Tickets// THE STARTING LINE
Aaron Bienenfeld, a junior on the University of Cincinnati cross country team, will represent the Bearcats at the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday in Madison, Wis., giving the program its first national qualifier since the 2011 meet. Bienenfeld qualified for the competition on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course by finishing 12th overall at the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships last week in Terre Haute, Ind.
// FOLLOW US
For up to the minute updates, follow UC Track & Field/Cross Country (@GoBearcatsTFXC) on Twitter, Facebook (GoBearcatsTFXC) and Instagram (GoBearcatsTFXC) and join in the conversation by using the hashtag #Bearcats. This week, fans can also follow @NCAATrackField on Twitter and join the conversation with the hashtag #ncaaXC.
// QUICK SPLITS
• Bienenfeld is the first UC runner to qualify for the NCAA XC meet since 2011 (Eric Finan)
• He is the 5th Bearcats man to qualify individually (9th qualification)
• With his 12th-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships, Bienenfeld was selected to the USTFCCCA All-Region squad, just the 3rd UC runner to earn the honor
• In his five races run in 2018, Bienenfeld has placed in the Top 12 in all five, including 3rd in the AAC Championships to earn all-conference accolades, his best finish of 2018
• The men placed 12th in the Great Lakes Region, their best finish since 2011 (11th) and first Top 15 showing since 2014 (14th)
• Andrew Schille was 32nd in the region, giving UC two runners in the Top 35 for the first time since 1995 when three accomplished the feat
• Hannah Markel was the top UC woman in the region, placing 87th overall for the 2nd-best finish for a UC woman in the AAC era (2013)
• Markel also gave UC a Top 100 runner for the 3rd year in a row after Madison Dunlap (2017) and Juliana Madzia (2016) accomplished the feat
• The women placed 25th overall in the region, giving them their fourth Top 25 finish in as many years after placing 24th, 21st and 21st in the previous three competitions
// THE STAKES
Along with crowing team and individual national champions, several other honors are on the line Saturday in Madison. On the team front, the Top 4 squads in the stands will earn trophies. Individually, those runners finishing in the Top 40 will be recognized as USTFCCCA All-Americans.
// RESULTS & STREAMING
Live results for the championships will be provided by Record Timing while FloTrack.com will provide a web stream of the championships through their subscription service.
// THE STARTING LINE
Bienenfeld will be in starting box #22 in Madison with three other individual qualifiers in Aaron Templeton of Furman, Paul Hogan of UMass Lowell and Brent Demarest of Virginia. The individual group will have #22 Purdue and #27 Oklahoma State on either side of them at the start.
// REPRESENTING THE AAC
In the men's championship, the American Athletic Conference will be represented by one team in Tulsa, an at-large selection, and two individuals in Bienenfeld and Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane. In the women's competition, no AAC teams qualified, but three individuals did in Wichita State's Winny Koskei and SMU runners Hannah Miller and Svenja Ojsteresk.
// NCAA HISTORY
• Bienenfeld is the first UC runner to reach the NCAA XC Championships since 2011 when Eric Finan placed 25th overall to earn All-America honors
• Bienenfeld is the fifth different UC man to race as an individual at the national meet (ninth total appearance) since the championships were first held in 1938 and will be the 13th different UC man to toe the national meet starting line as eight others raced as a team in the 1969 and 1970 NCAA Championships, the only time the Bearcats have qualified as a team (men or women)
• UC has had only two All-Americans in cross country with Finan being the last after finishing 25th in 2011 and Ron Stapleton being the first after running 23rd in 1971
// LOOKING BACK: FINAN IN 2011
The last time the Bearcats had a man in the national meet was 2011 with Eric Finan making the second of his back-to-back appearances. One year removed from running 30:41.1 to place 60th overall in the 2010 meet, Finan turned in a personal-best time of 29:54.6 in Terre Haute, Ind., to place 25th nationally and earn All-America accolades, the first of his career. His finish was the second All-American showing for the program and the second-best finish in an NCAA meet behind Ron Stapleton's 23rd-place finish at the 1972 championships.
