CINCINNATI - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) today announced its annual regional award winners for the 2019 cross country season with University of Cincinnati senior Aaron Bienenfeld being named the recipient of the Dan McClimon Award winner as the Great Lakes Region Men's Athlete of the Year. Bienenfeld, a four-time race winner on the season, is the second Bearcats man to earn the honor after Eric Finan was the first to collect the award in 2010.
Since 1998, the USTFCCCA has recognized the top male and female runner in each of the nine cross country regions while also honoring each region's top men's and women's coaches. This year, Bienenfeld is joined in the Great Lakes Region by women's athlete of the year Alicia Monson (Wisconsin), the Earle Hayes Award winner for the men's coach of the year in Norbert Elliott (Purdue) and the women's coach of the year in Walt Drenth (Michigan State).
Just the second UC runner to be honored behind Finan, Bienenfeld is the fifth different man to win a regional award from the USTFCCCA in the history of the American Athletic Conference with Emmanuel Rotich (Tulane) the most recent recipient in 2017. The only man to earn the honor for the AAC in the Great Lakes Region, Bienenfeld is now one of eight individuals (includes two women) from the AAC (since 2013) to be honored as well.
The 2019 season saw Bienenfeld string together one of the best performances in recent program history as he won all four races he entered for the Bearcats, including the Rhodes College Invitational, the NCAA Pre-National Invitational 'white race' and the AAC Championships before capturing the NCAA Great Lakes Region title as well. The conference crown is his third with the Bearcats and first in cross country after he won the past two outdoor 10,000m titles on the track. With his win at the conference meet, he was named AAC All-Conference and added his second-consecutive USTFCCCA All-Region honor after winning the title last week.
By winning the regional race, he qualified for his second-consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championship meet appearance, but will not run this weekend in Terre Haute, Ind., as he has decided to forgo the event to race in the German National Trials this Sunday for a chance to qualify for U23 national team. If successful, Bienenfeld will represent Germany one last time at the U23 level as they compete December 8 in Lisbon, Portugal, in the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
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While Bienenfeld and fellow international Ellie Leather (Great Britain) compete in their native lands this weekend with a spot in the U23 national team rosters on the line, the remainder of the Bearcats will compete in the Red vs. Black intrasquad meet Friday at 2 p.m. inside Armory Fieldhouse.
Bienenfeld Named Great Lakes Region XC Athlete of the Year
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) today announced its annual regional award winners for the 2019 cross country season with University of Cincinnati senior Aaron Bienenfeld being named the recipient of the Dan McClimon Award winner as the Great Lakes Region Men's Athlete of the Year.
