The Orion Online

Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Sports

Ryan Klocke, sports editor [Click to enlarge]

Distance star Scott Bauhs has turned in a gaggle of legendary performances during his college career.

But what the junior redshirt did over the weekend tops everything that the six-time All-American and 10,000-meter national champion has accomplished.

Bauhs went beyond pummeling Division I athletes at cross country meets and took on the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in San Jose on Sunday, a race nearly triple the distance of the typical eight kilometers (4.97 miles) that the runner from Danville runs at a cross county meet.

The results were not just impressive for college athletics, they were unbelievable from a global perspective. Bauhs turned in one of the greatest athletic performances from anyone to ever represent Chico State athletics.

In his first attempt at a half marathon, Bauhs completed the 13.1 mile East Bay competition in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 4 seconds to earn sixth place overall. Bauhs, who has already proven he can lead the nation, did just that again.

Bauhs was the only American to finish within the top-10. The rest of the top spots went to runners from Africa.

"This ranks up there with any of the All-Americans that I ever got," Bauhs said.

While it's impressive that Bauhs spent some of the race around runners from marathon-powerhouse Kenya, the true breakdown of his time is truly jaw dropping.

Bauhs' time of just over an hour averaged to a blazing fast 4:48 per mile pace. The overtime that Bauhs posted would have been sixth fastest in the nation in 2006, according to a press release sent out by cross country head coach Gary Towne.

But when comparing his time to times before 2006, you realize Bauhs isn't just a special athlete, he truly is one of the nation's best distance runners. Not in college, not under a certain age or in any classification or division, but one of the best people to pound the pavement in the United States.

The half marathon National Champion's from 1990 to 2005 won their titles with times slower than Bauhs' on Saturday, according to the USA Track and Field Web site.

There is no way to chalk what up what Bauhs has done with any other word than amazing. As students we should take true pleasure in the fact that one of our peers is representing our school while in competition with the world's best.

Ryan can be reached at sportseditor@theorion.com

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