// RECAP: NCAA GREAT LAKES - MEN
The men accumulated 403 points and placed 12th overall in the 29-team Great Lakes Region with a pair of runners in the Top 35 for the first time since 1995. Bienenfeld led the way in 12th place with Andrew Schille behind him at 32nd. The Top 5 scoring positions were rounded out by Ryan Guenthner, who ran a 30-second PR to finish 114th; Nick Grismer in 122nd; and Toni Banos in 132nd. The remaining two Bearcats in the race were Christian Stevens (138th) and Michael Vitucci (167th).
// MORE ON BIENENFELD
The race opened fast with Bienenfeld and Ben Kendell (Detroit Mercy) opening a large gap on the rest of the field in the early going. The duo continued to hold a lead through the first 5,000m of the 10,000m event before the field began to slowly chip away at the front runners. At the 8,000m mark, the chase pack had caught the leaders with Bienenfeld remaining among the Top 15 the rest of the way to earn a 12th-place finish on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in his first collegiate 10,000m cross country race. Once the race was over, Bienenfeld had run 31:21.9, the sixth-fastest time at a regional race for UC since 1980 and only the sixth Top 15 regional showing for UC in that span. Also, his 12th-place finish stood as the fourth-best individual finish at the regional meet for the Bearcats me and the best since Finan was the runner up in 2011. Overall, Bienenfeld finished with his fifth Top 12 showing of the year as well.
// ALL-REGION HONORS
The USTFCCCA has awarded all-region honors since 2010 with Bienenfeld being the third UC man to be so honored with the fourth award in program history. Prior to his accolade this year, Eric Finan was recognized twice (2010 and 2011) after winning and placing second, respectively, in the region while Kevin Fink (2014) was the most recent honoree.
// IN THE TOP 35
With Bienenfeld (12th) and Schille (32nd) finishing in the Top 35, it marked the first time the Bearcats had multiple Top 35 finishers since 1995. That year, a trio of Bearcats earned Top 35 finishes, including Mark Rupe (24th), Chad Disbennett (28th) and Kevin McGurk (31st).
// RECAP: NCAA GREAT LAKES - WOMEN
The women finished 25th in the region for their fourth Top 25 showing in a row with Hannah Markel placing 87th to lead the way. Markel's finish is a 20-place improvement from last year and gives UC its third year in a row with a Top 100 finisher in the Great Lakes after Madison Dunlap (2017, 99th) and Juliana Madzia (2016, 66th). Markel's finish also is the second-best in the AAC era (2013+) and makes her just the 14th UC woman to place among the Top 100 in the regional race. Katrina Patterson (136th), Sammy Hentz (150th), Maggie Breitenstein (156th) and Ellee Bullock (163rd) rounded out the Top 5 scorers while Sam Mikula (186th) and Madalyn O'Dea (201st) also raced for the Bearcats.
// BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The women sent seven individuals to the start line in Terre Haute with a youthful look to the roster as just two of those Bearcats had competed in the regional event before (Markel and Mikula). In fact, of the remaining five runners, two were freshmen (Breitenstein & O'Dea), one was a redshirt freshman (Patterson) and one was a sophomore in her first collegiate season as a runner (Bullock). The final runner was Hentz, who completed her senior season in cross country.
PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// NO STRANGERS TO WINNING
Entering the meet this week, the Bearcats men boast two individuals that have previously won conference titles in Aaron Bienenfeld and Andrew Schille. Bienenfeld, who joined the program in January, is the reigning 10,000m outdoor track champion in the AAC. Schille, who joined the program as a graduate transfer in August, won the 2017 Horizon League cross country title to add to his collection of crowns indoors (mile and 5,000m in 2018) and out (1,500m in 2017).
// REGIONALLY RANKED
Earlier this season, the UC men were ranked in the Great Lakes Region for the first time since Week 6 of the 2016 season when they received back-to-back #13 rankings. Dating back to the start of the rankings in 2008, the UC men have been ranked 36 times with their #8 standing in the preseason and Week 1 of the 2011 season being their highest.
// FEELING HONORED
Aaron Bienenfeld tackled the 8,000m course at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., September 29 and placed ninth overall in the field of 252 runners in the gold race at the Greater Louisville Classic. That run not only saw him cross the finish line in 23:56.8 for his second Top 10 finish of the year, it also earned him the AAC Male Cross Country Athlete of the Week award, the first of his career and the second earned by the UC men so far this year. Bienenfeld's time in Louisville was a 1:04.4 improvement his first 8,000m collegiate race run two weeks prior at the John McNichols Invitational and made him the first UC man to break 24 minutes on an 8k course since Evan Baum ran 23:42.5 at the 2013 AAC Championships in Madison, Conn., finishing sixth overall in the inaugural meet.
