Two National Records, Five Meet Records and More - National High School Championships Highlights

by Brett Larner
video by Ekiden News

The 2016 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships wrapped up yesterday, highlighted by new high school national records in the girls' 4x400 m relay and boys' pole vault and meet records in those events and the boys' 5000 m race walk, boys' 4x400 m relay and boys' octathlon. 18 events saw athletes break into the all-time Japanese junior and high school top ten lists, a sign of the all-around high level of competition this year.

The boys' 5000 mRW was unusually action-packed, with 12 boys breaking the meet record. Girls' middle and long distance were also strong, with 7 girls under 2:08 in the 800 m, 9 under 4:20 in the 1500 m and 9 under 9:10 in the 3000 m. In these and other events the top times were even good enough to get into and in some cases top the U.S.A. high school top ten lists for the year. Below is a list of records and all-time top ten Japanese junior and high school marks set at this year's High School Nationals. Click any event for more detailed results and video.

69th National High School Track and Field Championships Highlights
City Light Stadium, Okayama, July 29-Aug. 2, 2016
click here for complete results
* athlete was already in all-time top ten with better mark

Girls' 200 m

Ami Saito* (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) - 23.60 - all-time #3 JPN Jr., #3 JPN H.S.

Girls' 800 m - top 7 under 2:08

Shoko Fukuda (Matsue Kita H.S.) - 2:04.29 - all-time #4 JPN Jr., #2 JPN H.S.
Airi Ikezaki (Funairi H.S.) - 2:04.85 - all-tiime #10 JPN Jr., #5 JPN H.S.
Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) - 2:05.03 - all-time #6 JPN H.S., fastest-ever by JPN H.S. 2nd-year
Ayano Shiomi (Kyoto Bunkyo Gakuen H.S.) - 2:05.36 - all-time #10 JPN H.S.

Girls' 1500 m - top 9 under 4:20

Hina Takahashi (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 4:15.82 - all-time #7 JPN Jr., #4 JPN H.S.
Nozomi Tanaka* (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 4:15.95 - all-time #8 JPN Jr., #5 JPN H.S.
Yume Goto (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 4:16.69 - all-time #9 JPN H.S.

Girls' 3000 m - top 9 under 9:10

Helen Ekarare (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 8:55.06 - all-time #4 int'l H.S. student
Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 8:58.86 - all-time #4 JPN Jr., #3 JPN H.S.
Nozomi Tanaka* (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 9:01.40 - all-time #10 JPN Jr., #9 JPN H.S.
Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) - 9:03.51 - fastest-ever by JPN H.S. 1st-year
Shuri Ogasawara (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 9:05.15 - all-time #2 JPN H.S. 1st-year

Girls' 100 m Hurdles

Yumi Tanaka* (Kansai Prep Daiichi H.S.) - 13.50 +1.5 m/s - all-time #8 JPN Jr., #7 JPN H.S.

Boys' 110 m Hurdles

Takuma Kato (Shibata H.S.) - 13.98 +1.2 m/s - all-time #8 JPN Jr., #3 JPN H.S.

Boys' 3000 m Steeplechase

Joel Mwaura (Kurashiki H.S.) - 8:46.89 - all-time #4 int'l H.S. student

Boys' 5000 m Race Walk

Shinjiro Yamamoto (Toyama Shogyo H.S.) - 20:14.63 - meet record
11 other athletes also broke meet record

Girls' 4x100 m Relay

Kurashiki Chuo H.S. - 45.49 - all-time #3 JPN H.S.

Girls' 4x400 m Relay

Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S. - 3:37.67 - high school national record, meet record

Boys' 4x400 m Relay

Rakunan H.S. - 3:08.57 - all-time #2 JPN H.S., meet record
Soyo H.S. - 3:08.91 - all-time #3 JPN H.S., also under meet record

Girls' High Jump

Sakura Asai (Okazaki Josai Prep H.S.) - 1.81 m - all-time #6 JPN H.S.

Boys' Pole Vault

Masaki Ejima (Eda H.S.) - 5.43 m - high school national record, meet record

Boys' Long Jump

Yuki Hashioka (Hachioji H.S.) - 7.75 m -1.6 m/s - all-time #7 JPN H.S.

Boys' Hammer Throw

Masanobu Hattori* (Amagasaki Municipal H.S.) - 64.57 m - all-time #10 JPN H.S.

Girls' Javelin Throw

Mahiro Osa (Wakayama Kita H.S.) - 56.48 m - all-time #6 JPN Jr., #6 JPN H.S.

Girls' Heptathlon

Maya Shurester* (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) - 5299 - all-time #4 JPN H.S.

Boys' Octathlon

Yuma Maruyama (Shinoda H.S.) - 6085 - all-time #2 JPN H.S., meet record
Wilson Takashi Koha (Shibata H.S.) - 6024 - all-time #4 JPN H.S., also under meet record

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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