If Bryan Berryhill had his way, he would be granted another few weeks to train for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, which began Friday and continue through July 18 in Sacramento, Calif.

The former Crater High and Colorado State University standout has a legitimate chance to make the U.S. team in the men’s 1,500-meters and earn a berth to the Summer Games in Athens, Greece in August.

Berryhill must finish among the top three runners at the Trials and meet an Olympic qualifying time of 3:36.2 by August 9.

He’s capable of achieving both objectives. He has, after all, twice run the race in 3:35.4 (the equivalent of a 3:52 mile) and he’s finished second each of the past two years at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. That event, like the Trials, brings together the top runners in the country.

If this were 2002 or 2003, Berryhill would be a near-cinch to punch his ticket to Athens. But this is 2004, a year in which the 26-year-old, Wellington, Colo., resident has battled injuries and illness.

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The worst of his woes was the salmonella poisoning he contracted while competing in Europe the first week of June.

"The day before my first race I felt a little achy, but I thought it was the traveling," Berryhill says. "I went ahead and ran, but the next day I had the chills, a fever, severe cramps and (diarrhea).

"I told my agent it was time to go home."

Berryhill, who didn’t know he had salmonella poisoning until he returned to Colorado, took off five days from training to regain his strength. He logged a couple of workouts before entering the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on June 19.

But that race didn’t go well, either. On the same day that rival Alan Webb ran the fastest mile by an American on American soil — a sizzling 3:50.9 — Berryhill had to drop out of the 1,500.

"As an athlete you convince yourself that you’re OK, but sometimes you’re not," Berryhill says. "I shouldn’t have run the Prefontaine meet, but I wanted to get in a quality race before the Trials and I knew I’d have a lot of friends and family there watching me."

May was no kinder to Berryhill. He tripped over another runner and fell during a race in Europe —nearly getting knocked unconscious — and later pulled his left hamstring while competing at a Home Depot race in the U.S..

He didn’t finish either race, giving him an inconceivable three DNFs for the year.

"It’s been a rough year," Berryhill says. "There for a while it felt like my world was ending. But I’ve overcome adversity in the past and I can do it again."

The salmonella poisoning left Berryhill with an iron deficiency, but he’s been taking liquid iron for the past two weeks and has gotten in some of his best workouts of the year.

"I’ve been doing a lot of speed work and right now I feel good," he says. "I feel like I’m fit."

Since October, Berryhill has worked under the watchful eye of Cal State Riverside head track coach Irv Ray, whom he met at an Olympic training center at Chula Vista, Calif. Ray is perhaps best known for tutoring American mile record-holder Steve Scott. He also coached Jason Pryah, an Olympian in 1996 and 2000.

"He does a good job of laying out my workouts and he brings a lot of experience to the table," says Berryhill, who won five state track titles for Crater and claimed an NCAA outdoor title in the 1,500 while competing for Colorado State in 2001. "I trust him."

Ray is confident that Berryhill will earn a ticket to Athens despite the adversity he’s faced in recent months.

"He’s running better in workouts right now than he ever has," Ray says.

As proof, Ray cites a recent interval session in which Berryhill ran four consecutive 400s between 49 and 51 seconds.

"He ran the first one in 49.8 and wasn’t really trying," Ray says. "Bryan has the confidence to attack the Trials despite the fact he hasn’t run well in a race this year."

Since they formed their partnership nine months ago, Ray has put together workouts that involve more speed work than Berryhill had previously done.

"The ability to kick the last 300 to 400 meters is built around speed but also specific training," Ray says. "Steve Scott and Jim Ryun had the ability to close in 50 or 51 seconds, and so does Bryan. We’re focusing on speed work and speed endurance all year ‘round.

"I really feel Bryan — along with Webb — could be America’s next great miler. I think he has the ability to go under 3:50, and that puts you into some elite company."

Webb, who has clocked 3:32.8 this year in the 1,500 to go along with his 3:50.9 mile, is regarded as a clear favorite to win the Trials.

Other contenders in addition to Berryhill include Jason Lund, Charlie Gruber and Michael Stember.

Quarterfinal and semifinal heats are slated for Thursday and Friday, with the finals set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com