Twenty Schools Square Off Sunday at National University Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier

Twenty university teams from around the Tokyo are will square off Sunday at Saitama's Komaba Sports Park Field for the chance to run the Nov. 5 National University Men's Ekiden. Last year the top six-placing teams at the National University Men's Ekiden, winner Aoyama Gakuin University, Waseda University, Yamanashi Gakuin University, Komazawa University, Chuo Gakuin University and Toyo University, were all from the Tokyo-centric Kanto Region, all six earning seeded places at this year's Nationals.

The next twenty teams in Kanto with the fastest average time 10000 m among their top eight men based on certified times in 10000 m track races between Jan. 1, 2016 and June 3, 2017 all earned the right to run Sunday's Kanto Region Qualifier for Nationals. Featuring two strong graduate students eligible to run the National University Men's Ekiden, Tsukuba University is making its first appearance in the field in fourteen years, knocking out last year's participant Tokyo Nogyo University.

Run in four 10000 m heats of forty with two runners from each team, schools are scored on the combined finishing times of all eight of their runners. The teams with the nine fastest aggregate times qualify for November's main event. The twenty schools taking part in this year's Kanto Region Qualifier ranked by the aggregate of the times used to get into the meet:

1. Nittai University - 3:51:58.44
2. Tokai University - 3:52:17.98
3. Kanagawa University - 3:52:22.28
4. Meiji University - 3:53:30.70
5. Daito Bunka University - 3:53:49.46
6. Juntendo University - 3:54:05.34
7. Chuo University - 3:54:99.02
8. Koku Gakuin University - 3:54:30.11
9. Tokyo Kokusai University - 3:54:54.37
10. Hosei University - 3:55:00.14
11. Josai University - 3:55:01.53
12. Teikyo University - 3:55:19.60
13. Takushoku University - 3:55:37.48
14. Kokushikan University - 3:55:59.36
15. Soka University - 3:56:01.74
16. Nihon University - 3:56:04.61
17. Senshu University - 3:57:29.34
18. Jobu University - 3:58:34.05
19. Tsukuba University - 3:58:48.74
20. Asia University - 3:58:58.37

The twenty fastest individuals on the entry list by PB:

1. Patrick Mathenge Wambui (Nihon Univ.) - 27:54.98
2. Workneh Derese (Takushoku Univ.) - 28:19.16
3. Muthoni Muiru (Soka Univ.) - 28:19.24
4. Wataru Tochigi (Juntendo Univ.) - 28:19.89
5. Titus Mogusu (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 28:28.40
6. Atsushi Yamato (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:29.43
7. Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:30.16
8. Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ) - 28:32.85
9. Kensuke Horio (Chuo Univ.) - 28:34.54
10. Hiroyuki Sakaguchi (Meiji Univ.) - 28:40.13
11. Yuta Bando (Hosei Univ.) - 28:44.87
12. Tomoya Nishi (Takushoku Univ.) - 28:47.53
13. Hayato Seki (Tokai Univ.) - 28:48.63
14. Tatsuhiko Ito (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 28:51.20
15. Kohei Nakajima (Josai Univ.) - 28:51.95
16. Ryoichi Yoshida (Nittai Univ.) - 28:52.53
17. Yuki Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:52.99
18. Kosuke Nii (Chuo Univ.) - 28:56.00
19. Hideaki Sumiyoshi (Kokushikan Univ.) - 28:57.02
20. Noriaki Oyama (Soka Univ.) - 28:57.62

source article: 
http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170604-OHT1T50148.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner