Harriers Head to Memphis for AAC Championships

// THE STARTING LINE
The University of Cincinnati cross country teams will return to Memphis, Tenn., Friday as the Bearcats are set to race in the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championships at Shelby Farms Park. The men's 8,000m run will lead things off at 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET) with the women's 6,000m race to follow at 10:50 a.m. CT (11:50 a.m. ET).

// FOLLOW US
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// QUICK SPLITS
• Both teams raced at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational two weeks ago with the men placing ninth in the white race and the women 13th
• Aaron Bienenfeld won the men's race by nearly 42 seconds, making him 2-for-2 in race victories this season (won the Rhodes Invitational in Memphis as well)
• Bienenfeld has now twice been named the AAC Male Runner of the Week in 2019
• Lauren Kemper, who joined the team in early September from the University's club team, led the women with a 27th-place finish, one of the best ever for a UC woman in the meet
• Both teams will send nine runners to compete with the men sending five first-time conference runners and the women four

// UPDATES
The meet will be streamed live on the American Digital Network for free via Facebook Live. Fans can visit Facebook.com/AmericanConf to watch the meet. Live results also will be available on the Conference's website as well.

// THE MEET
Friday will mark the seventh running of the AAC Championships that were first contested in 2013. The meet will feature a men's 8,000m and women's 6,000m competition.

// TEAMS COMPETING
Ten men's and 12 women's squads are set to race with each able to send no more than nine individuals to the starting line. The schools represented will include UC, ECU, Houston, host Memphis, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UConn, USF and UConn in both the men's and women's races with the women's competition also seeing runners from SMU and UCF racing as well.

// THE STAKES
As with any conference championship meet, the team with the lowest point total will be crowned as the champions of the American with the top individual finisher also claiming a title. Additionally, the Top 15 finishers in each race will be named all-conference for the year.

// BACK AGAIN
Since 1980, Friday's races in Memphis will mark the third time Cincinnati has competed in a conference cross country competition in the Birthplace of Rock and Roll. The first came in 1986 as members of the Metro Conference where UC's current Faculty Athletics Representative, Brian Hatch, led the men as he placed third overall to earn all-conference accolades at Audubon Park. The second and most recent meet was 1998 when Conference USA raced at Plough Park.

// ON THE LINE • WOMEN
Nine women will toe the starting line Friday with four returning for another race in the AAC while four make their conference debuts and another her third conference race, but her first in the AAC. The returning runners include both Hannah Markel and Sam Mikula, who are making their third appearances, along with Ellee Bullock and Katrina Patterson, both of whom are in their second AAC races. Transfer Ellie Leather is racing in the AAC for the first time after two runs in the Mountain West Championships with Fresno State while the quartet of Lauren Kemper (junior), Rylee Penn (redshirt freshman) and rookies Olivia Tyre and Maddie Walker rounding out the team.

// ON THE LINE • MEN
The men's squad has four returns set to race, including Ryan Guenthner, who is in his third AAC Championships meet. The trio of Aaron Bienenfeld, last year's bronze medalist, Toni Banos and Christian Stevens are all back for their second race in the AAC while five newcomers will run for the first time, including Jonathan Harley, who ran for the UC club team the past two years, redshirt freshman Jase Headings, and the rookie trio of Matt Hoak, Ryan Pehlman and Tyler Wirth.

// HISTORY • AAC
MEN
The men have finished as the meet runners-up twice, earning a trophy at the 2013 and 2014 championships, while adding a third-place showing at the 2016 meet in Cincinnati. Individually, Bienenfeld's third-place run in the monsoon last year in New Orleans stands as the best AAC-era finish for the Bearcats as he is one of six men that placed in the Top 15 to earn all-conference honors.
WOMEN
The women have continued to build up from the bottom as they have posted three-consecutive Top 9 finishes as a team after finishing either 10th or 11th in the first three years of the league. The team will be looking to better its all-time best AAC finish of 6th place from the 2016 meet in Cincinnati. Individually, two women have earned all-conference honors in the AAC-era, including Juliana Madzia (13) and Madison Dunlap (15) in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

