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Wambui and Nakatani Take 10000 m Titles on First Day of Kanto Regionals

by Brett Larner


The 95th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, the year's toughest meet for university men, kicked off Thursday at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium.  27-minute Kenyan second-years Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) and Dominic Nyairo (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) went head-to-head in the D1 men's 10000 m, Nyairo pushing it at 28:00 pace through 3000 m to burn off all the Japanese competition except for Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.), the fastest Japanese man in the race with a 28:32.85 best and likewise a second-year.  As the pace relaxed Shojiri held on through 8000 m before a small gap opened, but it wasn't until Wambui attacked with two laps to go that he really lost ground.  Wambui and Nyairo came into the home straight side-by-side and with his last kick Wambui proved the stronger, winning by less than a second in 28:21.69.  Shiojiri held on to 3rd in 28:42.56, short of his PB but the best Japanese time of the day.  Along with Nyairo, Yamanashi Gakuin runners took 4th and 5th to put three in the top five.


In the D2 race Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.), yet another second-year, took the race out at a very steady 28:40 pace followed by Tadashi Isshiki of 2015-16 Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University, #1-ranked Japanese collegiate runner Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) and little-known Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.).  Nothing changed in the lead group until Suzuki made a surprising move to drop Kariuki at 9000 m.  Both Nakatani and Isshiki went after him, and with one lap to go Nakatani kicked away for the win in 28:43.96.  Isshiki, who broke 2:12 in his debut at February's Tokyo Marathon, was 2nd in 28:45.33 with Suzuki 3rd in a PB 28:50.13.


Wambui was entered to double in the 1500 m but gave it a miss, leaving last year's 5000 m national university champion Hazuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) ranked #1 in the D1 race with a best of 3:42.06.  Hattori ran the qualifying heat but struggled, finishing 5th in Heat One and squeezing into the final on time in 3:51.15. When the windy final came around a few hours later he had scratched.  In his absence, another Yamanashi Gakuin runner, fourth-year Shogo Hata, pulled out a big run to win in 3:49.69.


After a DNS last year, 2014 Kanto Region D2 1500 m champion Lazarus Motanya (Obirin Univ.) returned to take the title again, outkicking the field over the last lap to win in 3:48.18.  Motanya's coach Stephen Mayaka told JRN post-race, "I'm happy that he won, but not happy with the time!"  In the only women's distance event of the day, second-year Mina Ueda (Josai Univ.) won a very slow women's 1500 m in 4:35.14.  The women's distance events continue Friday with the 10000 m.

In non-distance action, sub-10 hopeful Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) made it through the opening heats of the D1 men's 100 m with ease, running 10.47 with a -1.7 m/s headwind to win his heat.  Ippei Takeda (Chuo Univ.) topped the qualifiers for the semi-final, clocking 10.28 with a 1.7 m/s tailwind.  Kiryu also ran on Toyo's 4x100 m team, surprisingly on 3rd rather than anchoring.  Toyo failed to move on to the final, finishing 6th in its heat in 40.10.  High school champion Iyoba Edobah (Chuo Univ.) missed her Kanto Regionals collegiate debut, scratching from her heat in the women's 100 m.  With the heptathlon not starting until Saturday national high school record holder Meg Hemphill (Chuo Univ.) was already busy, winning her 100 mH heat in 13.90 -2.4 and taking 2nd in the women's long jump final behind winner Yu Yamada (Tsukuba Univ.), who jumped 6.32 m +2.8.

