CHAMPAIGN  Either there was a bad phone connection or Sarah McClennan was having some fun at her younger brother''s expense.

   Did Scott McClennan really hear that Miruts Yifter, a two-time Olympic champion from Ethiopia, was coaching Sarah and other members of her triathlon club in Canada?

   "I actually didn''t believe her at first," the Illinois senior said, "because it''s kind of odd that he would be in Toronto."

   What the Illini distance runner didn''t know at the time was that Yifter  who''s among the 30 percent of Ethiopians of Amhara ethnic heritage  had fled his homeland several years ago to seek political asylum.

   What McClennan knows now is, he''s glad the former world record-holder chose his hometown as a destination.

   "It was just nice to be able to talk to somebody that good and learn from him," said McClennan, who spent last summer training under Yifter''s direction. "He''d tell us stories about when he was running and how he could kick faster than anybody else. So it''s inspiring."

   The finishing kick of this two-time Olympian is indeed legendary, inspiring the nickname "Yifter the Shifter."

   "He has a reputation of having a ferocious finishing kick," UI cross-country and track coach Gary Wieneke said. "So everybody knew if they were going to beat him, they better be far away from him because he can really unleash some speed at the end of the race."

   That potent kick propelled Yifter to gold medals in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Nineteen years later, he remains the last man to win those two events in the same Olympics.

   Now another Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie, is taking aim on ending that drought in 2000 at the Sydney Games. In fact, Yifter helped train the current 5,000 and 10,000 world record-holder before moving to Canada.

   It''s clear, said McClennan, that Yifter takes pride in the achievements of his fellow countryman.

   "Whenever I did anything good," the Illini senior said, "he''d be, ''Yes, just like Gebrselassie. Just like Gebrselassie."

   Yifter''s involvement with the triathlon club started after the group''s coach recognized the former Olympian at a Toronto YMCA. The coach asked Yifter, who also won a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics in the 10,000, if he''d be interested in directing the club''s running workouts.

   "Yifter doesn''t really know what a triathlon is," McClennan said. "A lot of the runners he had were triathletes, and he didn''t understand why they would want to bike and swim as well. Me, I only wanted to do the running, and he loved that."

   McClennan admits to doing a double-take upon first meeting the running legend. Yifter didn''t exactly fit the prototypical image of the great distance runners from Africa. Tall and slender, he was not.

   "He''s totally the opposite of what I would have expected," McClennan said. "He''s kind of short, maybe 5-(foot)-3. He''s a little overweight now. Balding."

   Put Yifter in motion, however, and it was immediately obvious to McClennan why the man once held the world record in the indoor 5,000.

   "He''d sprint alongside us sometimes and he just looked really smooth when he was running," McClennan said.

   Smoother, to be sure, than communication was at times last summer between Yifter and his English-speaking pupils. Yifter''s grasp of the language remains a work in progress.

   "One time he was trying to tell us he wanted us to run in single file," McClennan said, "and it took us about five or 10 minutes to figure out what he actually wanted us to do. He actually had to position us where he wanted us to run."

   Yifter''s workouts emphasized mileage over speed, which dovetailed nicely with McClennan''s own training plans.

   "Coach Wieneke wants us to do a lot of long base work over the summer," said McClennan, who was Illinois'' top finisher in its first three cross-country meets this fall. "Compared to previous years, I would say I (came back) a lot stronger because I did a lot of hill work and a lot of base work.

   "Other years I''ve come in maybe a little bit faster but not as strong, which is actually not very good because by the end of the season you''re going to be falling apart a little bit. So I think this year the strength is going to help me carry through to the end of the season."

   Yifter was demanding enough that the Illini runner took temporarily  and uncharacteristically  ill after one workout.

   "I don''t usually run to the point where I throw up in a workout," McClennan said.

   On this day, Yifter had McClennan put in an hour run on hilly terrain, encouraging him to pick up the pace during the final 15 minutes.

   "It wasn''t a big deal," McClennan said. "I was going pretty hard by the end. And I get down to this little dirt track ... and it was just reaching an hour then so I thought I was going to be finished. And then he says, ''No finish. One lap hard.'' "

   McClennan did as he was told, then vomited after completing the lap. It might have been an ugly sight for some, but not for Yifter.

   "He was so happy that I had exerted myself to that level," McClennan said. "He was patting me on the back and saying, ''I''m so happy. Just like Gebrselassie.'' "

   Actually, it didn''t take much to get a smile out of Yifter, according to McClennan.

   "He was always laughing, always having a good time," the two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree said. "He would make friends with everybody. We would be at this park and just random people would come up and he''d start talking to them, even though he doesn''t speak English very well.

   "It just seemed he had so many friends. And he''s only been there a year."

   Tough not to like a guy who would give McClennan this advice  presumably tongue in cheek  a couple days before a weekend road race.

   "He just said, ''No women,'' " said McClennan, laughing at the recollection. "Stay away from the women.'' "

District data

What: NCAA District V cross-country meets.

When: Saturday; men's 10-kilometer race at 11 a.m.; women's 5-kilometer race at noon.

Where: University of Illinois Blue Golf Course in Savoy.

Admission: Parking only; $5 per car.

At Stake: The top two teams and top four individuals not on a qualifying team (must be in top 25) advance to the NCAA Championships Nov. 22 at Bloomington, Ind. In addition, the NCAA will select 13 at-large teams and two at-large individuals from the national pool.

The Field: Bradley, Creighton, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois, Illinois State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Loyola, Minnesota, Missouri, Missouri-Kansas City, Nebraska, Northern Illinois (women only), Northern Iowa, Northwestern (women only), Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, St. Louis, Southeast Missouri State (women only), Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri State, Tulsa, Wichita State.

Illini Men's Entrants: Ryan Eason, Mike Lucchesi, Scott McClennan, Justin Mitchell, Tim Moran, Jon Russell, Jason VanSwol.

Illini Men's Outlook: A year ago, Gary Wieneke's team rebounded from a poor Big Ten showing to place fifth in this meet. After placing eighth in the conference for the second year in a row, the current Illini will be hoping for deja vu on Saturday. Illinois needs senior Scott McClennan to regain the form that made him the team leader in its first three meets. He's been Illinois' No. 3 and No. 2 finisher in the two since. Two factors in the Illini's favor: They're running on their home course and the field contains only one nationally ranked team, No. 19 Minnesota. The Gophers placed third in the Big Ten.

Illini Women's Entrants: Lyndsey Dunnavan, Danielle Fonzino, Katie Hennessy, Amber Hunt, Lindsay Martin, Tara Mendozza, Cecilia Williams.

Illini Women's Outlook: With three freshmen in the lineup, Michelle Byrne's Illini predictably have taken their lumps this season, including a 10th-place Big Ten finish. The good news is a couple of the newcomers have consistently run among the team leaders. Williams twice has been the UI's top finisher and never lower than No. 2. Hunt has not finished lower than third on the team. While Williams and classmates gain valuable postseason experience, senior Mendozza will attempt to become the first Illini woman since Chrisman native Karen Morris in 1994 to qualify for nationals. Mendozza was 19th in last year's district race. Another veteran, junior Martin, will be running her second race since suffering a stress fracture in her left tibia last summer. The Decatur native was the UI's No. 5 finisher in the Big Ten. The competition's formidable, with No. 7 Kansas State, No. 16 Minnesota, No. 21 Missouri and No. 23 Nebraska.