Team captain Haruki Minatoya, Second Stage runner Shun Yuzawa and other 4th--years who helped lead Tokai University to its first-ever win at the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden graduated from Tokai at a ceremony at the university's Shonan Campus in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa on Mar. 25. "My greatest memory of these four years was, of course, winning the Hakone Ekiden this year," said Minatoya as Yuzawa smiled widely in agreement.
Tokai beat four-time defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University by a margin of 3:41to take Japan's biggest win for the first time. The pair capped their four years pursuing Hakone dreams with the grandest of finales, but for both Minatoya and Yuzawa there were tough times along the way. "After I was named captain I couldn't run at all," said Minatoya. "It was really hard, and I was very sorry for what it meant for everyone else." At November's National University Ekiden Championships Minatoya started the Seventh Stage in the lead but was run down by AGU's captain Homare Morita, also a 4th-year, to finish a devastated 2nd.
Lost in the shadows of Tokai's "Golden Generation" group of runners like Ryoji Tatezawa and Shota Onizuka one year younger than him, Yuzawa didn't make Tokai's starting roster for any of the Big Three University Ekidens until his 3rd year. "Being the 11th man on the team and not getting to run Hakone as a 3rd-year was my biggest disappointment these four years," he said with a rueful smile.
At his final Hakone Ekiden Yuzawa channeled all that hardship and disappointment into fuel for his inner fire. In what would be both his first and last Hakone, Yuzawa was put on its most competitive stage, the Second Stage, to run against other schools' best runners. He finished a solid 8th, overtaking AGU to move Tokai up from 6th to 5th overall. On Day Two's crucial Ninth Stage Minatoya started in the lead, running the 2nd-best time on the stage to keep Tokai in the top position and help anchor Akihiro Gunji run home unchallenged for the win.
Post-graduation both runners will continue their athletic careers, Minatoya with the DeNA corporate team and Yuzawa with the SGH Group team. "At Tokai I learned to compete without ever giving up," said Minatoya. "From now on I'll be getting paid to run, and I want to pursue my career as a competitor with a full sense of responsibility." Yuzawa commented, "In these four years I learned to follow my own will. I plan to aim for the next Olympics after Tokyo, the 2024 Paris Olympics."
Head coach Hayashi Morozumi, 52, was full of praise for his graduating athletes. "Compared to the class year one year below them there weren't as many stars, but more of them were solid and reliable," he said. "The roles of student team manager Taishu Kimura and student coach Tomoki Hirayama were also crucial. Theirs was the generation that wrote Tokai University's name in the history books. Congratulations on their graduation."
source article:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190325-00000120-sph-spo
translated by Brett Larner
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