The 2022 National Cross Country Championships took place Saturday, Feb. 26 at Fukuoka's Uminonakamichi Kaihin Park.
In the U20 women's 6 km, 9:10.50 runner Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) ran 19:55 to take the junior title by 8 seconds over Akari Matsumoto (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.), holder of a 9:11.96 best for 3000 m. Yoshino Namiki (Tokiwa H.S.) was 3rd in 20:08.
In the U20 men's 8 km, favorite Hiroto Yoshioka (Saku Chosei H.S.) waited until the last lap to break from the pack along with rival Yuta Minamisaka (Kurashiki H.S.). On the course's rolling hills he applied pressure to drop Minamisaka, pulling away for the win by 3 seconds in 23:36. Sonata Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) was 3rd in 23:46 to make it a clean sweep of the top 3 by 2nd-years.
2021 National University Half Marathon winner Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo) went one-on-one with corporate leaguer Yuka Sarumida (Univ. Ent.) in the senior women's 8 km. Still together with 1 km to go, Kobayashi waited until the final straight to kick in for the win by just 1 second in 26:34. Last year's 5th-placer Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) moved up to 3rd this time in 26:45.
"This race was about winning," Kobayashi said. "My plan all along was to wait to the end." Kobayashi is one of five Japanese women to have cleared the qualification standard for the 10,000 m at this summer's Oregon World Championships. "I want to carry the momentum from this XC title over to the track," she said.
Last year's runner-up Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) took control of the senior men's 10 km in the early stages, falling behind briefly mid-race but quickly coming back to overpower Jun Kasai (Soka Univ.) and take the win by 5 seconds in 28:46. Yohei Ikeda (Kanebo) was 3rd in 28:56, with high school 1500 m, 3000 m and 5000 m NR holder Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) 8th in 29:18.
Matsueda lost to 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) last year, both of them clocking 29:10. This time Miura was a last-second withdrawal. "I'm glad I won," Matsueda said, "but I really wanted to race him again and beat him head-to-head." Matsueda ran the 5000 m at last summer's Tokyo Olympics, finishing last in his heat. "Everything about that was inadequate," he said. "All I can do is keep taking on challenges and get better at racing at the world level." First up, he'll try to qualify for Oregon this summer.
2022 National Cross Country Championships
Uminonakamichi Kaihin Park, Fukuoka, 26 Feb. 2022
1. Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 19:55
2. Akari Matsumoto (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 20:03
3. Yoshino Namiki (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:08
4. Kana Mizogami (Luther Gakuin H.S.) - 20:09
5. Mako Nakasai (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 20:10
6. Miku Muraoka (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 20:15
7. Aiko Hosoya (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 20:18
8. Marin Nishizawa (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 20:31
9. Hinano Okamoto (Hakuo Joshi H.S.) - 20:34
10. Hinano Shiroki (Yamada H.S.) - 20:39
1. Hiroto Yoshioka (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 23:36
2. Yuta Minamisaka (Kurashiki H.S.) - 23:39
3. Sonata Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 23:46
4. Itta Tameike (Rakunan H.S.) - 23:49
5. Tomoki Aramaki (Omuta H.S.) - 23:53
6. Mashu Nishimura (Jiyugaoka H.S.) - 23:54
7. Tasuku Yamazaki (Chuetsu H.S.) - 23:56
8. Riku Tamame (Izumi Chuo H.S.) - 24:02
9. Reo Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 24:10
10. Shumpei Yamaguchi (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 24:14
1. Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) - 26:34
2. Yuka Sarumida (Univ. Ent.) - 26:35
3. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 26:45
4. Maki Izumida (Daiichi Seimei) - 26:54
5. Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) - 27:02
6. Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Ginko) - 27:04
7. Minami Yamanouchi (Raffine) - 27:06
8. Hikaru Kitagawa (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 27:08
9. Yuma Yamamoto (Meijo Univ.) - 27:14
10. Yukari Ishizawa (Hitachi) - 27:21
1. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 28:46
2. Jun Kasai (Soka Univ.) - 28:51
3. Yohei Ikeda (Kanebo) - 28:56
4. Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 29:00
5. Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) - 29:06
6. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 29:09
7. Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) - 29:12
8. Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) - 29:18
9. Ryuya Kajitani (Subaru) - 29:22
10. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 29:29
translated and edited by Brett Larner
Comments
The senior men's race was fast but I gotta say the field was underwhelming compared to the start list that was expected until last Thursday: notable names who didn't show up were indeed Miura and Aizawa (the 2 I was looking forward to the most).
But in addition to them there was no Ken Tansho, no Tamaki Fujimoto, no Ayumu Yamamoto (fresh off a great half marathon), no Takumi Karasawa (Komazawa) among others.
Of course not a bad group but man on paper until a few days ago it could have been massive.
Keita Sato I think had a nice debut. He could have easily stayed with the u20 group but I appreciated his competitive spirit and showing up early in the race.
The surprise of the day for me was the poor performance by Kosuke Ishida. He won the u20 race against the likes of Miura 2 years ago, was a top performer at the Izumo and All Japan Ekidens in late 2021 and for some reason he didn't run at the Hakone Ekiden.
I don't know if he got injured or anything so he might be recovering or getting back to form but this race wasn't a good one.
Nothing to worry about, we saw what kind of jump Yamato Yoshii made between Hakone Ekiden 2021 and this year so it's stuff that can happen.
Enjoyed all races just a bitter feeling as I was expecting more big names taking part in this event also because as it was a faster race compared to last year and would have been exciting to see if Miura and the others could keep up.