About to Make a Splash – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Sept. 3, 2005
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At a university that boasts perhaps the greatest American athlete in the history of track and field in four-time Olympic gold-medal winning sprinter/jumper Jesse Owens, it’s the steeplechase – a unique distance event – that accounts for almost one-third of Ohio State’s all-time Olympic berths in track and field.
Current Buckeye distance coach Robert Gary has accounted for two of those Olympic bids, the first in 1996 in Atlanta and the last at the 2004 Athens Games. Gary helped carry on the tradition established by former Buckeye Mark Croghan, who reached the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, joined Gary in 1996 and also made the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Now after becoming just the second American collegiate athlete to break the 8-minute, 20-second mark, Ohio State senior Brian Olinger has put himself in position for a run at his own Olympic appearance and a chance to carry the Ohio State steeple torch to the 2008 Games in Beijing.
In June, Olinger proved himself as one of the top steeplers in the country by placing fourth at the United States Track and Field Championships in a then career-best 8:28.44. Then in July, Olinger made his presence known on the international scene with a career-best 8:19.56 at a European meet in Belgium. That mark served as the second-fastest all-time by an American collegiate, trailing only Croghan, who clocked an 8:10.69 in 1991.
The fact that Olinger now holds the second-best time by an American collegian but still trails Croghan in the Buckeye record book speaks volumes about the recent steeple tradition that has been established at Ohio State.
“When I think about it, still being second in my school’s record book is amazing,” Olinger, who redshirted the 2005 outdoor season to prep for the U.S. nationals, said. “Mark is the greatest American steepler of all-time. We have such a great tradition in the event with Mark, coach Gary, Ian (Connor) and Aaron (Fisher). If you want to be a steepler in college, I don’t know where else you would want to go.”
For the last decade and a half, Ohio State has ranked among the top steeple schools in the country, boasting seven All-Americans, five Big Ten champions and two NCAA titlists.
“There is a level of expectation here when it comes to the steeple,” Gary said. “It’s not much different than Ohio State football. We expect to be one of the top programs in the country each season.”
Although Russell Payne was the first Buckeye steepler to reach the Olympics in 1924, Croghan is considered the founder of the recent Ohio State success.
“It is humbling to see that I was the one who set the standard,” Croghan said. “I would like to take credit for starting the tradition but can’t. When I started at Ohio State, Al Hostetler took third in the Big Ten. I trained with him and he pushed me. His success inspired me.”
Olinger and the two former Olympians all agree a key to keeping the Ohio State steeple tradition alive has been to continue to have strong training partners, who can press the internal team competition to the next level.
In his time at Ohio State, Olinger has had the opportunity to not only train with Gary, but also run alongside Fisher, who claimed All-American status in both 2004 and 2005.
“It was great to have a training partner of Aaron’s caliber,” Olinger, who hails from Fresno, Ohio and Ridgewood High School, said. “It turned into a friendly rivalry and made us both better.
“Having coach Gary as a training partner is priceless,” Olinger continued. “His experience is unparalleled. It does not get much better than working with a two-time Olympian.”
Actually, it does get a little better. Gary trained with Croghan, a three-time Olympian, and attributes much of his success to their practice sessions.
“We have had a long line of steeplers here,” Gary said. “When I was in college, I trained with Croghan. Connor trained with me and so has Brian. Brian had the luxury of training with Fisher, too. Having a strong training partner can mean everything in handling the jumps and improving times.”
It’s the jumps Gary eluded to that make the steeplechase so unique. The event consists of nearly two miles of distance running, 28 three-foot barriers and seven water jumps that lead into a pit more than two feet deep. At its top level, the race is a grueling 8-to-9 minutes in duration that has been called by 1972 Olympic champion Kip Keino, ” … a race for animals,” which is exactly how it all started.
“There are two stories to the origin,” Gary explained. “The first one involves a bunch of guys who got together for a horse race in England during the 1800s. The weather was bad and they did not want to risk hurting their expensive horses, so they ran the race themselves. The second was a (horse) race where there was so much fog no one could see. They ran from church steeple to church steeple in each town. Supposedly that’s how it got its name. Either way, the event came from people running from town-to-town and jumping over fences, creeks and whatever else was in the way.”
Although the event has been contested at the Olympics since 1900, the steeplechase has not spread to the scholastic level in many states. For that reason, a lot of high school athletes are not fully aware of the event until they reach college. That was the case for Olinger, who saw his first steeplechase on his official visit to Ohio State.
“The first time I saw the steeple was during the Jesse Owens Classic,” Olinger said. “I had never seen any event like it. It intrigued me, especially the (water) pit.”
Olinger’s initial encounter with the steeple featured an uninviting introduction to the water pit.
“My first steeplechase was in West Virginia and it snowed,” Olinger said. “Before the race, I saw the event crew pushing the snow into the water pit. I thought to myself, `oh, this is a great way to run your first steeple.'”
With his success this summer, Olinger has set himself up for the opportunity to transform that snowy day in West Virginia into jumping the water pit in front of a 2008 Olympic crowd in Beijing.
“It has become an aspiration of mine,” Olinger said. “What I did this summer really opened my eyes to a new level of expectation. I want to win the steeple at NCAAs. From there, the 2008 Olympics are definitely on the radar screen.”