// HISTORY • ALL-TIME
MEN
Since 1980, the men have captured two conference team titles, winning the 1994 Great Midwest and 1995 Conference USA titles. Individually, five men have captured conference crowns, including Mark Gerstner (1992) and Mark Rupe (1993) in the Great Midwest Conference; Chad Disbennett (1995) and Jeremy Bucher (1996) in Conference USA; and Eric Finan (2011) in the Big East.
WOMEN
Since first racing as a varsity team in 1985, the UC women have not won a team nor individual title in cross country conference competitions. As a team, the closest UC has come is third place six times, including three in the Metro Conference (1985, 1986 and 1987), one in the Great Midwest Conference (1994) and two in Conference USA (1998 and 1999). Interestingly enough, two of those bronze team finishes came at meets held in Memphis.

// LAST TIME IN MEMPHIS • RHODES INVITATIONAL
The last time the Bearcats were Memphis was at the Rhodes Invitational in September 21. In the meet, the women were second overall with 67 points behind only Tulsa (21) while the men were fifth overall with 138 points behind #30 Tulsa (20), Memphis (63), Arkansas State (109) and Emory (117).

// RACE WINNER
Bienenfeld captured his first collegiate title by running the 8,000m course in 24:10.1, bettering his previous best finish of third at last year's AAC Championships. The time also stands as his second-best collegiate time behind the 23:56.8 that he ran in Louisville last year. He would go on to also win the NCAA Pre-National Invitational 'White' Race title for his second win in as many races this season.

// TOP 25
Along with Bienenfeld, two other men finished in the Top 25 of their race with Ryan Guenthner and Tyler Wirth placing 17th and 23rd, respectively. Guenthner raced to a time of 25:18.9 while Wirth, a true freshman, finished his first 8,000m race in 25:33.4.

// RUNNING TOGETHER
Similar to past meets this year, the women continued to run with a pack mentality as they had two in the Top 6, three in the Top 15 and all five of their scoring runners in the Top 25. Ellie Leather led the charge with a third-place showing (21:30.2) with freshman Maddie Walker (23:41.0) just behind her in sixth. The rest of the Top 25 finishers included Hannah Markel (21:55.3) in 15th, freshman Olivia Tyre (22:15.3) in 21st and Katrina Patterson (22:23.2) in 25th overall. Additionally, the Top 5 runners all finished within 53 seconds of one another while the Top 7 ran to a 1:16.5 spread.

// LAST TIME OUT • PRE-NATS
Two weeks ago in Terre Haute, Ind., the Bearcats took part in the 'white' race at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational with the men placing ninth overall and the women 13th. On the men's side, Bienenfeld bettered the entire field by 42 seconds to win for the second time in as many races in 2019 with Toni Banos (27th) and Ryan Guenthner (35th) both placing in the Top 40. On the women's side, Lauren Kemper was 27th overall in 21:49.6, making her just the sixth UC woman to run that course in under 21:50 while also posting the second-best individual finish in an NCAA Pre-National race for UC.

// CONFERENCE HONOR • BIENENFELD
Following the weekend win, Bienenfeld was selected as the AAC Male Athlete of the Week, earning the weekly accolade for the second time this season and third time in his career. The award is the fourth earned by the UC men in the past two years after Andrew Schille earned the honor following his victorious run at the Queen City Invitational that opened the season. Prior to that, no UC runner (male and female) had won a weekly accolade from the American.

PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// THE LAST TIME • TEAM VICTORY
The last time the women won a team title came in 2010 when they won the Queen City Invitational at Voice of America MetroPark in West Chester. That day, the Bearcats scored 34 points to edge Xavier (47) and claim the team title. Individually, the Bearcats had four runners in the Top 10 with Michele McKenney winning (18:04.0) and Lilian Jelimo (18:16.0) second. Also in the Top 10 where Alison Zukowski (18:31.0) and Jill Glassmeyer (18:48.0) in fourth and 10th, respectively.

