CALIFORNIA (March 2) – Former California University of Pennsylvania All-American Aaron Dinzeo will be competing at the APA Pan American Cross Country Championships on Saturday, March 5, in Caraballeda, Venezuela.

Dinzeo will compete in a 10-kilometer race at the Carabella Golf Course, which is at sea level and within miles of the Maiquetia International Airport. He is one of five athletes representing Team USA at the event, which was held for the first time in 2015.

Originally from Monroeville, Pennsylvania, Dinzeo qualified for the international race by finishing second overall at the USA Track & Field (USATF) National Cross Country Championships last month in Bend, Oregon. He posted a time of 31 minutes, 47 seconds in a field of nearly 60 elite runners and finished just seven seconds behind the overall winner Craig Lutz, who was a four-time All-American at Texas.

Team USA will also be represented in Venezuela by former Adams State standout and NCAA National Champion Tabor Stevens, plus Nike professionals Donald Cowart and Max King. Cowart placed fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2012 Olympic Trials, while King finished sixth in the event before winning the IAU 100K World Championship two years later.

Dinzeo was a seven-time NCAA All-American at Cal U and became the first student-athlete in school history to be selected Capital One Academic All-American of the Year. As a senior, he finished in second place at the NCAA National Championships (behind Stevens) after helping lead the Vulcans to their highest-ever team finish at the NCAA Regional Championships. Dinzeo was selected PSAC Athlete of the Year in both cross country and outdoor track & field during his career.

A 2015 graduate, Dinzeo earned a degree in anthropology with concentrations in archaeology and forensic while graduating summa cum laude. He was also a three-time Capital One First-Team Academic All-American and was selected the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Pete Nevins Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a senior.