Skip to main content

Ishizuka 400 m MR, Sani Brown Anchors Josai 4x100m Semis on Day One of Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620 and aoshin0507



#1-ranked Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) turned in the performance of the day on the opening day of the National High School Track and Field Championships, setting a meet record 53.30 to win the girls' 400 m.  After dominating the semifinals in 53.92, the only girl in the field to break 54, Ishizuka had no trouble at all running away from closest competitor Yuna Iwata (Niijima Gakuen H.S.) in the final, winning by more than a second over Iwata's 54.37 PB.  2015 World Youth Championships team member Rin Aoki (Soyo H.S.) also ran a PB of 54.74 for 3rd.  The boys' 400 m final saw Daisuke Funato (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) unexpectedly win with a 47.06 PB, taking down favorites Manato Sasaki (Morioka Minami H.S.) and Sho Someya (Seibudai Chiba H.S.) who took only 4th and 5th.



Another highlight came in the first heat of the boys' 1500 m, where a strong surge from Kakeru Nakamura (Saigyo H.S.) at 700 m meant a fast race for #1-ranked Kazuyoshi Tamogami (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.).  Nakamura opened up a good-sized lead over the third lap, but in the home straight Tamogami easily caught him, jogging across the line under control in 3:49.69 with Nakamura just behind in 3:49.80.  Tamogami's recent 3:47.63 best looks like it may be in danger.  #2-ranked Kazuki Kawamura (Ogaki Nihon Prep H.S.) with a best of 3:47.69 coasted it in in the second heat in 3:54.44 while four other boys, two of them in the first heat with Tamogami and Nakamura, broke 3:51, promising some depth to tomorrow's final.



The boys' hammer throw final saw all three podium placers throw PBs over 60 m, Ryota Muraki (Hisai H.S.) getting the win with a throw of 63.62 m. In the boys' 4x100 m relay heats, World Youth Championships double sprint gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) turned in a big anchor run to move Josai up from 5th to 2nd in 40.93, just missing 1st but moving his team on to Thursday's semifinals.  Ishizuka also returned in the girls' 4x100 m to anchor the Keiai girls, coming up from 4th and running down first place to put them into the semis in 46.93.

68th National High School Track and Field Championships 
Day One Highlights
Wakayama, July 29
click here for complete results

Boys' 400 m Final
1. Daisuke Funato (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) - 47.06 - PB
2. Hiroki Daira (Sanda Shosei H.S.) - 47.28 (47.24 PB in semifinal)
3. Takuto Eto (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 47.46
4. Manato Sasaki (Morioka Minami H.S.) - 47.55
5. Sho Someya (Seibudai Chiba H.S.) - 48.29
6. Haruhiko Nakatsukue (Soyo H.S.) - 49.03
7. Ayumu Miura (Junshin H.S.) - 49.10
8. Shuichiro Matsubara (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 50.98

Girls' 400 m Final
1. Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) - 53.30 - MR, PB
2. Yuna Iwata (Niijima Gakuen H.S.) - 54.37 - PB
3. Rin Aoki (Soyo H.S.) - 54.74 - PB
4. Airi Ikezaki (Funairi H.S.) - 55.08 (55.02 PB in semifinal)
5. Fumi Matsumoto (Okazaki Joshi H.S.) - 55.68
6. Yuna Uesugi (Hirakata H.S.) - 55.74
7. Ryo Koda (Tochiku H.S.) - 55.82
8. Sayumi Yoshida (Aichi H.S.) - 55.97

Boys' 1500 m Qualifiers
3:49.69 - Kazuyoshi Tamogami (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) - 1st, H.1
3:49.80 - Kakeru Nakamura (Saigyo H.S.) - 2nd, H.1
3:50.46 - Kazuya Nishiyama (Daisan Tokyo Nogyo Prep H.S.) - 1st, H.3
3:50.51 - Taku Tomihara (Jinsei Gakuen H.S.) - 3rd, H.1
3:50.88 - Atsuya Ubukata (Sano Nihon Prep H.S.) - 2nd, H.3
3:50.95 - Tsubasa Komuro (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 4th, H.1
3:51.03 - Tomohiro Soeda (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 3rd, H.3
3:51.65 - Taisei Ogino (Kato Gakuen H.S.) - 5th, H.1
3:51.66 - Masahide Saito (Waseda Jitsugyo H.S.) - 1st, H.4
3:51.80 - Satoshi Tsuboi (Ogaki Nihon Prep H.S.) - 4th, H.3
3:51.82 - Haruki Nishimura (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 2nd, H.4
3:51.84 - Hiroaki Saito (Kugayama Koku Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 6th, H.1
3:51.99 - Yuya Nakamura (Osaka Toin H.S.) - 3rd, H.4
3:54.18 - Rikuto Iijima (Midorioka H.S.) - 1st, H.2
3:54.44 - Kazuki Kawamura (Ogaki Nihon Prep H.S.) - 2nd, H.2
3:54.58 - Shoma Funatsu (Ohori Fukuoka Prep H.S.) - 3rd, H.2

