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Hattori Outkicks Kenyans Wambui, Omwamba and Kitonyi for 5000 m Title - National University Track and Field Championships Day Two Results

by Brett Larner
photos by @tetsujiman


Fans and media were mostly plugged in for the first men's final of the second day of the Japanese National University Track and Field Championships Sept. 12 at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai, with sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) returning from injuries that kept him out of June's National Championships and August's World Championships to win the 100 m final in 10.19.  Kiryu claimed to be at only 80% fitness but had no trouble putting away his two strongest competitors, Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) and Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.), who were well back in 10.29 and 10.33.  Hours later Kiryu was back to run second on Toyo's 4x100 m, where he turned in another strong run to put Toyo into the lead before they ultimately fell back to 6th.



Toyo also dominated the last men's final of the day with the best performance so far at this year's Nationals.  Third-year Hazuma Hattori, younger brother of Toyo fourth-year and 30 km collegiate national record holder Yuma Hattori, ran up front in the 5000 m in a pack of five including 2013 National University Championships 5000 m winner Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.), yesterday's 10000 m winner Patrick Muthenge Wambui (Nihon Univ.), 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Keisuke Nakatani of 2011-2014 National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University.

Defending 5000 m champ Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin University), skipping both the 1500 m and 10000 m to focus only on the 5000, started surprisingly slow but worked his way up into contention after 3000 m, replacing a fading Nakatani at the back of the lead quintet.  Kitonyi and Wambui, both still tired from the 10000 m a day earlier, stayed at a steady 2:44/km pace with Hattori and Isshiki, former high school teammates who were part of the controversial 2012 mass transfer of most of Sendai Ikuei H.S.' ekiden team to national champion Toyokawa H.S., locked right behind them, both on PB pace and Omwamba bringing up the rear.


At the bell all five were still together, the tension building as nobody made their final move.  Omwamba went to the outside on the back straight and looked ready to go, but to the shock and delight of the crowds it was Hattori who took off with 200 m to go, instantly going to 100% and opening a gap that neither the three Kenyans nor Isshiki could close.


Hattori covered the final 200 m in a superb 25 seconds to win in a 13:38.45 PB, the first Japanese runner to win a National University Champs distance title since 2011, Wambui and Omwamba 2nd and 3rd two seconds back.  Isshiki beat Kitonyi for 4th, also scoring a new PB of 13:40.93, a school record for 2015 Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University.  Fans were buzzing about Hattori's kick for hours afterward, exactly the kind of performance they had been expecting to see from the Nike Oregon Project's Suguru Osako at the Beijing World Championships last month.

Toyo teammates Kiryu and Hattori bracketed the day with its two highlights.  Lesser glories including London Olympian Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.) taking the women's 100 m title in 11.74 by just 0.03 over Mizuki Nakamura (Osaka Seikei Univ.), a come from behind win by Chuo University in the men's 4x100 m relay, and Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) stopping a bid by Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) for a third-straight women's 5000 m title, biding her time as Omori kept the race painfully slow before outkicking her in the final 100 m to win by just 0.18 seconds in 15:56.21.  The National University Track and Field Championships wrap up Sunday.

84th National University Track and Field Championships Day Two
Nagai Stadium, Osaka, 9/12/15
click here for complete results

Men’s 100 m Final +0.5 m/s
1. Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) – 10.19
2. Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) – 10.29
3. Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.) – 10.33

Women’s 100 m Final +0.6 m/s
1. Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ) – 11.74
2. Mizuki Nakamura (Osaka Seikei Univ.) – 11.77
3. Yuki Miyazawa (Toyama Univ.) – 11.88

Men’s 5000 m Final
1. Hazuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) – 13:38.45 - PB
2. Patrick Mutenge Wambui (Nihon Univ.) -13:40.22
3. Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:40.78
4. Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 13:40.93 - PB
5. Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) - 13:45.51
6. Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:56.60
7. Hiroya Inoue (Jobu Univ.) - 14:05.26
8. Yuki Muta (Meiji Univ.) - 14:05.34
9. Toshiyuki Yanagi (Waseda Univ.) - 14:07.89
10. Kazuma Taira (Waseda Univ.) - 14:08.19

Women’s 5000 m Final
1. Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) – 15:56.21
2. Natuski Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) – 15:56.39
3. Ami Hirose (Kansai Univ.) – 15:57.27
4. Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) – 15:59.53
5. Wakana Itsuki (Fukuoka Univ.) – 15:59.65
6. Kanna Tamaki (Meijo Univ.) – 16:00.78
7. Ai Hosoda (Nittai Univ.) – 16:01.21
8. Maho Shimizu (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) – 16:03.59
9. Kureha Seki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16:06.44
10. Ena Kagayama (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16:07.35

Women’s 3000 mSC Heat 1
1. Misaki Mishima (Matsuyama Univ.) – 10:18.10
2. Soyoka Segawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) – 10:26.61
3. Emi Tsuji (Fukuoka Univ.) – 10:26.75

Women’s 3000 mSC Heat 2
1. Moeno Shimizu (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) – 10:19.35
2. Haruka Kawashima (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) – 10:21.51
3. Mao Watanabe (Ritsumeikan Univ.) – 10:21.81

Men’s 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Chuo Univ. - 39.15
2. Hosei Univ. - 39.23
3. Waseda Univ. - 39.52

Women’s 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Ritsumeikan Univ. – 45.40
2. Konan Univ. – 45.49
3. Daito Bunka Univ. – 45.72

Men’s Long Jump
1. Daiki Oda (Nihon Univ.) – 7.75 m +1.0 m/s
2. Shunsuke Narisada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) – 7.72 m +0.2 m/s
3. Kodai Sakuma (Hosei Univ.) – 7.66 m +0.7 m/s

Women’s Triple Jump
1. Akina Nakagawa (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) – 12.79 m -0.6 m/s
2. Mariko Morimoto (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) – 12.58 m -0.6 m/s
3. Risa Ichimura (Denki Tsushin Univ.) – 12.46 m -0.3 m/s

Men’s Shot Put
1. Yuki Maisawa (Tokai Univ.) - 54.14 m
2. Yume Ando (Tokai Univ.) - 53.24 m
3. Kengo Anbo (Tokai Univ.) - 51.86 m

Women’s Shot Put
1. Aya Ota (Fukuoka Univ.) – 15.72 m
2. Hitomi Naganuma (Kokushikan Univ.) – 14.57 m
3. Saki Saito (Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.)  – 14.29 m

Men’s Hammer Throw
1. Yushiro Hosaka (Tsukuba Univ.) – 68.50 m
2. Naoki Uematsu (Chukyo Univ.) – 67.09 m
3. Taichi Kimura (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) – 65.38 m

Women’s Hammer Throw
1. Misaki Fukushima (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) – 59.89 m
2. Tamami Saeki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) – 59.04 m
3. Hitomi Katsuyama (Tsukuba Univ.) – 58.91 m

Men’s Decathlon
1. Tsuyoshi Shimizu (Chukyo Univ.) - 7697
2. Nozomu Ogura (International Pacific Univ.) - 7351
3. Hiroyoshi Ushiro (Kokushikan Univ.) - 7015

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
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