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Omwamba, Tsuetaki and Fukuuchi Double With Kanto Regionals 5000 m Wins

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620 and JRN



A day after becoming the first man in 78 years to win four-straight Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships 1500 m titles, Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) added another title to his collection, winning a third-straight 5000 m in 13:35.35.  Omwamba and 1500 m runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) went out front from the start, initially with some company from Japanese athletes but soon on their own.  Wambui made it a good race, at one point going to the front and knocking Omwamba back to 5th, but in the last km he was no match as Omwamba kicked away to win by just over 2 seconds.  Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) was an unexpected 3rd in 13:52.08, just holding off 30 km national collegiate record holder Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.).



After winning the D2 10000 m Thursday night with a solid 59-second final lap, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) did it again in the D2 5000 m with a 2:32 last 1000 m that put away 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and the rest of the field.  Tsuetaki crossed the line in 13:53.93 for the double, 5 seconds ahead of runner-up Masaki Toda (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.).

Women's 10000 m champion Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) likewise doubled with a third-straight 5000 m win in 16:05.64, just beating teammate and 1500 m champion Rina Koeda.  Only Moeno Shimizu (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) was able to stop a DBU sweep of the women's distance events, winning the 3000 mSC in 10:21.02 by 7 seconds over DBU's Soyoka Segawa.


The men's half marathon, always one of the meet's highlights, delivered another race in the D2 division.  Running a 9-lap circuit course through a park neighboring start and finish venue Nissan Stadium, newcomer Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) went out at course record pace despite heat, sunshine and high winds.  Initially chased by Yuta Shimoda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.), who ran 1:02:22 at age 18 at February's National University Half Marathon Championships, Kariuki was soon completely on his own when Shimoda let go to drop back to the chase pack made up of teammate Kinari Ikeda and Komazawa University's duo of Shota Baba and Shohei Otsuka.


With two loops to go Kariuki's lead was over 45 seconds, but on the last lap and the switchback incline back into the stadium he slowed as the quartet behind him accelerated.  In the home straight the little-known Ikeda hauled him in, winning by 1 second in 1:04:37 with Baba taking 3rd 6 seconds back.  With his win Ikeda followed teammate Daichi Kamino to make it two years in a row for AGU runners to take the top position.


Starting 3 minutes after the D2 race on the same loop course, the D1 was relatively conservative by comparison.  10000 m runner-up Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.), absent any titles so far this meet, led the entire way with a large but dwindling pack behind him.  In the last lap he took off, opening just enough of a lead to be safe for the win in 1:04:57.  Koki Ido (Waseda Univ.) and Naoya Takahashi (Toyo Univ.) emerged from the chase pack to fight to the line, Ido getting 2nd by 1 second in 1:05:03.

Field events added two meet records to this year's haul, with Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) clearing 2.28 m in the men's D1 high jump to qualify for the Beijing World Championships, one of the top performances of the four-day meet.  Kengo Anbo (Tokai Univ.) brought the other meet record with a 55.68 m in the men's D1 discus throw.

94th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships Day 3 and 4
Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Kanagawa
click here for complete results

Men's D1 Half Marathon
1. Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) - 1:04:57
2. Koki Ido (Waseda Univ.) - 1:05:03
3. Naoya Takahashi (Toyo Univ.) - 1:05:04
4. Shin Kimura (Meiji Univ.) - 1:05:13
5. Masato Terauchi (Toyo Univ.) - 1:05:18

Men's D2 Half Marathon
1. Kinari Ikeda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:37
2. Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 1:04:38
3. Shota Baba (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:43
4. Yuta Shimoda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:50
5. Shohei Otsuka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:05:06

Men's D1 5000 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:35.35
2. Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) - 13:37.41
3. Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) - 13:52.08
4. Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) - 13:52.85
5. Yuki Muta (Meiji Univ.) - 13:53.75

Men's D2 5000 m
1. Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 13:53.93
2. Masaki Toda (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 13:58.98
3. Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 13:59.38
4. Hiroto Kanamori (Takushoku Univ.) - 14:03.04
5. Naoki Koyama (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 14:03.65

Women's 5000 m
1. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 16:05.64
2. Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 16:08.03
3. Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) - 16:08.62
4. Manaka Kobori (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 16:13.25
5. Saki Fukui (Josai Univ.) - 16:14.84

Women's 3000 mSC
1. Moeno Shimizu (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 10:21.02
2. Nanami Niwa (Chuo Univ.) - 10:27.75
3. Soyoka Segawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10:28.54
4. Miki Kobayashi (Juntendo Univ.) - 10:36.76
5. Chisato Sekine (Chuo Univ.) - 10:49.99

Men's D1 3000 mSC
1. Shuya Tsuda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 8:50.65
2. Kazuma Watanabe (Toyo Univ.) - 8:52.89
3. Issei Miyagi (Tokai Univ.) - 8:57.20
4. Yasutaka Ishibashi (Tokai Univ.) - 8:59.61
5. Toshio Takaki (Tokai Univ.) - 8:59.62

Men's D2 3000 mSC
1. Koichi Miyashita (Komazawa Univ.) - 8:53.52
2. Seiya Shigeno (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 8:54.78
3. Shun Yamamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 8:56.08
4. Hikaru Nakano (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 8:57.42
5. Masaki Akima (Teikyo Univ.) - 8:58.62

Men's D1 High Jump
1. Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) - 2.28 m - MR
2. Ryo Sato (Tokai Univ.) - 2.16 m
3. Yoshihiro Yamashita (Toyo Univ.) - 2.13 m
4. Kenya Muraoka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 2.13 m
5. Jin Nakamura (Nihon Univ.) - 2.10 m

Men's D1 Discus Throw
1. Kengo Anbo (Tokai Univ.) - 55.68 m - MR
2. Hirotoshi Abe (Nihon Univ.) - 50.43
3. Jun Yoshida (Tokai Univ.) - 49.87 m
4. Shino Cho (Kokushikan Univ.) - 48.05 m
5. Yuya Suzuki (Nihon Univ.) - 47.96 m

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
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