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World-Class Runs By Kenyan Duo Help Sera H.S. Sweep Girls' and Boys' Titles at National High School Ekiden



For the second time in the last 6 years, Hiroshima's Sera H.S. swept the girls' and boys' titles at the National High School Ekiden, both performances driven by world-class runs by Kenyan student athletes. 

In the girls' race, 21.0975 km divided in five stages, #3-ranked Kitakyushu Municipal H.S. led the first three stages thanks in large part to an incredibly brave opening leg by 3rd-year Miku Sakai, who led start to finish to open a 22-second lead over the course of 6.0 km. Kitskyushu fell to 3rd on the Fourth Stage behind Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and Suma Gakuen H.S., but with favorite Kamimura Gakuen H.S. in 5th just 19 seconds out of the lead and set to hand off to Kenyan 3rd-year anchor Cynthia Baire it seemed like it was over.

Baire said pre-race that her goal was to break the 15:04 course record for the 5.0 km anchor leg, and she wasted no time in going to the front. But as fast as she was, from behind Sera 3rd-year Theresa Muthoni loomed larger and larger on-screen. With Sera having fallen as far back as 9th on earlier stages, Muthoni made contact just past 3 km, but while Baire tried to stay with her Muthoni broke free by 3.5 km and ran alone the rest of the way. 

The 15:04 course record for the anchor stage had stood since 2008, but Muthoni put it more than out of range for years to come as she broke the tape in 14:37. The anchor stage drops 20 m, but it was still a world-class run to go 27 seconds under the existing record. In Muthoni's hands Sera's final time of 1:07:13 put it 25 seconds up on Kamimura Gakuen, 2nd in 1:07:38, and 35 seconds in front of last year's winner Sendai Ikuei H.S., 3rd in 1:07:48. The top ten teams were all under 70 minutes, making it one of the faster runs in the girls' race's 32-year history.


The boys' race, 42.195 km divided into seven legs, started with an exciting 10.0 km First Stage that saw most of the best Japanese high schoolers including 5000 m H.S. NR holder Kosuke Ishida (Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S.) and #2 Taishi Ito (Saku Chosei H.S.) go head-to-head. Third-fastest this season, Masaya Tsurukawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) proved the strongest, running 28:56 to open a six-second lead. Kyushu Gakuin's next runner Yuto Konomi added two more seconds to the lead, but like with the anchor stage in the girls' race everyone knew the Kenyans on the Third Stage would be the game changers.

The record for the 8.1075 km Third Stage, 22:40, was set by the late great Samuel Wanjiru in 2004, and just about every year since then Kenyan after Kenyan has gone after it. This time it was Sera 2nd-year Cosmas Mwangi. Mwangi started in 5th 20 seconds out of the lead, went 2:30 for his first km, and was all on his own almost the entire way. At halfway he was three seconds ahead of Wanjiru's record pace but three seconds Wanjiru's split on that run, and with a tough hill in the second half the chances were he would go the way of Bedan Karoki and others who had opened hard only to fade.

But with control and focus over the second half, Mwangi rounded the last corner to the exchange zone and bore down to hand off in 22:39, breaking Wanjiru's record by one second. It's a new era of shoe technology, but all the same it felt like the end of an era to see Wanjiru's name erased from the National records book. 

And it put Sera 55 seconds out front with four stages to go. That lead shrank to 33 seconds over the Fourth Stage, 29 over the Fifth Stage, and grew slightly to 31 seconds on the Sixth before the handoff to 2nd-year anchor Shota Shiode. Shiode got a scare from a brilliant anchor stage run by defending champ Sendai Ikuei's Yusuke Shirai, but while Shirai outran Shiode by 18 seconds it wasn't enough to really put Sera's win at risk.

Shiode crossed the finish line in 2:01:31, one second faster than Sendai Ikuei's winning time last year and just 13 seconds off its own course record, the tenth win in Sera's fifty appearances at Nationals to date. Sendai Ikuei was 2nd in 2:01:44, with local Rakunan H.S. 3rd in 2:02:07 to break the course record for an all-Japanese team by 11 seconds. Kurashiki H.S. anchor Shuto Yamada tied the stage record of 13:58, 22 seconds better than his track 5000 m best, to run Saku Chosei H.S. down for 4th in 2:02:08, just missing catching Rakunan's Itta Tameike. 

Altogether the top 26 teams in the field of 47 averaged under 3:00/km, with last-place Yamanashi Gakuin H.S. running 2:12:44. It was over so fast that announcers on the NHK broadcast were caught off-guard with ten minutes of airtime still to fill. In both races, it was easy to see the effects of a season that saw more focus on track running and no season-ending National Ekiden still to come in January like usual. For the Sera girls, four out of their five runners this year including Muthoni were seniors, meaning next year will largely be a rebuilding season. For the boys, five out of seven will be back including its three heavy hitters, meaning its chances of a repeat are looking good.

32nd National High School Girls Ekiden

Kyoto, 20 Dec. 2020
47 teams, 5 stages, 21.0975 km

Top Team Results
1. Sera H.S. (Hiroshima) - 1:07:13
2. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. (Kagoshima) - 1:07:38
3. Sendai Ikuei H.S. (Miyagi) - 1:07:48
4. Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S. (Fukuoka) - 1:08:08
5. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. (Kyoto) - 1:08:19
6. Suma Gakuen H.S. (Hyogo) - 1:08:28
7. Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuen H.S. (Osaka) - 1:08:51
8. Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. (Fukushima) - 1:09:15
9. Tokiwa H.S. (Gunma) - 1:09:27
10. Kojokan H.S. (Okayama) - 1:09:35

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (6.0 km) - Miku Sakai (3rd yr., Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S.) - 19:18
Second Stage (4.0975 km) - Esther Wangui (2nd yr., Kojokan H.S.) - 12:23
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Runa Nakasu (3rd yr., Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 9:37
Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Hana Torii (3rd yr., Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 9:15
Fifth Stage (5.0 km) - Theresa Muthoni (3rd yr., Sera H.S.) - 14:37 - CR

72nd National High School Boys Ekiden

Kyoto, 20 Dec. 2020
47 teams, 7 stages, 42.195 km

Top Team Results
1. Sera H.S. (Hiroshima) - 2:01:31
2. Sendai Ikuei H.S. (Miyagi) - 2:01:44
3. Rakunan H.S. (Kyoto) - 2:02:07
4. Kurashiki H.S. (Okayama) - 2:02:08
5. Saku Chosei H.S. (Nagano) - 2:02:30
6. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. (Kumamoto) - 2:03:35
7. Suma Gakuen H.S. (Hyogo) - 2:03:44
8. Omuta H.S. (Fukuoka) - 2:04:18
9. Oita Tomei H.S. (Oita) - 2:04:27
10. Chiben College H.S. (Nara) - 2:04:29

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (10.0 km) - Masaya Tsurukawa (3rd yr., Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 28:56
Second Stage (3.0 km) - Yuki Murao (2nd yr., Saku Chosei H.S.) - 8:01
Third Stage (8.1075 km) - Cosmas Mwangi (2nd yr., Sera H.S.) - 22:39 - CR
Fourth Stage (8.0875 km) - Hiroto Yoshioka (1st yr., Saku Chosei H.S.) - 23:05
Fifth Stage (3.0 km) - Kazuki Naito (3rd yr., Rakunan H.S.) - 8:41
Sixth Stage (5.0 km) - Sosuke Hori (2nd yr., Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 14:28
Seventh Stage (5.0 km) - Shuto Yamada (2nd yr., Kurashiki H.S.) - 13:58 - CR tie

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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