Skip to main content

Yamamoto's Pole Vault Meet Record Tops Final Day of National Corporate Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
click here for Day One results and report 
click here for Day Two results and report

Seito Yamamoto (Team Toyota) broke one of the oldest standing meet records at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships on this year's final day of competition, clearing 5.70 m to break the 5.62 record set back in 1999 by Fumiaki Kobayashi (Miki House).  Kobayashi passed all the way to 5.30 m, clearing it and 5.50 m on his first try to seal the win.  Going straight to 5.70 m, it took him three attempts to clear it but the record was his.  The women's 4x400 m almost saw another meet record as the Junanaju Ginko team was just 0.03 off the 3:47.38 record it set in 2010 with a lineup including current third runner Mai Yamada.

In distance action, Hiram Ngatia (Team Toyota) ran the fastest time in the three evenly-stacked men's 5000 m, 13:23.65, for the Heat Three and overall win.  1500 m champ Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.) had the slowest winning time, 13:38.75 in Heat One, with 1500 m runner-up David Njuguna (Team Yakult) getting payback with a 13:38.51 win in Heat Two.  Former Komazawa University star Shogo Nakamura (Team Fujitsu) was the fastest Japanese man of the day at 13:45.58 in Heat Two.  Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Team Starts) outran 2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) for the win in the women's 5000 m A-heat 15:15.42 to 15:21.14, with Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku) rounding out the podium in 15:33.89.

63rd National Corporate Track and Field Championships Day Three
Nagaragawa Field, Gifu, 9/27/15
click here for complete results

Men's 100 m Final +0.5 m/s
1. Seiya Kusano (Liniart) - 10.43
2. Sota Kawatsura (Mizuno) - 10.49
3. Yuichi Kobayashi (NTN) - 10.50

Women's 100 m Final +0.4 m/s
1. Nodoka Seko (Joba Club Crane) - 11.60
2. Saori Kitakaze (Hokkaido HiTec AC) - 11.75
3. Megumi Shimizu (Niigata Albirex RC) - 11.77

Men's 400 m Final
1. Tomoya Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 46.65
2. Hideyuki Hirose (Fujitsu) - 46.80
3. Kazushi Kimura (Shidenko) - 47.23

Women's 400 m Final
1. Asami Chiba (Toho Ginko) - 54.00
2. Sayaka Aoki (Toho Ginko) - 54.08
3. Manami Kira (At Home) - 54.47

Men's 800 m Final
1. Masato Yokote (Fujitsu) - 1:49.55
2. Yasuhiro Nakamura (Evolu) - 1:50.03
3. Wataru Okamoto (Hoki Board of Education) - 1:50.41

Women's 800 m Final
1. Fumika Omori (Lotte) - 2:08.53
2. Mariko Okita (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2:08.86
3. Aki Tasaka (Yogashi Georges) - 2:09.65

Men's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Ronald Kwemoi (Komori Corp.) - 13:38.75
2. Daniel Kepkemoi (Toyota Boshoku) - 13:42.85
3. Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko) - 13:44.67
4. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 13:45.79
5. Akihiko Tsumurai (Mazda) - 13:47.23

Men's 5000 m Heat 2
1. David Njuguna (Yakult) - 13:38.51
2. Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 13:45.58
3. Yuta Takahashi (DeNA) - 13:47.81
4. Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 13:50.90
5. Kazuma Ito (Sumitomo Denko) - 13:58.70

Men's 5000 m Heat 3
1. Hiram Ngatia (Toyota) - 13:23.65
2. Patick Muwaka (Aisan Kogyo) - 13:48.44
3. Yasunori Murakami (Fujitsu) - 13:49.73
4. Yuki Takamiya (Yakult) - 13:51.33
5. Keita Baba (Honda) - 13:52.46

Junior Men's 5000 m
1. Taishi Sakamoto (Toyota Kyushu) - 14:23.59
2. Takaya Arake (Asahi Kasei) - 14:24.60
3. Satoshi Kondo (Toyota) - 14:28.24

Women's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Sumina Kuroda (Toto) - 15:54.81
2. Nami Hashimoto (Denso) - 15:58.18
3. Mao Kuroda (Wacoal) - 15:59.20
4. Asahi Takeuchi (Uniqlo) - 16:00.65
5. Naoka Akutsu (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:01.33

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Starts) - 15:15.42
2. Sally Chepyego (Kyudenko) - 15:21.14
3. Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:33.89
4. Risa Kikuchi (Hitachi) - 15:37.68
5. Grace Kimanzi (Starts) - 15:40.82

Men's 110 mH Final -0.7 m/s
1. Yuta Notoya (New Mode) - 13.80
2. Hideki Omuro (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 13.83
3. Hiroyuki Sato (Hitachi Kasei) - 13.85

Women's 100 mH Final +1.7 m/s
1. Hitomi Shimura (Toho Ginko) - 13.40
2. Airi Ito (Sumitomo Denko) - 13.41
3. Sayaka Kishi (Car Paint Kishi) - 13.50

Men's 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Mizuno - 3:07.36
2. Sumitomo Denko - 3:07.64
3. Arrows Japan - 3:10.21

Women's 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Nanjunana Ginko - 3:47.41
2. Toyota - 4:14.09

Women's High Jump
1. Miyuki Fukumoto (Konan Univ. Staff) - 1.81 m
2. Yuki Watanabe (Milite Techno) - 1.78 m
3. Moeko Kyoya (Shiriuchi H.S. Staff) - 1.78 m

Men's Pole Vault
1. Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) - 5.70 m - MR
2. Naoya Kawaguchi (Iwase H.S. Staff) - 5.30 m
3. Ryo Tanaka (Wakayama Prefecture Board of Education) - 5.30 m

Men's Triple Jump
1. Daigo Hasegawa (Hitachi ICT) - 16.49 m -0.5 m/s
2. Kazuyoshi Ishikawa (Nagano Yoshida H.S. Staff) - 16.35 m +0.6 m/s
3. Nobuaki Fujibayashi (Ritsumeikan Univ. Staff) - 15.93 m +0.7 m/s

Women's Triple Jump
1. Kaede Miyasaka (Maki Sports) - 13.06 +0.8 m/s
2. Mayu Yoshida (Gifu H.S. Staff) - 13.03 m +1.5 m/s
3. Arisa Nakao (Yuwakai) - 12.89 m +1.1 m/s

Men's Shot Put
1. Satoshi Hatase (Alsok) - 17.44 m
2. Daichi Nakamura (Ochiai J.H.S. Staff) - 17.29 m
3. Takanao Suzuki (Okuwa) - 17.22 m

Women's Discus Throw
1. Ayumi Sakaguchi (S.T.T.) - 52.33 m
2. Ai Shikimoto (Niigata Albirex RC) - 50.68 m
3. Nozomi Kusaka (Omitama SC) - 48.63 m

Women's Hammer Throw
1. Akane Watanabe (Maruwa) - 64.92 m
2. Masumi Aya (Maruzen Kogyo) - 64.86 m
3. Wakana Sato (Toho Ginko) - 57.37 m

Men's Javelin Throw
1. Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 77.13 m
2. Yuya Koriki (Tottori Pref. Gov't) - 75.11 m
3. Fumitaka Saito (Gero Special Needs H.S. Staff) - 74.55 m


Comments

Most-Read This Week

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...