by Brett Larner
The 2nd place finishers at this year's Hakone Ekiden have made a major advance toward returning to the winner's podium after a 15-year absence. On Jan. 4, Waseda University announced that the top three runners from this year's crop of high school graduates will enter Waseda this April.* The new recruits include Yuki Yagi of Nishiwaki Kogyo High School, Yusuke Mita of Toyokawa Kogyo High School, and Takuya Nakayama of Suma Gakuen High School.
Yagi, Mita and Nakayama finished 1-2-3 in the 2007 National High School 5000 m Championships and, along with fellow recruit Taro Inoue of Yawatahama High School, represent a major coup for Waseda. In the 2008 Hakone Ekiden Waseda suffered from weak performances by its injured star Kensuke Takezawa and several of its runners on the last few stages. Nevertheless, thanks in large part to outstanding mountain stage performances by Ryuta Komano and Sota Kota it won Day One and did not give up the lead to eventual winners Komaz…
The 2nd place finishers at this year's Hakone Ekiden have made a major advance toward returning to the winner's podium after a 15-year absence. On Jan. 4, Waseda University announced that the top three runners from this year's crop of high school graduates will enter Waseda this April.* The new recruits include Yuki Yagi of Nishiwaki Kogyo High School, Yusuke Mita of Toyokawa Kogyo High School, and Takuya Nakayama of Suma Gakuen High School.
Yagi, Mita and Nakayama finished 1-2-3 in the 2007 National High School 5000 m Championships and, along with fellow recruit Taro Inoue of Yawatahama High School, represent a major coup for Waseda. In the 2008 Hakone Ekiden Waseda suffered from weak performances by its injured star Kensuke Takezawa and several of its runners on the last few stages. Nevertheless, thanks in large part to outstanding mountain stage performances by Ryuta Komano and Sota Kota it won Day One and did not give up the lead to eventual winners Komaz…