Skip to main content

Haruka Kyuma, Enock Omwamba Win National University T&F Championships 10000 m Titles

by Brett Larner

Day one of the 2012 Japanese National University Track & Field Championships saw a breakthrough run in the women's 10000 m from one half of Tsukuba University's Kyuma twins, Haruka Kyuma, who dominated the competition to take the win in a solid best mark of 32:59.64, five seconds ahead of runner-up Ai Furukubo (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) who in turn held off 3rd-place Mai Tsuda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) by three seconds.  Kyuma's twin sister Moe Kyuma, also of Tsukuba, was a distant 5th in 33:36.18.

Kenyan newcomer Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) continued his rise up through the ranks this year in the men's 10000 m, outgunning defending national collegiate camp Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) by two seconds to take the national title in 28:58.77.  Gandu's first-year teammate Daniel Kitonyi (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) picked up the 1500 m title in 3:44.51 in the absence of defending champion Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.), who has been racing in Italy this month.  The women's 1500 m title went to another Haruka, Haruka Mochizuki (Juntendo Univ.), who took her first national title in 4:20.36.

2012 National University T&F Championships Day One
National Stadium, Tokyo, 9/9/12
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Haruka Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) - 32:59.64
2. Ai Furukubo (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 33:04.49
3. Mai Tsuda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 33:07.72
4. Chinami Mori (Bukkyo Univ.) - 33:11.25
5. Moe Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) - 33:36.18
6. Mai Shinozuka (Chuo Univ.) - 33:46.36
7. Narumi Shirataki (Nihon Univ.) - 33:54.06
8. Mari Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:56.43
9. Rina Asano (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 33:57.05
10. Nanaka Izawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 34:12.55

Men's 10000 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 28:58.77
2. Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 29:00.57
3. Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) - 29:25.47
4. Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.) - 29:33.21
5. Hiroto Inoue (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:33.66
6. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) - 29:33.67
7. Kazuki Noda (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 29:34.38
8. Kazuhiro Kuga (Komazawa Univ.) - 29:37.93
9. Hiroshi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:40.93
10. Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:42.61
DNF - Leul Gebrselassie (Ethiopia/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.)

Women's 1500 m Final
1. Haruka Mochizuki (Juntendo Univ.) - 4:20.36
2. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:21.80
3. Satoe Kikuchi (Matsuyama Univ.) - 4:22.13
4. Mayuko Nakamura (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.) - 4:22.37
5. Miki Kobayashi (Juntendo Univ.) - 4:23.16

Men's 1500 m Final
1. Daniel Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) - 3:44.51
2. Hideyuki Tanaka (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:45.41
3. Takayuki Maeno (Meiji Univ.) - 3:47.06
4. Toshihiro Kenmotsu (Asia Pacific Univ.) - 3:48.52
5. Ryo Iketani (Kanaya Taiku Univ.) - 3:50.51

(c) 2012 Brett Larner

Comments

Most-Read This Week

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...