heptathlon impressively

The 101st Penn Relay Carnival is underway at Frankin Field, and collegiate competition in the women's heptathlon and the men's decathlon was completed yesterday. George Mason senior Diane Guthrie-Gresham and Liberty junior Ryan Werner were the winners of the two-day events. Guthrie-Gresham broke her own meet record en route to her fourth straight Penn Relays Heptathlon title. She dominated the competition, finishing among the top three in every event. She placed first in the long jump (21 feet, 8 1/4 inches), the shot put (44 feet), the high jump (5-11 1/2), and the 200 meter dash (24.71). Her long jump set a Penn Relays record in the event, as well as a Franklin Field record. Going into the seventh and final event, the 800-meters, Guthrie-Gresham held a whopping 718-point lead over her nearest competitor, teammate Vera Inansci. She could have skipped the last event and still walked away with the title. All that was left was the record. Guthrie-Gresham needed a time of 2 minutes, 38.73 seconds in the 800 meters to eclipse the heptathlon-record 6,041 points she scored as a freshman in 1992. She ran a 2:20.45, breaking her record by 230 points. Her total of 6,271 points is the second highest score ever recorded in the collegiate heptathlon. Only Olympic champion Jackie Joyner Kersee scored higher, amassing 6,390 for UCLA in 1983. Inansci finished second with 5,499 points, while Michigan's Tania Longe came in third in the 17-woman event with a score of 5,344. "I didn't know it was second best," Guthrie-Gresham said. "I knew what the record was, but I'm happy to hear that. This is one of my all-time favorite meets, I love it here." She should. Today's title is her 10th at the Penn Relays, joining three other collegiate heptathlon titles, three collegiate long jump titles, two high school long jump titles, and a scholastic high jump title. She was the high school MVP at the 1989 Penn Relays as well. The nine-time all-American from Santa Cruz, Jamaica will be honored at the Relays for her outstanding performance in track this year, along with Villanova's Becky Spies and Arkansas star Graham Hood. Guthrie-Gresham cited the atmosphere as her favorite aspect of the Penn Relays. "When you get to the end, you value things more," she said. "It was the same way this year." She will take part in the collegiate high jump and long jump competitions today. Competition in the men's decathlon was a lot closer. Only 26 points -- a mere five inches in the long jump -- separated first through sixth places going into the second day of competition. Werner had the lead, followed closely by Syracuse's Mike Novenche and Liberty's Micah Gaudio. Werner was the only athlete to win more than one event Tuesday, taking the shot-put with a personal-best throw of 44-8 3/4 and the 400 meters in 48.80. Villanova's David Cook and Penn State's James Cook won the long jump and high jump respectively. David Cook, the 1993 Penn Relays decathlon champion, won the first two events today to take the overall lead, but Werner's vault of just over 16 feet in the eighth event put him in first place for good, as Cook could only manage to clear 14-03.25. But the Villanova senior won the next event, the javelin throw, and only 57 points separated the two heading into the final event, the 1,500 meters. David Cook would have to beat Werner by eight seconds to claim the title. And James Cook was not far behind. Werner and the two Cooks started strongly in the race, immediately pulling away from the rest of the pack. Along with Liberty's Michael Prettymen, the three ran together for two-and-a-half laps until Werner broke away to win the race and the title with a time of 4:25.31. "Coming in, I wasn't expecting to win but I felt the opportunity was there," Werner said. "I knew my chances were greatly improved after my pole vault." David Cook finished second with 7,326 points, while James Cook took third with a score of 7,099. Penn's Eric Hyde came in ninth with 5,098 points.