95th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships Day One
Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, 5/19/16
click here for complete results

Division 1 Men's 10000 m
1. Patrick Wambui (2nd yr., Nihon Univ.) - 28:21.69
2. Dominic Nyairo (2nd yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 28:22.50
3. Kazuya Shiojiri (2nd yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 28:42.56
4. Kenta Ueda (3rd yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:11.84
5. Ryutaro Ichitani (3rd yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:13.34
6. Takumi Komatsu (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) - 29:13.96
7. Ryo Kuchimachi (4th yr., Toyo Univ.) - 29:17.07
8. Satoshi Kikuchi (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 29:20.66
9. Hayate Kurumada (2nd yr., Waseda Univ.) - 29:26.69
10. Shota Onizuka (1st yr., Tokai Univ.) - 29:32.86

Division 2 Men's 10000 m
1. Keisuke Nakatani (4th yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 28:43.96
2. Tadashi Isshiki (4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 28:45.33
3. Kengo Suzuki (3rd yr., Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:50.13 - PB
4. Simon Kariuki (2nd yr., Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 29:02.12
5. Yuji Serunarudo (4th yr., Soka Univ.) - 29:05.76
6. Rei Omori (3rd yr., Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 29:06.71
7. Workneh Derese (2nd yr., Takushoku Univ.) - 29:11.48
8. Yuta Shimoda (3rd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 29:14.04
9. Kai Takushita (2nd yr., Teikyo Univ.) - 29:19.17
10. Naoki Koyama (2nd yr., Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 29:19.81

Division 1 Men's 1500 m Final
1. Shogo Hata (4th yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 3:49.69
2. Ryohei Sakaguchi (1st yr., Tokai Univ.) - 3:50.55
3. Tatsuhiko Hori (3rd yr., Toyo Univ.) - 3:50.66
4. Shoma Funatsu (1st yr., Chuo Univ.) - 3:50.90
5. Kazuma Yamazaki (4th yr., Nihon Univ.) - 3:51.01

Division 2 Men's 1500 m Final
1. Lazarus Motanya (3rd yr., Obirin Univ.) - 3:48.18
2. Ryota Motegi (4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 3:48.60
3. Hiroya Inoue (3rd yr., Jobu Univ.) - 3:48.84
4. Mizuki Sekiguchi (4th yr., Asia Univ.) - 3:50.05
5. Tomoya Nakamura (1st yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 3:50.94

Division 1 Women's 1500 m Final
1. Mina Ueda (2nd yr., Josai Univ.) - 4:35.14
2. Rina Koeda (4th yr., Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:36.04
3. Chinatsu Uchiyama (4th yr., Tamagawa Univ.) - 4:36.22
4. Kana Tsuchida (1st yr., Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:36.42
5. Maki Izumida (3rd yr., Rikkyo Univ.) - 4:36.88

Division 1 Women's Pole Vault
1. Miki Kuramochi (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) - 3.75 m
2. Aina Kubo (1st yr., Seiwa Univ.) - 3.70 m
3. Rina Suzuki (3rd yr., Nittai Univ.) - 3.60 m

Division 1 Women's Long Jump
1. Yu Yamada (4th yr., Tsukuba Univ.) - 6.32 m +2.8 m/s
2. Meg Hemphill (2nd yr., Chuo Univ.) - 6.21 m +2.5 m/s
3. Nonoka Rito (3rd yr., Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) - 5.98 m +0.9 m/s

Division 1 Women's Discus Throw
1. Natsumi Fujimori (3rd yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 51.45 m
2. Minori Tsujikawa (3rd yr., Tsukuba Univ.) - 49.49 m
3. Asuka Ishii (2nd yr., Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.) - 49.05 m

Division 1 Men's Javelin
1. Junya Sado (2nd yr., Tokai Univ.) - 73.77 m
2. Kazunori Seki (4th yr., Kokushikan Univ.) - 72.68 m
3. Kenji Ogura (3rd yr., Nihon Univ.) - 71.27 m

Division 2 Men's Shot Put
1. Koichi Ishii (3rd yr., Wellness Sports Univ.) - 15.39 m
2. Koki Hattori (4th yr., Kokusai Budo Univ.) - 14.50 m
3. Ryoma Ito (3rd yr., Kokusai Budo Univ.) - 13.50 m

© 2016 Brett Larner
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