// ADDING TO THE HAUL
With his honor earned from the AAC, Bienenfeld becomes not only the second UC man to be honored this year, but also just the second in the history of the program since the Bearcats joined the AAC in 2013 with Andrew Schille being the first. The duo are the first Bearcats to capture a weekly award for the program since 2011 when Eric Finan was named the BIG EAST Cross Country Runner of the Week on October 18 after placing third at the highly-competitive NCAA Pre-National meet.
// BIG IMPROVEMENTS • WOMEN
All season, the women have been posting PRs with three large improvements earned at the Bradley Pink Classic last week. Despite the muddy, wet and sometimes snowy conditions, the trio of Sydney Hess, Sammy Hentz and Hannah Markel each recorded big PRs. Hess improved her 6,000m time by 1:15.9 while Hentz and Markel saw improvements of 33.8 and 22.8, respectively. Katrina Patterson also has been showing big improvements all year as her three 5,000m races ahead of Bradley have netted an improvement of 1:28.5.
// BIG IMPROVEMENTS • MEN
The men also have seen several of their runners post big improvements this year with many of those marks coming at the Greater Louisville Classic where six individuals posted improvements of 40 seconds or more. Leading the way were a pair of freshmen in Christian Stevens and Keifer Mosmeier, who improved over their times from the McNichols Invitational by 1:08 and 1:06.1, respectively. Aaron Bienenfeld posted an improvement of 1:04.4 while Matt Stump's improvement was 52.5. The other two big improvements came from Toni Banos and Ryan Guenthner, who lowered their times by 43.7 and 40.9, respectively.
// MORE ON SCHILLE'S WIN
Schille's win brought a bit of history with it as he became just the second man to win the QCI three times in a career, joining former UC All-American Eric Finan with three crowns. Schille's third win also made him the first runner to win for two different teams as he won the past two running for Northern Kentucky before graduating and joining the UC program this fall. His win was the 19th for a UC runner and the first since 2011 when Finan captured his third in the 2011 race.
// ANOTHER FIRST
Schille was not done with history there, however. Following the meet, he was selected as the American Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week. He is the first UC runner (man or woman) to collect a weekly award from the AAC since the league was founded in 2013. Going back to previous conference affiliations, Schille is the first UC athlete to earn a weekly award since Finan was named the BIG EAST Runner of the Week on October 18, 2011.
// NEW TO THE TEAM - WOMEN
The newest additions to the women's roster this year include five true freshmen and one redshirt sophomore. The five freshmen include Maggie Breitenstein (Cincinnati/St. Ursula), Leah Maschino (Maineville, Ohio/Kings), Janey McManus (Huntsville, Ala./Grissom), Madalyn O'Dea (Louisville/Christian Academy) and Rylee Penn (Corona, Calif./Centennial). The final newcomer is Ellee Bullock (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome). Bullock has been a member of two collegiate tennis programs, starting her career at Utah State before transferring to UC in time for the 2017-18 season.
// NEW TO THE TEAM - MEN
The men's newcomers include a mix of three true freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and one graduate senior. The rookies include Toni Banos (Spain), Keifer Mosmeier (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) and Christian Stevens (Indianapolis/Brebeuf Jesuit), with Jack Cordonnier (Morrow, Ohio/St. Xavier) joining as a sophomore after running for the UC Running Club last year. The final two newcomers have had great success in college already, including Aaron Bienenfeld (Germany), who joined the UC program in time for the 2018 track & field season in which he won the AAC 10,000m outdoor title, and Andrew Schille (Cincinnati/Oak Hills), a graduate transfer from NKU where he was a four-time champion in the Horizon League and a 10-time All-Horizon League selection.
// UP NEXT
The NCAA Championships brings a close to the 2018 cross country season. The Bearcats will return to action Friday, December 7, when they open their 2019 indoor track & field season at the Hoosier Open in Bloomington, Ind.
