WALNUT, Calif. - Scott Bauhs can add another National Championship title to his resume. Bauhs won the 5,000 meter title at the 2008 NCAA Track & Field Championships in Walnut on Saturday. Angel Marquez also earned All-American honors with an exciting second-place finish in the men’s 1,500 meter final. This is Bauhs' second National Championship title, having won the 10,000 meter title last year, and the first All-American honor for Marquez.
Bauhs entered the event with a seed time that was 30 seconds better than anyone else in the field, but that didn’t stop anyone from challenging Bauhs from the start. Bauhs took over the lead at the five minute mark, but Daniel Kirwa from Harding University stayed right on his heels, just a quarter second behind, the rest of the race. Bauhs posted a 59.79 in his final lap, a half second better than Kirwa, to win the race by .73 seconds.
Angel Marquez pulled off a huge race with a second-place finish in the 1,500 meters. His time of 3:50.29 was 1.58 seconds behind the winner and just .23 seconds ahead of third place. More amazing is that based on seed time, Marquez was the12th of 16 qualifiers to earn a spot in the National Championships.
Tim Tollefson, who battled an illness that kept him out of the CCAA Championships earlier this month, still wasn’t back to full strength and as a result finished ninth in the steeplechase. He ran much of the race in sixth place, but didn’t have the kick to finish it off as one of the top eight. His time of 9:26.98 was 12 seconds behind the eighth place finisher.
Zach Buchanan, who won the 2008 CCAA pole vault title and posted the second best mark (16-06.75) in Chico State’s history on May 10, failed to make the opening height of 16 feet. In fact, seven of the 18 athletes entered in the event did not reach the opening mark and seven others went no higher than 16 feet.
Katie Wilson finished 14th in the javelin throw with a toss of 122-02. The throw was 18 feet shorter than her season best of 140-06, which is third on the Wildcats’ top-ten list.
Complete NCAA Track & Field Championship Results
