BAUHS VICTORIOUS IN PROFESSIONAL DEBUT
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Chico State's Scott Bauhs of Danville, Calif., was victorious in his first professional road race yesterday, turning back all challengers of a very competitive field at the Synaptics Elite Athlete 5-K in San Jose, Calif., contested on a four-lap criterium course.

Bauhs, 22, covered the 5 km course in 13 minutes and 37 seconds, the fastest time by an American for 5 km on the road this year, and only three seconds slower than Ethiopian Terefe Maregu Zewdie's world leading time of 13:34 set in Carlsbad last April. Bauhs, whose time equalled Ridouane Harroufi's 2007 course record, defeated Kenyan Jacob Korir by one second, while Korir's compatriot, Josphat Boit, finished third in 13:41.

Eleven men broke 14 minutes, the most of any 5-K in the world this year.

In the women's race, the versatile Rose Kosgei of Kenya defended her title in 16 minutes dead, two seconds up on New York-based Ethiopian Aziza Aliyu. Zemedkun Gebre Belainesh of Ethiopia was third in 16:05. The top American was former Stanford star Teresa McWalters, who finished fifth in 16:12.

Forty-nine year-old Carmen Troncoso of Austin, Texas, logged an impressive age-group performance, clocking 17:27 at age 49.

Participation in the Synaptics Elite Athlete 5-K was by invitation, but the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10 km and 5 km races were held before-hand, recording 6286 finishers, nearly double the total recorded last year.