Cornell's Jamerson wins Penn Relays decathlon

For the 1,500-meter run, the final event of the grueling two-day decathlon Wednesday at the Penn Relays, the athletes battled stiff wind, stinging rain that swirled around Franklin Field, and temperatures that fell about 10 degrees in less than a half hour.

All of which was fine with Cornell sophomore Austin Jamerson.

"It was actually nice," Jamerson said. "It took your mind off the pain that your body was going through, and the rain cooled me down a little bit."

Jamerson finished with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 47.99 seconds and won the decathlon with a score of 7,015 points, another personal record.

In the women's heptathlon, senior Latesha Bigby of Northern Illinois came back from a slight deficit in the final event, the 800 meters, and gained the win with 5,146 points.

It was a big day for Jamerson, of Merrillville, Ind., who had personal-best marks in the 400, the discus, and the pole vault as well as the 1,500.

Vinny Biunno, of Division II Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H., took second in the five-man field with 6,366 points.

Bigby, of Jamaica, entered the second day of the heptathlon with a 57-point lead but fell behind teammate Claudette Day after the long jump and still trailed her by six points after the javelin.

But everything clicked for Bigby in the 800, when she clocked 2:18.19, while Day fell back with a 2:25.72.

"I was surprised in the 800," said Bigby, who ran for Herbert Marshall High School for three years at the Penn Relays. "I did not expect to run that fast. I felt I didn't have much endurance, so I'm really surprised."

Defending champion Noel Jancewicz of Penn, competing in her first heptathlon since recovering from a stress fracture in her left foot, posted a personal best of 5,051 points and beat out Day by one point for second place.