Steeplechase is an opportunity for Utah pair

Ask Utah's own steeplechase Olympians Lindsey Anderson and Josh McAdams to explain their specialized track event, and you'll get the laundry list of specifics — 3,000 meters long, 7 1/2 laps around a standard track, 28 barriers to hurdle, and another seven 12-foot-long water traps.

The steeplechase — one of track and field's most intriguing and misnamed events — doesn't involve chasing steeples, like the 18th-century, European-rooted horse-racing challenge it's named after, where riders initially galloped — and later runners dashed — from one visible village church steeple to another. "It's like the horse steeplechase races, only with people," said McAdams.

And instead of horses bounding over stone walls, pole fences and sundry ditches and streams, the people — human runners like McAdams and Anderson — make their way over barriers 30 inches high (women's event) or 3 feet high (men's) and through 12-foot-long, water-filled pits.

And McAdams and Anderson have performed in fine fashion, which explains why they will be competing for medals later this week at the Beijing Olympics.

While at BYU, McAdams won the 2006 NCAA outdoor individual championship and later claimed the 2007 USA Outdoor and 2007 Pan American titles before finishing third in this summer's U.S. Olympic Track Trials. Anderson, a Weber State All-American, set the women's NCAA record last spring and shaved some 10 seconds off her personal-best time in finishing second in her Olympic Trials event.

The two Olympians are the latest of Utah's string of steeplechase successes, beginning with former world's best and longtime American record holder Henry Marsh and Weber State standout Farley Gerber and including the BYU trio that won the first three NCAA women's steeplechase championships contested — Elizabeth Jackson (2001), Michaela Mannova (2002) and Kassi Andersen (2003).

BYU distance coach Pat Shane, who has guided seven Cougar women steeplechase runners to All-American honors since 2001, labels the race "a distance event with obstacles that break it up."

He underscores the 28 barriers — "they're not hurdles, they're barriers — they won't move," he said — and the photo-favorite seven water traps as requiring the participants' constant focus.

"There's an opportunity for disaster at every turn," he said.

First look

McAdams and Anderson got their first up-close-and-personal look at the steeplechase in similar fashion — an all-in tryout provided early in their college careers by their respective coaches.