Iizawa and Nakagawa Break Meet Records - National University Individual Track and Field Championships Day One Results

Usually a 2nd-tier meet held in June every year in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, this year the National University Individual Track and Field Championships have been moved up to this weekend with a full schedule of events and top-level collegiate talent.

Friday's opening day kicked off with a meet record in the men's 1500 m from Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.). Iizawa took almost 2 seconds off the old record to win in 3:44.54, with teammate Jin Mizoguchi also under the old record in 3:46.49 for 2nd. The top 9 in the final were all under 3:50, pretty good for a Japanese collegiate meet. Sheila Cherotich (Meiji Kokusai Iryo Univ.) was a second off the women's 1500 m meet record, winning in 4:21.75 over Saki Katagihara (Tsukuba Univ.).

The meet record also went in the men's hammer throw, with winner Tatsuto Nakagawa (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) throwing 70.85 m and 2nd-place Shota Fujita (Nihon Univ.) also over the old record at 70.56 m. Remi Katsuya took the women's hammer throw with a 59.96 m throw to make it a double win for Kyushu Kyoritsu University. Nanako Tamaoki (Kokushikan Univ.) tied her own women's 100 mH meet record, running 13.30 (+0.5) to win the final.

This meet usually only goes up to 5000 m, but the addition of a 10000 m this year brought in some bigger names. National ekiden champion Meijo University captain Narumi Kobayashi won the women's 10000 m in an easy 33:21.48 with 2nd through 4th all less than a second behind. Kobayashi will face #1 collegian Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in Sunday's 5000 m. Runners from 2021 Hakone Ekiden 2nd-placer Soka University surprisingly took the top two spots in the men's 10000 m, Jun Kasai getting the win in 28:30.65 and Yudai Shimazu 2nd in 28:38.27. In 3rd was the team that beat them at Hakone, Komazawa University, repped by Kotaro Shinohara in 28:43.03.

Olympian Rachid Muratake (Juntendo Univ.) was under the meet record in the men's 110 mH with a wind-aided 13.43 (+2.6) to win the final. His teammate Kazuhiro Tateiwa took the men's 10000 mRW by over 30 seconds in 40:19.71. Hiromichi Yoshida (Kinzakigun Univ.) won the men's long jump with a 7.85 m (+0.6) jump. Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's long jump at 6.20 m (-0.1). Rena Tanaka (Kagawa Univ.) won the women's pole vault, clearing 4.00 m on her first attempt. Sae Takemoto (Saga Sports Univ.) took the women's javelin, throwing 58.02 m.

The National University Individual Championships continue Saturday and Sunday.

Japan Announces Complete London Olympics Athletics Team

by Brett Larner Click here for JRN's complete video coverage of the 2012 Japanese Olympic Trials, 27 videos making up nearly three hours of footage. The Japanese Federation and Olympic Committee announced the complete lineup of Japan's team of 48 athletes for this summer's London Olympics track and field events at a press conference on June 11. The team features 11 national record holders and 18 current national champions and is young overall, with a heavy preponderance of first-time Olympians including a World Junior gold medalist, 13 collegiates and one high schooler. The Fujitsu corporate team is overwhelmingly the best-represented, boasting 8 Olympic team members, while Chukyo University tops the collegiate list with 3 athletes on the team. Suzuki, whose Suzuki Hamamatsu AC club team exists outside the corporate league, also has 3 Olympians. No Olympic team selection process is free of controversial decisions, and the omission of women's 10000 m Jr. NR hold

Yamagata-Based Alexander Mutiso Aims to Be #1 in Paris Olympics Marathon

Having been named to the Kenyan men's team for this summer's Paris Olympics, Alexander Mutiso , 27, of the Nanyo, Yamagata-based ND Software corporate team, told the Yamagata Newspaper on May 13 that his goal for the Olympic marathon is "to be #1." Having lived in Yamagata for 10 years, Mutiso has strong attachment to the area and credits its environment for helping him develop, saying, "Ever since I came to Yamagata I've been running well." He left for Kenya on May 14 to join the Kenyan national team training camp, aiming to be in perfect condition when he arrives in Paris for the main event. Mutiso came to Japan in 2015, joining the ND Software team and taking up residence in Nanyo. "I don't like the cold winters in Yamagata so much, but the other seasons are nice." From that base he has grown into the athlete he is now, competing in races across Japan and around the world. Compared to the track, his strengths lie more in long road races

Weekend Track Update

The biggest domestic meet of the weekend was the four-day Kanto Region Track and Field Championships , but there were other good meets happening across the country. At the Kinami Memorial Meet in Osaka, Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) had a near-miss on the Japanese NR, running a meet record 3:35.77 for the win to come in at all-time JPN #2. 2nd through 4th-placers Abraham Guem (South Sudan), Felix Muthiani (Kenya) and Dezhu Liu (China) were all under the old MR and under 3:38, and the top 10 all went under 3:40. All told it was one of the best non-international championship men's 1500 m ever on Japanese soil. The women's 3000 mSC also saw a new MR from Shuangshuang Xu (China) in 9:47.45, with 2nd through 4th-placers Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.), Georgia Winkcup (Australia) and Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) all breaking 10 minutes. At part one of the Chugoku Corporate Championships in Hiroshima, Rebecca Mwangi (Daiso) had an easy win in the women's 5000 m

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