Caroline Bierbaum is one of the most decorated female student-athletes
in Columbia history.
Bierbaum transferred to Columbia from Duke in 2003, where
she earned All-America status by finished 34th at the 2002 NCAA
Cross Country Championships. In 2004, she became the first Columbia woman ever
to win the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship in cross country, leading the
team to an Ivy League title.
Bierbaum earned first team All-American status three times
in 2004-05 alone. She finished third at the 2004 NCAA Cross Country
Championships, second in the 5000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships and second
in the 10,000m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Bierbaum went on to receive
USCTA Indoor Regional Athlete of the Year for her stellar performances.
In Fall 2005, she finished second in the nation at the NCAA
Cross Country Championship, after winning her second Ivy League individual
championship, breaking a then-meet record that had stood for over two decades.
Concluding the Fall 2005 cross country season, Bierbaum won the Honda Award in
cross country, awarded to the nation's best collegiate female cross country
runner.
Bierbaum holds the second-best time at Van Cortlandt Park
for women, and also holds school records in the indoor 3000m, the indoor 5000m
and the outdoor 5000m. She is also the school and Ivy League record holder in
the outdoor 10,000m.
Bierbaum graduated from Columbia in 2006, with a degree in
history, and was selected as an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient.
She returned to the Columbia cross country and track &
field program for the 2008-09 season as a volunteer coach while attending law
school. Bierbaum completed her law degree from Yeshiva University's Cardozo Law
School in New York City in 2009 and promptly passed the New York City Bar exam.
She currently owns her own company, Empire Athletics Management, which
represents runners world-wide. The New York City native also qualified for the
2012 Olympic Marathon Trials.
