Skip to main content

Tokai University Recruits Top Three Finishers on 2016 National High School Ekiden First Stage

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170131-00000258-sph-spo

translated by Brett Larner

After a recruiting coup with its 2016-17 incoming class that saw eight first-years run sub-14 for 5000 m, sub-29 for 10000 m and/or sub-1:03 for the half marathon, Tokai University will see another class of "super rookies" in 2017-18.  The top three finishers on the First Stage at last December's National University High School Ekiden, its most competitive and prestigious stage, have all enrolled at Tokai, stage winner Ryota Natori (Saku Chosei H.S.), runner-up Kiseki Shiozawa (Iga Hakuho H.S.) and 3rd-placer Takeshi Nishida (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.).

Looking at the previous year's First Stage, including both second and third-years at the time 7 of the top 10 will now be running at Tokai.  Every spring Tokai head coach Hayashi Morozumi holds a training camp to which he invites 200 runners from the ten best running high schools from across the country.  Explaining the secret of his success in recruitment, Morozumi said, "We are constantly doing events like the training camp that help them understand the merits of Tokai University."

Translator's note: Prior to starting work at Tokai, Morozumi was one of the most successful high school coaches in Japanese history as the head coach of Saku Chosei H.S.  At Saku Chosei he coached many of the current generation's best Japanese distance runners including Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin), Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project), Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) and Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA). Under his cross country-based coaching the 2008 Saku Chosei team ran the fastest-ever time by an all-Japanese team at the National High School Ekiden, covering the seven-stage, 42.195 km course in 2:02:18.

Comments

CK said…
This report encouraged me to go back and re-read some previous Morozumi links, with your 29 Sep 2011 article and interview proving particularly interesting, especially after 5 years have elapsed...
Brett Larner said…
This one was also interesting:

http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.jp/2016/12/maximizing-hakone-ekiden-performance.html

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...