Japan held its 2019 National Cross Country Championships Saturday in Fukuoka, its primary selection race for next month's Aarhus World Cross-Country Championships.
In the senior men's race, heavy favorite Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) broke away from the field early, only to be run down midway by the 190-cm Yuta Bando (Hosei Univ.), who quickly broke Shiojiri and went ahead in the lead. With just a lap to go he was caught by brothers Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) and Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima). With Kazuki Tamura constantly turning to call encouragement to his younger brother over his shoulder Bando had just enough downtime to attack in the last kilometer and get away for the win in 29:36. Kazuki Tamura was 2nd in 29:40 with Yusuke 3rd in 29:41. Waseda University first-year Yuhi Nakaya was 4th, with Yohei Komatsu and Shota Onizuka, two of the star members of 2019 Hakone Ekiden winner Tokai University, rounding out the top six and probable Aarhus senior men's team. Shiojiri faded to 14th in his final collegiate race.
The senior women's 8 km went out with a large lead group that whittled down to ten, then eight, then seven, with main contenders Yuka Hori (Panasonic), Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) and Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) taking turns leading. The one runner who never went to the front was 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC), who kept herself nonchalantly in about 6th until Takamatsu made a break just after the start of the last lap. Tanaka immediately followed and it looked like it might be a race between Japan's two top 19-year-olds, but Yamanouchi was quick to catch up. When she did the pace slowed and Hori and others regained contact, but Yamanouchi soon made a move that only Tanaka could follow. Tanaka stayed a step behind until just before the last corner into the home straight, taking advantage of the last kick that won her a gold medal to come in to her first senior national title in 26:43 just one second up on Yamanouchi. Takamatsu and Hori also cleared 27 minutes for 3rd and 4th, Yukari Ishikawa (Edion) and Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) claiming 5th and 6th.
Relative unknown Jun Kasai (Kansai Soka H.S.) took the junior men's 8 km in 23:48, winning by six seconds over a think pack including Ryuto Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.), Mebuki Suzuki (Saku Chosei H.S.) and some of Japan's other current top high schoolers. Defending champ and heavy favorite Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) won the junior women's 6 km by six seconds in 19:56 to lead the candidates for what's usually Japan's best World XC team. The final rosters for all four teams are expected to be announced early next week.
National Cross-Country Championships
Fukuoka, 2/23/19complete results
Senior Men's 10 km
1. Yuta Bando (Hosei Univ.) - 29:36
2. Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 29:40
3. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 29:41
4. Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) - 29:43
5. Yohei Komatsu (Tokai Univ.) - 29:52
6. Shota Onizuka (Tokai Univ.) - 29:55
7. Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) - 30:02
8. Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 30:03
9. Taishi Sakamoto (Toyota Kyushu) - 30:03
10. Ryoma Aoki (Hosei Univ.) - 30:05
Senior Women's 8 km
1. Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC) - 26:43
2. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 26:44
3. Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) - 26:51
4. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 26:59
5. Yukari Ishikawa (Edion) - 27:01
6. Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 27:03
7. Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) - 27:21
8. Yui Yabuta (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 27:28
9. Miharu Okamoto (Shiseido) - 27:34
10. Rino Goshima (Chuo Univ.) - 27:38
Junior Men's 8 km
1. Jun Kasai (Kansai Soka H.S.) - 23:48
2. Issei Sato (Yachio Shoin H.S.) - 23:54
3. Ryuto Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 23:56
4. Tetta Shiratori (Saitama Sakae H.S.) - 23:57
5. Mebuki Suzuki (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 23:59
6. Taiga Nakanishi (Kanazawa Ryukoku H.S.) - 24:00
7. Genta Kuramoto (Sera H.S.) - 24:00
8. Shungo Yokota (Ishikawa H.S.) - 24:04
9. Keigo Yahara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 24:10
10. Shota Nakano (Sera H.S.) - 24:20
Junior Women's 6 km
1. Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) - 19:56
2. Ayua Kazama (Narita H.S.) - 20:02
3. Chika Kosakai (Narita H.S.) - 20:03
4. Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 20:04
5. Hikari Onishi (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 20:05
6. Hazuki Doi (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 20:11
7. Narumi Kobayashi (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 20:11
8. Yuna Arai (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 20:19
9. Ruru Hoshino (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:19
10. Miki Nagai (Toyokawa H.S.) - 20:32
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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