Morita Goes Sub-32 in 10000 m Debut

Running her track 10000 m debut of a 32:27 road 10 km in the spring, Kaori Morita (Panasonic) closed hard off a slow opening pace to win the National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials 10000 m Friday afternoon in Yamaguchi.

A new filler meet to take up space on the calendar following the National Corporate Women's Ekiden's move to November, the Corporate Time Trials meet featured one heat of 3000 m and three 5000 m heats before its main focus, the 10000 m. After a 3:19 first 1000 m Morita's teammate Yuka Hori, winner of the 10.9 km Third Stage at Nationals, took over, leading the field at 3:12 to 3:14 / km pace through 7000 m. Morita, who won the 7.0 km First Stage, went to the front at that point with a 3:14 to 8000 m before taking off.

Clocking her fastest split up to that point with a 3:07 between 8 and 9000 m, Morita closed impressively with a 3:01 final km to dip under 32 minutes as she won in 31:59.94. Steepler Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) was 2nd in 32:05.99, a PB by almost a minute and a half, with Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) 3rd in 32:06.14 after winning the 5000 m B-heat in 15:56.57 less than an hour earlier. Morita's twin sister Shiori was a DNS.

National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials
Ishin Hyakunen Kinen Park Field, Yamaguchi, 12/9/17
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 31:59.94
2. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:05.99
3. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 32:06.14
4. Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 32:07.11
5. Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:08.46
6. Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 32:17.29
7. Rie Fujita (Kyocera) - 32:21.79
8. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 32:21.92
9. Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 32:26.93
10. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 32:27.58

Women's 5000 m Heat 3
1. Mai Nishiwaki (Tenmaya) - 15:38.82
2. Kasumi Nishihara (Yamada Denki) - 15:39.43
3. Fumika Sasaki (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:40.69
4. Kanami Sagayama (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:41.34
5. Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:41.51
6. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:44.39
7. Hisami Ishii (Yamada Denki) - 15:45.32
8. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) - 15:46.89
9. Nanako Kanno (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:47.24
10. Azuki Horiguchi (Kyocera) - 15:50.71

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 15:56.57
2. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 15:56.68
3. Mayuka Toda (Kyocera) - 15:57.51
4. Kanako Takemoto (Daihatsu) - 15:58.71
5. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:59.23

Women's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Misaki Minami (Wacoal) - 16:14.48
2. Aika Nakashima (Kyocera) - 16:14.59
3. Nazuna Yamasaki (Juhachi Ginko) - 16:15.43

Women's 3000 m
1. Ayaka Nakagawa (Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:27.51
2. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:34.10
3. Nagisa Shimotabira (Daihatsu) - 9:36.22

photo © 2017 M. Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
text © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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