Aaron Bienenfeld, a junior on the University of Cincinnati cross country team, will represent the Bearcats at the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday in Madison, Wis., giving the program its first national qualifier since the 2011 meet. Bienenfeld qualified for the competition on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course by finishing 12th overall at the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships last week in Terre Haute, Ind.
// FOLLOW US
For up to the minute updates, follow UC Track & Field/Cross Country (@GoBearcatsTFXC) on Twitter, Facebook (GoBearcatsTFXC) and Instagram (GoBearcatsTFXC) and join in the conversation by using the hashtag #Bearcats. This week, fans can also follow @NCAATrackField on Twitter and join the conversation with the hashtag #ncaaXC.
// QUICK SPLITS
• Bienenfeld is the first UC runner to qualify for the NCAA XC meet since 2011 (Eric Finan)
• He is the 5th Bearcats man to qualify individually (9th qualification)
• With his 12th-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships, Bienenfeld was selected to the USTFCCCA All-Region squad, just the 3rd UC runner to earn the honor
• In his five races run in 2018, Bienenfeld has placed in the Top 12 in all five, including 3rd in the AAC Championships to earn all-conference accolades, his best finish of 2018
• The men placed 12th in the Great Lakes Region, their best finish since 2011 (11th) and first Top 15 showing since 2014 (14th)
• Andrew Schille was 32nd in the region, giving UC two runners in the Top 35 for the first time since 1995 when three accomplished the feat
• Hannah Markel was the top UC woman in the region, placing 87th overall for the 2nd-best finish for a UC woman in the AAC era (2013)
• Markel also gave UC a Top 100 runner for the 3rd year in a row after Madison Dunlap (2017) and Juliana Madzia (2016) accomplished the feat
• The women placed 25th overall in the region, giving them their fourth Top 25 finish in as many years after placing 24th, 21st and 21st in the previous three competitions
// THE STAKES
Along with crowing team and individual national champions, several other honors are on the line Saturday in Madison. On the team front, the Top 4 squads in the stands will earn trophies. Individually, those runners finishing in the Top 40 will be recognized as USTFCCCA All-Americans.
// RESULTS & STREAMING
Live results for the championships will be provided by Record Timing while FloTrack.com will provide a web stream of the championships through their subscription service.
// THE STARTING LINE
Bienenfeld will be in starting box #22 in Madison with three other individual qualifiers in Aaron Templeton of Furman, Paul Hogan of UMass Lowell and Brent Demarest of Virginia. The individual group will have #22 Purdue and #27 Oklahoma State on either side of them at the start.
// REPRESENTING THE AAC
In the men's championship, the American Athletic Conference will be represented by one team in Tulsa, an at-large selection, and two individuals in Bienenfeld and Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane. In the women's competition, no AAC teams qualified, but three individuals did in Wichita State's Winny Koskei and SMU runners Hannah Miller and Svenja Ojsteresk.
// NCAA HISTORY
• Bienenfeld is the first UC runner to reach the NCAA XC Championships since 2011 when Eric Finan placed 25th overall to earn All-America honors
• Bienenfeld is the fifth different UC man to race as an individual at the national meet (ninth total appearance) since the championships were first held in 1938 and will be the 13th different UC man to toe the national meet starting line as eight others raced as a team in the 1969 and 1970 NCAA Championships, the only time the Bearcats have qualified as a team (men or women)
• UC has had only two All-Americans in cross country with Finan being the last after finishing 25th in 2011 and Ron Stapleton being the first after running 23rd in 1971
// LOOKING BACK: FINAN IN 2011
The last time the Bearcats had a man in the national meet was 2011 with Eric Finan making the second of his back-to-back appearances. One year removed from running 30:41.1 to place 60th overall in the 2010 meet, Finan turned in a personal-best time of 29:54.6 in Terre Haute, Ind., to place 25th nationally and earn All-America accolades, the first of his career. His finish was the second All-American showing for the program and the second-best finish in an NCAA meet behind Ron Stapleton's 23rd-place finish at the 1972 championships.