// THE LAST TIME • INDIVIDUAL VICTORY
Markel's win was the first for the women since the 2011 VMI Relays, an event that saw individuals race the 5,000m course and two teammates add their times together for a relay time. Zukowski was the overall individual winner in 17:34.0 and combined with Kaitlyn Meyer for the relay win (36:40.0).

// DEBUTS
Nine runners made their Bearcats debuts at the QCI on opening weekend, including eight freshmen and one junior transfer. On the women's side, six newcomers wore the black and red of UC for the first time, including Ellie Leather, a junior transfer from Fresno State. The remaining five newcomers were all freshmen and included Katie Engle, Anna Evans, Carmela Hennings, Olivia Tyre and Maddie Walker. On the men's side, the trio of newcomers all were rookies and included Matt Hoak, Ryan Pehlman and Tyler Wirth. The debut list grew by two more women at the Friendship Invitational as both Rylee Penn and Leah Maschino (both of whom are redshirt freshmen) raced on the cross country course for the first time for UC. Since then, the number has grown by two men and one woman with the trio racing in Louisville. Lauren Kemper, who was racing for the UC Running Club earlier this year, joined the team at the start of October and made her debut at Louisville while Jonathan Harley raced for the first time after running the past two seasons for the Club. Jase Headings raced on the track for UC last year, but made his cross country debut in Louisville.

// TOUGH AS LEATHER
So far this year, Leather has raced three times for the Bearcats and finished in the Top 5 in all three races, including fifth at the Queen City Invitational, second at the Friendship Invitational and third at Rhodes. In each of those races, she also has lowered her PR. In the 5,000m, she entered the season with a best of 18:29.7 from last year with Fresno State that she lowered at Queen City (18:04.7) and then again at Friendship (17:38.1). In the 6,000m, her PR was 21:35.4 run last year with the Bulldogs before she ran 21:30.2 with UC.

// DEUCES WILD
Hess has continually posted improved times this year, as evident by the total accumulation of 2:22.2 in the 6,000m distance. She ran her first 6k at the All-Ohio Championships in 2017 and turned in a time of 25:08.9. Last year, she took 1:15.9 off that time by running 23:53.0 at the Bradley Pink Classic. This year, her first 6k came at Rhodes and saw her take 1:06.3 off her best.

// NEW MEN
This year's newcomers on the men's side include true freshmen Matt Hoak (Mason, Ohio), Ryan Pehlman (Indianapolis) and Tyler Wirth (Hawley, Pa.) and Jonathan Harley (Granger, Ind.), a junior that ran the past two years with the UC Running Club. Additionally, redshirt freshman Jase Headings will be suiting up for the Bearcats in 2019.

// NEW WOMEN
The women, with a roster of 16 individuals, will see more than half as new additions in 2019. The six true freshmen set to race for UC this year include Jen Cooper (Maineville, Ohio), Katie Engle (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), Anna Evans (Mentor, Ohio), Carmela Henning (Medina, Ohio), Olivia Tyre (Troy, Ohio) and Maddie Walker (Batavia, Ohio). Additionally, both Leah Maschino and Rylee Penn will be coming off redshirt seasons this year and will be joined by junior transfer Ellie Leather, who raced at Fresno State the past two years.

// NEW NAME
Over the summer, the former Lara Crofford was wed and is back to coach once again, this time as Lara Rogers. The former standout distance runner at Nebraska and Shippensburg is entering her fifth season working with the UC women's cross country and mid-distance/distance runners on the track.

// NEXT TIME OUT
In two weeks, the Bearcats will venture to Madison, Wis., as they will race in the 2019 NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships on Friday, November 15. The meet is one 13 regional competitions held that day and is used as a qualifier to the NCAA Championships as the Top 2 teams in each region, 13 at-large selected teams by the NCAA and the Top 4 individuals not affiliated with a team that qualifies to nationals, will all compete November 23 in Terre Haute, Ind., at the national event.