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Kiplimo, Kuroda and Iyoda Take Kanto Regionals 10000 m Titles - Day One Highlights



The Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships returned to Tokyo's National Stadium Thursday for the first of four straight days in its 101st edition. Favorite Noah Kiplimo (Nihon Yakka Univ.) won the meet's first track final, taking the D2 men's 10000 m in 28:28.58. Kiplimo led most of the race, alternating first with Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and then Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) before pulling away with only Hironori Kishimoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) left behind him. The 1st-year Kamau couldn't match the two 4th-years' closing speed and dropped to the 3rd in 28:31.41, but Kishimoto nearly pulled off an upset as he took 2nd in 28:28.94. Hirabayashi and Shinohara dropped to 6th and 8th, but both went home with new PBs of 28:36.32 and 28:41.13.



The women's 10000 m was pretty similar, with Mao Kuroda (Nittai Univ.) leading most of the way on 33 minute-high pace in a pack including teammate Momoko Shimada, Mizuho Yamaga (Daito Bunka Univ.) and her teammate Kirino Kanie (Daito Bunka Univ.), and Reina Kato (Chuo Univ.). Mid-race Maya Fukushima (Josai Univ.) quietly tacked on to the back of the group, then took off at 7000 m with a 3:13 split that only Kuroda could follow. Fukushima's lead lasted 800 m before Kuroda took over again, soloing the rest of the way to win in 33:27.57. Fukushima took 2nd with a PB 33:36.68, Shimada hanging on to 3rd in 33:42.66. Kenyan Elizabeth Njeri (Josai Kokusai Univ.) was the lone DNF in the race.

The D1 men's 10000 m was the last track final of the night. Kenyan Peter Kamau (Kokushikan Univ.) tried to make an early break for it, opening an 8-second lead over the rest of the field at halfway in 14:24. But in the second half the pack inched back toward him. Just after 9000 m Jin Yuasa (Chuo Univ.) went by Kamau at the front of a group of five, from which Tatsuya Iyoda (Juntendo Univ.) emerged to take the win in 28:42.85 with a 59-second last lap. Ryuto Igawa (Waseda Univ.), the only sub-28 man in the race, was 2nd in 28:44.82, Yusuke Kodama (Toyo Univ.) 3rd in 28:45.74 to lead three Toyo runners in the top 7. Yuasa dropped to 9th in 28:54.63, with Kamau ultimately 13th in 29:01.84.

On the field, Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's long jump for the last time at Kanto Regionals with a 6.38 m (+0.2) on her final attempt. 1st-year Mizuki Otsu (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) emerged as a possible successor to Kora's domination of the event at the collegiate level, clearing 6 m for the first time with a 6.03 m (+0.5) on her 4th jump. Izumi Shiozaki (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's pole vault at 4.0 m, Fumiko Ono (Saitama Univ.) taking the women's shot put with a 14.65 m mark. Hitoshi Okumura (Kokushikan Univ.) won the only men's field event of the day, taking the discus throw with a PB of 53.42 m on his first throw. Masaki Shimizu (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) led the men's decathlon standings at the end of the day with 3788 points, his closest competitor Tomoki Yamashita (Nihon Univ.) standing at 3711 points.


In qualifying round highlights:
  • The #1-ranked athletes led their events in the D1 men's 100 m, 400 m and 1500 m, Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) leading the 100 m heats in 10.29 (+0.0), Joseph Nakajima (Toyo Univ.) the 400 m final qualifiers in 46.83, and Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) the 1500 m final qualifiers in 3:50.36.
  • Olympic team alternate Rachid Muratake (Juntendo Univ.) was a DNS in the D1 men's 110 mH, leaving Taiga Yokochi (Hosei Univ.) as the top placer in the heats at 13.95 (+1.0).
  • Yanagita doubled on anchor in the D1 men's 4x100 m relays heats, just getting Toyo University through to the final in the last time qualifying spot. Heat 2 winner Nihon University was fastest overall with an impressive 38.72, the meet and collegiate record of 38.54 looking tantalizingly close.
  • Yuna Miura (Tsukuba Univ.) took the top spot in the women's 100 m heats, running 11.74 (+0.7). Keiko Iida (Chuo Univ.) led the women's 400 m final qualifiers by 0.66 with a time of 54.90. Mizuki Michishita (Rikkyo Univ.) was the fastest qualifier in the women's 1500 m in 4:24.79.
  • Nanako Tamaoki (Kokushikan Univ.) and Kiyono Tanaka (Surugadai Univ.) led their women's 100 mH heats, Tamaoki winning Heat 2 in 13.50 (-0.1) and Tanaka Heat 1 in 13.54 (-0.6).
  • Aoyama Gakuin University produced the fastest women's 4x100 m qualifying time at 45.33 for 1st in Heat 2.

text and photos © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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