Mitch Bentley can still be found on Ohio’s Goldsberry Track more than 25 years after finishing his record-setting career with the Bobcats.
For the past eight years, the 1985 graduate has pushed Ohio distance runners to break his own marks.
After discovering his passion for running while in middle school, Bentley moved to Athens in high school and still resides in the city with his wife and three children.
“When I grew up, my family was very financially poor, and running was a great equalizer for me,” Bentley said. “When I got to a meet and I was competing against other kids in richer areas, it was just me against them in a heads-up, straight-up competition on the track. It was something about the inherent fairness in the sport that really appealed to me.”
Ohio’s highly regarded track and field program and coach Elmore Banton kept Bentley in Southeast Ohio. In 1984, Bentley set school records in the outdoor 10,000-meter race with a time of 29 minutes, 47.50 seconds, and the indoor 5,000-meter race at 14 minutes, 36 seconds.
Bentley’s indoor 5,000-meter record lasted until 1994, while his 10,000-meter mark fell the year after to his roommate, David Mirth. Mirth motivated Bentley throughout their college careers.
“Mitch was a great runner. He had one of the smoothest, most effortless looking strides that I have ever seen, and he was very dedicated,” Mirth said. “He went to high school at places where he was really the only serious runner and, so, was pretty much self-taught. But he had learned to put in the miles on his own and became a great high-school and college runner.”
Role models such as Banton and Mirth pushed him to continue running throughout his life, Bentley said. In 1984, while still in college, Bentley won a spot on the U.S. National Orienteering Team, with which he competed by navigating using only a map and a compass — skills he learned by running through the woods near his home while growing up.
As a member of the U.S. national team, Bentley carried the flag for the squad at the U.S. Intercollegiate Orienteering Championships.
Now, as a coach, Bentley finds inspiration in student-athletes as well. Craig Leon, a 2007 graduate who finished 26th at the 2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials, is among the student-athletes who learned from Bentley.
“I am incredibly grateful and fortunate to have had Mitch as a coach, and I owe a lot to him for his help in making me the runner and person I am today,” Leon said. “There has hardly ever been a conversation that I have had with Mitch where I didn’t learn something.”
Bentley’s coaching career started in 1992 when he began coaching the Vinton County Junior High School boys cross-country team. He then became the head cross-country and track coach at Athens High School, leading the program for 10 years before joining the Bobcats.
“He’s very articulate, and he’s more of an educator type than a coach type. He uses very intricate details,” Ohio coach Clay Calkins said. “He’s very knowledgeable in the sport and has researched the sport to relay that information on to the athletes.”
One of the runners who Bentley has taught is sophomore Emily Pifer, who owns the top time in the 10,000-meter outdoor race among Mid-American Conference runners this year.
“He is not the type of coach who will take your hand and guide you in every direction,” Pifer said. “Instead, he gives us the proper tools to succeed and relies on each individual to choose the right path in their running career.”
While also working full-time at UPS and volunteering for the Athens Marathon, Bentley’s time spent coaching has proven to be successful.
“You’re trying to present an opportunity to a student, but it’s not a guarantee they are going to want it or do the work necessary,” Bentley said. “The best thing by far is when you provide the proper training work and the student-athlete does the hard work, then they go out and do something incredible.”
nb155607@ohiou.edu
