Skip to main content

Nagano Higashi Girls Regroup Under Leadership of New Ekiden Coach

After the departure of their longtime coach, top high school girls' ekiden program Nagano Higashi H.S. has regrouped and set off in pursuit of a place at Nationals. Training starts in the early morning. A highly ranked program nationally, Nagano Higashi has finished 2nd two years in a row at the National High School Ekiden, but last year the team finished only 9th. "We really tasted disappointment," said captain Kyoka Gomi. "But that disappointment is what's driving us now."

This year the team's coaching staff has changed dramatically. After having developed the Nagano Higashi program into a national-level power, head coach Ryoji Tamaki departed to take over at Nittai University. Taking his place is Fumio Yokouchi, a coach with experience at the high school level elsewhere in Nagano. Coach Yokouchi is also director of the Nagano Athletics Association's promotional committee. "I'm fortunate to inherit a superb team with a group of well-prepared and highly motivated student athletes, and it is my responsibility to help them develop."

Nagano Higashi's roster this year features 14 athletes, including 8 first-years. Holding back plans for the young new team's growth is the shadow of the coronavirus crisis. The National High School Track and Field Championships were canceled, and the team was unable to do its regular summer away training camp. The fate of the season's major goal, December's National High School Ekiden in Kyoto, remains unclear. All the team can do is believe the race will happen and train their best for it. "I really believe we can make top 8 at Nationals," said Gomi. "Now's the time to put in the work to make it happen." Coach Yokouchi agreed, saying, "What we do on a day-to-day basis is what counts, and we just have to have faith that the payoff will come."

source article:
https://this.kiji.is/668054056821589089
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
1 comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...
Post a Comment
Read more