Bearcats Head to Indiana Friday for Hoosier Open

CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati track & field program is set to compete one final time in 2019 as the Bearcats will venture to Bloomington, Ind., Friday to compete in the Hoosier Open hosted by Indiana inside it's Gladstein Fieldhouse. The one-day meet opens at 3:45 p.m. with the women's weight throw while the final event of the night, the men's 4x400m relay, is slated for an 8:10 p.m. start.

// SCHEDULE & RESULTS
The throws lead off the day with the women's weight throw at 3:45 p.m. and will be followed by the men's weight and both shot put puts. Running events get underway at 4:30 p.m. with the preliminary rounds of the 60m hurdles. In the jumps, the women's long jump and the women's pole vault both are set to start at 5 p.m. Live results for the meet can be found on Indiana's website, IUHoosiers.com.

// IN THE MEET
Athletes representing five schools will compete Friday with the Bearcats and host Hoosiers being joined in competition by Butler, St. Louis and Lincoln (Mo.). Unattached individuals also will be part of the meet as well.

// BIENENFELD BATTLES EUROPE
Over the weekend, Aaron Bienenfeld capped his cross country season as he raced in the 2019 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, where he helped the German U23 team to a bronze medal. Bienenfeld was the top finisher among the German entrants as he placed 14th overall. Prior to race, Bienenfeld had one of the best cross country seasons in program history as he won all four of his collegiate competitions, including the AAC Championships and the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships. The recipient of the AAC and USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Male Runner of the Year awards, Bienenfeld will return to action on the track for the Bearcats in January.

// BEST IN THE NATION
Last Friday, the Bearcats opened their 2020 track & field season at the Jingle Bells Open in Lexington, Ky., with several top marks turned in. Among the 39 personal-best marks and 10 UC all-time Top 10 marks, five Bearcats posted marks that ranked among the Top 10 in the nation last week according to the USTFCCCA Weekly Top 10 listing. Of those Bearcats on the list, Chris Borzor led the way as he raced to a time of 1:03.10 in the 500m to post the fastest time in the nation and the #3 time in program history. Also on the men's side, Top 10 marks were recorded by Cannon Riddle (second) and Jeremy Hayton (seventh) in the pentathlon; and Connor Duricky (fourth) in the 60m hurdles. On the women's side, Faith Banks ran 1:13.96 in the 500m to post the #2 time in the nation and the #3 time in program history.

// OPENING UP
In total, nine women and two men made their UC debuts last week at the Jingle Bells Open in Lexington, Ky. Included among those new Bearcats were Victoria Abunaw, a transfer from Akron, and freshman Hannah Jackson, both of whom opened with strong showings. Racing in the red and black for the first time, Abunaw ran 8.64 in the prelims of the 60m hurdles to post the #10 time in program history before running 41.87 in the 300m for the #8 spot on the all-time Top 10. Jackson, a freshman thrower, finished second in the weight throw (16.10m/52-10.00), her first collegiate event, before also placing fourth overall in the shot put (13.57m/44-06.25) to cap the day.

// FAST TIMES
Two men had strong starts to their seasons in the shortest events with both Isaiah McCall and Connor Duricky faring well. McCall raced to a time of 6.89 in the prelims in of the 60m dash to tie his previous personal-best time and the #10 time in program history. He then ran in the final and posted an improved time of 6.82 to move all the way up to #4 in program history. In the 60m hurdles, Duricky reached the final where he ran 7.92 to finish second overall and first among collegiate competitors while also turning in the #5 time in program history. He is now just the fifth UC man to break eight seconds in the event.

// BIG MARKS
Two other Bearcats had strong performances in the field in Kentucky as well, including men's thrower Aaron Deaton and women's jumper Kennedy Marable. In the throws, Deaton hit a toss of 17.20m (56-05.25) for his first mark over 17m that moved him up to #5 all-time in program history. That PR, which was an improvement of 2' 4.75", was his second of the day after he improved his lifetime best in the weight throw with a heave of 16.83m (55-02.75), an improvement of 5' 9" over his previous best. On the jumps runway, Marable might not have had her best marks, but they were good enough for her place highly among the field. She opened the day taking second in the long jump with a best of 5.37m (17-07.50) before winning the triple jump with a mark of 12.05m (39-06.50).

// NEXT UP
The Bearcats will have some time off for the holiday break with the next competition on the slate coming January 10-11 with a return trip to Lexington, Ky., for the Jim Green Invitational.