Girls' 1500 m Qualifiers
4:21.80 - Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 1st, H.4
4:22.74 - Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 1st, H.2
4:22.97 - Kimi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 2nd, H.2
4:23.24 - Kanami Hiraga (Junten H.S.) - 3rd, H.2
4:23.61 - Chika Tarumoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 2nd, H.4
4:24.32 - Yuki Kometani (Tokiwa H.S.) - 3rd, H.4
4:24.84 - Yuna Wada (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 4th, H.4
4:25.05 - Chika Mukai (Shigakukan H.S.) - 1st, H.1
4:25.14 - Ryo Koido (Suijo H.S.) - 5th, H.4
4:25.76 - Kana Tsuchida (Niigata Meikun H.S.) - 4th, H.2
4:26.97 - Keiko Okada (Yawatahama H.S.) - 2nd, H.1
4:27.02 - Yuka Matsumura (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 5th, H.2
4:27.06 - Shino Wakisaka (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 3rd, H.1
4:27.59 - Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) - 1st, H.3
4:28.39 - Honoka Kudo (Oita Nishi H.S.) - 2nd, H.3
4:29.17 - Arisu Fuwa (Takasaki Kenko Fukushi Prep H.S.) - 3rd, H.3

Boys' Hammer Throw Final
1. Ryota Muraki (Hisai H.S.) - 63.62 m - PB
2. Masao Ikeda (Sayama H.S.) - 61.72 m - PB
3. Kenji Miyazaki (Wakayama Kogyo H.S.) - 60.45 m - PB

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

CR Holder Teruki Shimada Returns to Launceston Half - Preview and Streaming

Last year's McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania, Australia shaped out into a great Australia vs. Japan dual meet , with Jessica Stenson outrunning Yumi Yoshikawa to take the women's title in a 1:09:51 CR, and Teikyo University school record holder Teruki Shimada executing a tactically brilliant race to drop Isaac Heyne , then-NR holder Brett Robinson , and Teikyo teammate Jinya Ozaki for the win in 1:01:12, just a second off the Australian all-comers record. Marathon NR holder Andy Buchanan took that record down to 1:01:08 at the Gold Coast Half a month later, but its chances of surviving this weekend aren't looking good. Shimada leads last year's top 4 back to Launceston this year, and there's a lot of tough new competition. 2025 National Corporate Half winner Tsubasa Ichiyama , Australia's Haftu Strintzos , new Teikyo record holder Yuta Asakawa and American Ethan Shuley have all run faster that Buchanan's rec...

Ayaka Suzuki, Younger Sister of Olympic Marathoner Yuka Suzuki, Faces Final East Japan Women's Ekiden

The final edition of the East Japan Women's Ekiden takes place Nov. 10. 18 teams representing the eastern prefectures will bring high-level women's competition to the streets of Fukushima. Getting attention on the Akita team is Ayaka Suzuki , the younger sister of Paris Olympics marathon 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki . Ayaka is a 3rd-year at Akita's Omagari H.S. She began running seriously after entering high school, citing her sister's influence. "When I saw her winning her stages and helping her team in university ekidens, I thought that I might be able to do the same and decided to give it a try," she said. Before her excellent run at the Paris Olympics Yuka ran the East Japan Women's Ekiden 3 times, inspiring others as she went from a young athlete to one of the best in the world. "I was surprised that she was competitive at that level," said Ayaka. "When I saw how strong she was running it really moved me." In junior high school Ayaka w...

Weekend Track and Road Update

Kanto Regionals were the big domestic meet this weekend, but there were other important results here and overseas. At the Xiamen Diamond League meet: 110 mH NR holder Rachid Muratake (JAL) was 2nd in 13.13 (+0.5) behind winner Jamal Britt (U.S.A.) in 13.07. The only other Japanese athlete in Xiamen, women's javelin throw NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) was 7th at 60.08, down from her performance last week at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix Meet in Tokyo and eclipsed by the brilliant all-time #2 71.74 m throw by China's Ziyi Yan . 4 Japanese athletes ran at the Sound Running L.A,.Track Fest meet, 3 of them graduates of Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. like Kanto Regionals D1 men's 5000 m winner Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.). The only non-Rakunan guy there, Hibiki Obara (GMO) ran only 8:33.21 for 9th in the men's 3000 mSC A-heat. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) was last in the same heat in 8:49.91. Itta Tameike (SG Holdings) had a great run in the men's 5000 m B-heat, breakin...