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Nishihara Takes Kano's 5000 m Meet Record at Kansai Regional University Track Championships

by Brett Larner

While the Tokyo-centered Kanto Region is the undisputed center of Japanese university men's distance running thanks to the prestigious Hakone Ekiden, the Kansai Region features two of the top women's schools, the unbeatable national champion Ritsumeikan University and its perennial rival Bukkyo University. This year's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships was spread out over three weekends, giving distance athletes the possibility of competing in multiple events from 1500 m to half marathon.

The country's top university woman, Ritsumeikan fourth-year Kazue Kojima, scored a matter-of-fact win in the 10000 m on May 8, beating 2008 national university 10000 m champion and second-year teammate Michi Numata by nearly 40 seconds with a 32:55.64 clocking. The real show, however, came in the women's 5000 m on May 16.

Bukkyo third-year Kasumi Nishihara, fresh from an impressive 32:29.59 PB win against Numata and a host of professional and university stars at the May 3 Shizuoka International meet 10000 m, ran another PB of 15:32.89 for the win. Nishihara's time broke 2009 World Championships team member Yuri Kano's 10 year old meet record by over 12 seconds and Kojima's PB by 3 seconds and puts her on the list of possible names for the World Championships 5000 m team. Coming as it does on the heels of her stage record win on the anchor leg of December's National University Women's Invitational Ekiden and her victories at March's Kyoto City Half Marathon and the Shizuoka International meet, Nishihara looks ready to challenge Kojima's supremacy over the next year.

Feeling the effects of fatigue from the 10000 m a week before, Kojima was 8 seconds off her PB but likewise went under Kano's meet record. The surprise of the day was Kojima's second-year teammate Risa Takenaka who outkicked her to finish 2nd in 15:41.60, a massive PB by nearly 16 seconds and also well below the old meet record. A former high school star, Takenaka will be one of the most important university women to watch over the next few years.

Kyoto Sangyo University teammates Hiroki Mitsuoka and Kazuki Hayashi went 1-2 in the men's 5000 m, then returned to repeat as 1-2 in the 10000 m. Tanzanian Jackson Kwarai (Nara Sangyo Univ.) beat Tomoya Nishino (Ritsumeikan Univ.) in the half marathon, with Nishino coming in 3rd in the 10000 m behind Mitsuoka and Hayashi. Alongside Kojima's win in the women's 10000 m, Ritsumeikan's Toshiki Imazaki took the school's only other distance event title with a 3:53.10 win in the men's 1500 m.

2009 Kansai Regional University Track and Field Championships - Top Finishers in Distance Events
click here for complete results

Men's Half Marathon
1. Jackson Kwarai (Nara Sangyo Univ.) - 1:06:26
2. Tomoya Nishino (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:06:47
3. Yoshiki Sekitani (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 1:07:06

Women's 10000 m
1. Kazue Kojima (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 32:55.64
2. Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 33:34.96
3. Yuri Tokushige (Osaka Taiku Univ.) - 34:09.56

Men's 10000 m
1. Hiroki Mitsuoka (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 29:47.13
2. Kazuki Hayashi (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 30:04.93
3. Tomoya Nishino (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 30:05.66

Women's 5000 m
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:32.89 - PB, CR
2. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:41.60 - PB, (CR)
3. Kazue Kojima (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:43.17 - (CR)

Men's 5000 m
1. Hiroki Mitsuoka (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 14:18.29
2. Kazuki Hayashi (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 14:20.62
3. Hiroyuki Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 14:29.29

Women's 3000 m SC
1. Yuka Tokuda (Osaka Taiku Univ.) - 10:44.98
2. Haruka Nakamoto (Osaka Taiku Univ.) - 10:48.91
3. Sara Wada (Bukkyo Univ.) - 11:06.17

Men's 3000 m SC
1. Masashi Nakatsu (Osaka Taiku Univ.) - 9:00.36
2. Masayoshi Nakajima (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 9:01.05
3. Hiroki Terasaki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 9:06.37

Women's 1500 m
1. Yuika Mori (Bukkyo Univ.) - 4:23.82
2. Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 4:25.23
3. Mai Ishibashi (Bukkyo Univ.) - 4:25.38

Men's 1500 m
1. Toshiki Imazaki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 3:53.10
2. Michio Okuda (Ryukoku Univ.) - 3:55.05
3. Koichi Kasai (Osaka Taiku Univ.) - 3:55.34

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
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