Iizawa and Nakagawa Break Meet Records - National University Individual Track and Field Championships Day One Results

Usually a 2nd-tier meet held in June every year in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, this year the National University Individual Track and Field Championships have been moved up to this weekend with a full schedule of events and top-level collegiate talent.

Friday's opening day kicked off with a meet record in the men's 1500 m from Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.). Iizawa took almost 2 seconds off the old record to win in 3:44.54, with teammate Jin Mizoguchi also under the old record in 3:46.49 for 2nd. The top 9 in the final were all under 3:50, pretty good for a Japanese collegiate meet. Sheila Cherotich (Meiji Kokusai Iryo Univ.) was a second off the women's 1500 m meet record, winning in 4:21.75 over Saki Katagihara (Tsukuba Univ.).

The meet record also went in the men's hammer throw, with winner Tatsuto Nakagawa (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) throwing 70.85 m and 2nd-place Shota Fujita (Nihon Univ.) also over the old record at 70.56 m. Remi Katsuya took the women's hammer throw with a 59.96 m throw to make it a double win for Kyushu Kyoritsu University. Nanako Tamaoki (Kokushikan Univ.) tied her own women's 100 mH meet record, running 13.30 (+0.5) to win the final.

This meet usually only goes up to 5000 m, but the addition of a 10000 m this year brought in some bigger names. National ekiden champion Meijo University captain Narumi Kobayashi won the women's 10000 m in an easy 33:21.48 with 2nd through 4th all less than a second behind. Kobayashi will face #1 collegian Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in Sunday's 5000 m. Runners from 2021 Hakone Ekiden 2nd-placer Soka University surprisingly took the top two spots in the men's 10000 m, Jun Kasai getting the win in 28:30.65 and Yudai Shimazu 2nd in 28:38.27. In 3rd was the team that beat them at Hakone, Komazawa University, repped by Kotaro Shinohara in 28:43.03.

Olympian Rachid Muratake (Juntendo Univ.) was under the meet record in the men's 110 mH with a wind-aided 13.43 (+2.6) to win the final. His teammate Kazuhiro Tateiwa took the men's 10000 mRW by over 30 seconds in 40:19.71. Hiromichi Yoshida (Kinzakigun Univ.) won the men's long jump with a 7.85 m (+0.6) jump. Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's long jump at 6.20 m (-0.1). Rena Tanaka (Kagawa Univ.) won the women's pole vault, clearing 4.00 m on her first attempt. Sae Takemoto (Saga Sports Univ.) took the women's javelin, throwing 58.02 m.

The National University Individual Championships continue Saturday and Sunday.

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