Skip to main content

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
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more

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...
8 comments
Read more

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...
2 comments
Read more