// RECAP: NCAA GREAT LAKES - MEN
The men accumulated 403 points and placed 12th overall in the 29-team Great Lakes Region with a pair of runners in the Top 35 for the first time since 1995. Bienenfeld led the way in 12th place with Andrew Schille behind him at 32nd. The Top 5 scoring positions were rounded out by Ryan Guenthner, who ran a 30-second PR to finish 114th; Nick Grismer in 122nd; and Toni Banos in 132nd. The remaining two Bearcats in the race were Christian Stevens (138th) and Michael Vitucci (167th).
// MORE ON BIENENFELD
The race opened fast with Bienenfeld and Ben Kendell (Detroit Mercy) opening a large gap on the rest of the field in the early going. The duo continued to hold a lead through the first 5,000m of the 10,000m event before the field began to slowly chip away at the front runners. At the 8,000m mark, the chase pack had caught the leaders with Bienenfeld remaining among the Top 15 the rest of the way to earn a 12th-place finish on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in his first collegiate 10,000m cross country race. Once the race was over, Bienenfeld had run 31:21.9, the sixth-fastest time at a regional race for UC since 1980 and only the sixth Top 15 regional showing for UC in that span. Also, his 12th-place finish stood as the fourth-best individual finish at the regional meet for the Bearcats me and the best since Finan was the runner up in 2011. Overall, Bienenfeld finished with his fifth Top 12 showing of the year as well.
// ALL-REGION HONORS
The USTFCCCA has awarded all-region honors since 2010 with Bienenfeld being the third UC man to be so honored with the fourth award in program history. Prior to his accolade this year, Eric Finan was recognized twice (2010 and 2011) after winning and placing second, respectively, in the region while Kevin Fink (2014) was the most recent honoree.
// IN THE TOP 35
With Bienenfeld (12th) and Schille (32nd) finishing in the Top 35, it marked the first time the Bearcats had multiple Top 35 finishers since 1995. That year, a trio of Bearcats earned Top 35 finishes, including Mark Rupe (24th), Chad Disbennett (28th) and Kevin McGurk (31st).
// RECAP: NCAA GREAT LAKES - WOMEN
The women finished 25th in the region for their fourth Top 25 showing in a row with Hannah Markel placing 87th to lead the way. Markel's finish is a 20-place improvement from last year and gives UC its third year in a row with a Top 100 finisher in the Great Lakes after Madison Dunlap (2017, 99th) and Juliana Madzia (2016, 66th). Markel's finish also is the second-best in the AAC era (2013+) and makes her just the 14th UC woman to place among the Top 100 in the regional race. Katrina Patterson (136th), Sammy Hentz (150th), Maggie Breitenstein (156th) and Ellee Bullock (163rd) rounded out the Top 5 scorers while Sam Mikula (186th) and Madalyn O'Dea (201st) also raced for the Bearcats.
// BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The women sent seven individuals to the start line in Terre Haute with a youthful look to the roster as just two of those Bearcats had competed in the regional event before (Markel and Mikula). In fact, of the remaining five runners, two were freshmen (Breitenstein & O'Dea), one was a redshirt freshman (Patterson) and one was a sophomore in her first collegiate season as a runner (Bullock). The final runner was Hentz, who completed her senior season in cross country.
PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// NO STRANGERS TO WINNING
Entering the meet this week, the Bearcats men boast two individuals that have previously won conference titles in Aaron Bienenfeld and Andrew Schille. Bienenfeld, who joined the program in January, is the reigning 10,000m outdoor track champion in the AAC. Schille, who joined the program as a graduate transfer in August, won the 2017 Horizon League cross country title to add to his collection of crowns indoors (mile and 5,000m in 2018) and out (1,500m in 2017).
// REGIONALLY RANKED
Earlier this season, the UC men were ranked in the Great Lakes Region for the first time since Week 6 of the 2016 season when they received back-to-back #13 rankings. Dating back to the start of the rankings in 2008, the UC men have been ranked 36 times with their #8 standing in the preseason and Week 1 of the 2011 season being their highest.
// FEELING HONORED
Aaron Bienenfeld tackled the 8,000m course at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., September 29 and placed ninth overall in the field of 252 runners in the gold race at the Greater Louisville Classic. That run not only saw him cross the finish line in 23:56.8 for his second Top 10 finish of the year, it also earned him the AAC Male Cross Country Athlete of the Week award, the first of his career and the second earned by the UC men so far this year. Bienenfeld's time in Louisville was a 1:04.4 improvement his first 8,000m collegiate race run two weeks prior at the John McNichols Invitational and made him the first UC man to break 24 minutes on an 8k course since Evan Baum ran 23:42.5 at the 2013 AAC Championships in Madison, Conn., finishing sixth overall in the inaugural meet.
