Ovidiu Olteanu, Romania's only sub four-minute miler, did it again Friday night as he just beat the rain drops at the finish line in winning the Ogden Mile, one of the prelude events to today's 29th annual Ogden 20K Classic Run and Walk in Wheeling.

The 34-year-old Olteanu broke the tape in 3 minutes, 59.20 seconds for a convincing victory in this event. The Ogden Mile is run on an all-downhill course, making it one of America's fastest one-mile racing strips.

His closest rival in the field of 58 runners was Pittsburgh resident Dan Holland, who finished the race in 4:27.45, while taking third place was Rob Wagner of Dublin, Ohio. Wagner, ran the course in 4:31.30.

Olteanu's only previous sub four-minute mile was run on the track. Last night was the first time he broken that plateau while running a road race.

The female winner and fourth-place finisher overall with a time of 4:32,60 was Sarah Ogle, 23-year-old native of St. Albans, W.Va., Ogle is a former Malone College track standout, located at Canton, Ohio. Runner-up in the female division was Amy Beatty, a 26-year-old out of Worthington, Ohio.

Earlier this month, Ogle competed in the mile run at the Jesse Owens Track Classic in Columbus and finished third in 4:57.89. Running unattached, Ogle placed behind a pair of Ohio State University runners, Laura Piper (4:55.04) and Melanie Price (4:57.81).

"I felt pretty good running today. This is really a fast course and I was very happy I was able win this race,'' Olteanu said. "I knew I was close,'' he said about his sub four-minute mile. When he crossed the finish line, the clock stationed at WesBanco listed his time at 4:01 but it was pointed out that it had not been synchronized with the start of the race at the top of Wheeling Hill.

The official ChampionChip timing had Olteanu below the four-minute plateau. The winner of this race has broken 4 minutes every year since the Ogden Mile was added to the race weekend schedule in the early 1990's.

Before coming to the U.S., Olteanu was Romania's national champion at 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

Olteanu, also a member of Romania's Olympic team in 1996, now resides in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak with his wife, Denisa Costecu.

He coaches Denisa, who is developing into one of the outstanding middle distance runners currently competing in America.

Last year, Costecu won 24 of 32 races and she has added seven more victories in 2005. Denisa is entered in today's 20K run and her husband is hopeful she can handle that distance.

"She is trained more for middle distance than a 20K,'' Ovidiu pointed out.

If she can hold up for the 12.4-mile distance, Costecu could have a shot at winning the women's Open division. "I'm very proud of her, Olteanu said, preferring to talk about Denisa's exploits instead of his own. Ovidiu has been his wife's coach since they were married. "It's been five beautiful years,'' he said about the time he and Denisa have been together.

Among the top area finishers in last night's Ogden Mile, which was concluded before a thunderstorm hit downtown Wheeling, were Wheeling Central distance runner Chris Gallaway and Adam Carter. Gallaway was seventh overall in the time of 4:36.60. The 15-year-old Carter, also from Wheeling, was eighth in the time of 4:40.65.