Skip to main content

Saku Chosei H.S. Head Coach Morozumi to Take Over at Tokai University

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/nagano/news/20110117-OYT8T01097.htm
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2011/01/17/kiji/K20110117000067200.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Saku Chosei H.S. head coach Hayashi Morozumi, 44, announced Jan. 17 that in April he will take over as head coach of his alma mater, 2011 Hakone Ekiden 4th-place Tokai University. Morozumi will replace current Tokai coach Toshihiro Arai, 58, who coached Morozumi during Morozumi's student days and asked him to be his replacement. Morozumi told reporters, "My goal is not just to do well at the Hakone Ekiden but to produce Olympians." Morozumi graduated from Tokai Dai-San Prep H.S. before running for Tokai University where he competed in the Hakone Ekiden all four years. He later ran professionally for the Nissan and Daiei teams.

Morozumi has been head coach at Saku Chosei since 1995 and brought the school its first National High School Ekiden Championships title in 2008 along with twelve top-eight finishes. Most of the best current under-25 runners passed through his leadership at Saku Chosei, including 2011 Hakone Ekiden MVP Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.), Asian half marathon junior area record holder Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.), Hakone Ekiden 6th Stage record holder Kenta Chiba (Komazawa Univ.), 2009 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.), 27:38 10000 m runner and three-time Hakone Ekiden stage record setter Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and 2009 double 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B). Key to Morozumi's success as a coach has been the introduction of cross-country training on a custom-built course near the Saku Chosei campus in the mountains of Nagano.

Replacing him as coach at Saku Chosei is current assistant coach Masaru Takamizawa, 29. Takamizawa, a graduate of Saku Chosei, ran at Yamanashi Gakuin University and Team Nissin Shokuhin before becoming assistant coach in 2008. He won the 2008 Hokkaido Marathon wearing a Saku Chosei singlet. Explaining Takamizawa's selection Morozumi commented, "Takamizawa is himself a strong athlete, and I thought that under his leadership the team would continue to do well." Takamizawa said, "I hope to apply the knowhow and insights I have gained by working alongside coach Morizumi."
Labels:

Comments

Phil S said…
Fascinating.

I wonder how many Saku Chosei athletes will show up at Tokai to run for their old coach in the next few years...
January 18, 2011 at 4:34 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Day 1 Highlights

There weren't any new meet records on the opening day of this year's National University Track and Field Championships in Yokohama, but some of the favorites still turned in good performances. Ranked #1 in the women's 1500 m, Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) outran #3-ranked teammate Miori Kida for the win 4:14.81 to 4:17.57, with #4-ranked Mana Aiba (Daito Bunka Univ.) 3rd in 4:18.08 Juntendo took the top 2 spots in the men's 1500 m too, with #3-ranked Shuntaro Kawaguchi bettering #1-ranked teammate Takumi Nakagawa for the title 3:45.15 to 3:45.86. #5-ranked Soya Mizuno (Ritsumeikan Univ.) got past #2-ranked Koki Terada (Chuo Univ.) for 3rd in 3:46.00. The race walks saw upset wins. Ibuki Hori (Kansai Univ.) beat #2-ranked Toko Nakajima (Waseda Univ.) by 0.47 for the women's title in 21:44.38. After opening a lead late in the race Yushi Nakajima (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) got passed by Riku Kaneko (Kokushikan Univ.) in the last 200 m and finished 2nd in the ...
1 comment
Read more

National University Championships Day 2 Highlights

Heavy rain through a lot of the day made for tough conditions for the 2nd day of the 95th National University Track and Field Championships in Yokohama, with more forecast for the final day on Monday. In a lot of the sprint and field events that held back the quality of the performances, but even so in 2 events athletes turned in meet record-breaking runs. In the men's 400 m, #3-ranked Kira Hirakawa (Toyo Univ.) and collegiate record holder Shinya Hayashi (Tsukuba Univ.) pushed each other the entire way, Hirakawa dipping for the win in 45.37 and Hayashi 2nd in 45.41. Both were way under the meet record of 45.75 set by Yuki Yamaguchi back in 2004 and tied by Julian Walsh in 2018. The other meet record came in the women's 4x100 m relay final, where MR holders Fukuoka University ran an almost identical lineup to the one that set the collegiate record of 43.91 and the MR of 44.31 last year. Rin Shibato , Mayuko Maeda and Aiha Yamagata returned from that team on the first 2 ...
1 comment
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more