// ADDING TO THE HAUL
With his honor earned from the AAC, Bienenfeld becomes not only the second UC man to be honored this year, but also just the second in the history of the program since the Bearcats joined the AAC in 2013 with Andrew Schille being the first. The duo are the first Bearcats to capture a weekly award for the program since 2011 when Eric Finan was named the BIG EAST Cross Country Runner of the Week on October 18 after placing third at the highly-competitive NCAA Pre-National meet.
// BIG IMPROVEMENTS • WOMEN
All season, the women have been posting PRs with three large improvements earned at the Bradley Pink Classic last week. Despite the muddy, wet and sometimes snowy conditions, the trio of Sydney Hess, Sammy Hentz and Hannah Markel each recorded big PRs. Hess improved her 6,000m time by 1:15.9 while Hentz and Markel saw improvements of 33.8 and 22.8, respectively. Katrina Patterson also has been showing big improvements all year as her three 5,000m races ahead of Bradley have netted an improvement of 1:28.5.
// BIG IMPROVEMENTS • MEN
The men also have seen several of their runners post big improvements this year with many of those marks coming at the Greater Louisville Classic where six individuals posted improvements of 40 seconds or more. Leading the way were a pair of freshmen in Christian Stevens and Keifer Mosmeier, who improved over their times from the McNichols Invitational by 1:08 and 1:06.1, respectively. Aaron Bienenfeld posted an improvement of 1:04.4 while Matt Stump's improvement was 52.5. The other two big improvements came from Toni Banos and Ryan Guenthner, who lowered their times by 43.7 and 40.9, respectively.
// MORE ON SCHILLE'S WIN
Schille's win brought a bit of history with it as he became just the second man to win the QCI three times in a career, joining former UC All-American Eric Finan with three crowns. Schille's third win also made him the first runner to win for two different teams as he won the past two running for Northern Kentucky before graduating and joining the UC program this fall. His win was the 19th for a UC runner and the first since 2011 when Finan captured his third in the 2011 race.
// ANOTHER FIRST
Schille was not done with history there, however. Following the meet, he was selected as the American Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week. He is the first UC runner (man or woman) to collect a weekly award from the AAC since the league was founded in 2013. Going back to previous conference affiliations, Schille is the first UC athlete to earn a weekly award since Finan was named the BIG EAST Runner of the Week on October 18, 2011.
// NEW TO THE TEAM - WOMEN
The newest additions to the women's roster this year include five true freshmen and one redshirt sophomore. The five freshmen include Maggie Breitenstein (Cincinnati/St. Ursula), Leah Maschino (Maineville, Ohio/Kings), Janey McManus (Huntsville, Ala./Grissom), Madalyn O'Dea (Louisville/Christian Academy) and Rylee Penn (Corona, Calif./Centennial). The final newcomer is Ellee Bullock (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome). Bullock has been a member of two collegiate tennis programs, starting her career at Utah State before transferring to UC in time for the 2017-18 season.
// NEW TO THE TEAM - MEN
The men's newcomers include a mix of three true freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and one graduate senior. The rookies include Toni Banos (Spain), Keifer Mosmeier (Laurelville, Ohio/Logan Elm) and Christian Stevens (Indianapolis/Brebeuf Jesuit), with Jack Cordonnier (Morrow, Ohio/St. Xavier) joining as a sophomore after running for the UC Running Club last year. The final two newcomers have had great success in college already, including Aaron Bienenfeld (Germany), who joined the UC program in time for the 2018 track & field season in which he won the AAC 10,000m outdoor title, and Andrew Schille (Cincinnati/Oak Hills), a graduate transfer from NKU where he was a four-time champion in the Horizon League and a 10-time All-Horizon League selection.
// UP NEXT
The NCAA Championships brings a close to the 2018 cross country season. The Bearcats will return to action Friday, December 7, when they open their 2019 indoor track & field season at the Hoosier Open in Bloomington, Ind.