Creary attended high school in Jamaica at Vere Tech, but because she was a jumper and not a sprinter she did not get to take the big trip to Franklin Field with her teammates. Now a senior at UCLA, she finally got her first look at the big stadium on Penn's campus yesterday.

She performed as if she wanted to make her first competition one to remember. Sparked by an outdoor personal best in the high jump, Creary held a commanding lead after four events of the heptathlon at the 114th annual carnival.

In the decathlon, defending champion Chris Morrisey of Penn State enjoyed a successful first day in pursuit of his second straight title and carried a 210-point lead into today's final five events.

Creary recorded the second-best high jump ever in Penn Relays heptathlon competition, clearing 5 feet, 111/4 inches in the day's second event. Since no one else in the field did better than 5-51/4, she was out there alone a long time.

"It was pretty good, actually," Creary said. "I'm self-motivated. I keep talking to myself out there, saying, 'I can do it, I can do it.' But I know I can do a lot better."

Only Diane Guthrie-Gresham of George Mason, who jumped 5-111/2 during her 1995 heptathlon victory, has posted a better mark in competition at Penn.

Creary also had the best effort in the shot put, 40-81/4, en route to finishing the first day with 3,205 points. That was well ahead of the 2,876 for Towson's Alana Nedd, who was in second place.

Not bad for someone in her first season of competition in the heptathlon.

"It's pretty challenging," she said. "It's just a mind thing. Before this, it was the high jump and the triple. But my coach told me I could do it, so I need to get myself together."

Morrisey finished his first day in the decathlon with 3,721 points, a total boosted by his best times among all competitors of 11.18 seconds in the 100 meters and 49.64 in the 400.

But Morrisey was more worried than anything after his day was done because of the withdrawal of Penn State teammate Shawn Colligan just before the start of the 400, the final event of Day 1, with an undisclosed injury.

"He pushes me in every event, and to see him withdraw is more than unfortunate because he is a great athlete," Morrisey said.

Colligan had the day's best high jump, 6-4, and tied for first place in the long jump at 21-103/4. He was only 35 points behind Morrisey after four events but could not continue.

As for his marks, Morrisey said he had a decent long jump (21-101/4) but was disappointed in the high jump, where he cleared only 6-23/4, a height that prevented him from reaching the 3,765 points he had after Day 1 at Penn last year.

"I don't believe I've jumped that low in probably two years," the 6-foot-3 senior said. "Usually I'm at least a 6-5 high jumper; 6-4 on a bad day."

Both the heptathlon and decathlon conclude today.

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