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August 19, 2004 3:07 pm

Tennessee grad seeks steeplechase history

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Anthony Famiglietti breezed through a sub-four minute mile in a solo workout.

The University of Tennessee grad, who took his first racing strides as a student at New York's Patchogue-Medford High School on Long Island, declares himself ``in the best shape of my whole life'' as he prepares to run the Olympic 3,000-meter steeplechase on Sunday.

``My goal is to be on that victory stand; I know I'll probably have to run faster than the American record (Henry Marsh's 8:09.17 in 1985) to get there, but it's definitely within reach,'' he said in an Olympic Village interview.

His new mohawk haircut will make the 25-year-old easy to spot during competition.

During pre-Olympic training sessions in Crete, the Mohawk quickly became his trademark.

``Every time little kids would come up and ask for an autograph, they'd ask me to take my hat off first,'' he said.

``They all told me, `please race with it.' So I probably will end up keeping it, just for them.''

Reaching the Aug. 24 final will be an achievement. The event has been dominated by Kenyan runners, who've taken gold medals in the last five Olympic Games. The last American to win a steeplechase medal was Michigan's Brian Diemer in 1984. In Olympic history, just one American, Horace Ashenfelter of Glen Ridge, N.J. in 1952, has ever won the event.

With Arkansas alumnus Daniel Lincoln and Ohio State grad Robert Gary, Famiglietti is a member of one of America's best Olympic steeplechase trios in years.

At the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Lincoln led the way in a Trials-record time of 8:15.02, with Famiglietti second in 8:17.91 and Gary third at 8:19.46.

A two-time Suffolk County, N.Y., cross country champion in high school, Famiglietti went on to Appalachian State in North Carolina before transferring to Tennessee two years later.

``I made a huge jump when I transferred; we had a lot of All-Americans on the team,'' he said. ``Just watching those guys train, let alone running with them, that was inspirational.''

Inspirational, too, was another Tennessee teammate, Tom Pappas, now the world decathlon champion. At Opening Ceremonies, Pappas and Famiglietti marched in side by side, Vol by Vol.

``We were up front, in the first 4-5 rows, in back of the flag-bearer. The crowd erupted as we came by.

``It was incredible. It made your running career seem complete, almost; it confirmed that all the hard work you'd put in, for so long, had finally paid off.''

But his biggest challenge of all is just days away.

``Now you go out and fight, and start all over again.''

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