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High School National Record Holders Fujihara and Ishida to Enter Toyo University in Spring


Two high school national record holders are set to join Toyo University at the start of the new academic year in April, Koki Fujihara (Rakunan H.S.), holder of the 8.12 m long jump record, and Kosuke Ishida (Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S.), holder of the 13:34.74 record for 5000 m.

Fujihara was the first high school boy to go over 8 m in the long jump, setting his record of 8.12 m (+1.7 m/s) at the August, 2019 National High School Championships as a second-year. It was the first time the high school long jump record had been broken in 30 years and bettered the old mark by 16 cm, enough to rank him all-time #9 among all Japanese athletes. Fujihara is currently 190 cm tall and is still growing, both physically and as an athlete. He follows in the footsteps of prominent Toyo alumni outside the distance events, including Japan's first sub-10 man in the 100 m and fellow Rakunan H.S. grad Yoshihide Kiryu and 8.23 m long jumper Hibiki Tsuha. 

But with a 3rd-place finish at this year's Hakone Ekiden Toyo is best-known as a distance power. In July last year its new recruit Ishida ran 13:36.89 at the Hokuren Distance Challenge Chitose meet to break the 16-year-old high school national record. At September's Tokai University Time Trials meet he cut another 2 seconds off that record to set his current mark. Like Toyo alum Tokyo Olympics team members Yuma Hattori and Akira Aizawa, Ishida looks set to become a generation-defining star of the Toyo roster and an athlete who will go on to represent Japan at the international level.

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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