Skip to main content

Distance Highlights From 75th National High School Track and Field Championships


The 75th edition of Japan's National High School Track and Field Championships took place last Wednesday through Sunday at Pocari Sweat Field in Naruto, Tokushima. Kenyan Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) was the star of the meet on the girls' side, winning all four races she started over the course of the week. On the first day of the meet Kariba ran the fastest time in the four 1500 m qualifying heats, 4:20.08. The next day she was back to win the final in a PB 4:08.72, almost 3 seconds head of runner-up Janet Nyiva (Kurashiki H.S.) and nearly 9 seconds ahead of 3rd-placer Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.).

After a day off racing on Friday, Kariba was back Saturday to lead 3000 m qualification in 9:12.17, the fastest time in the 3 heats. Sunday she took the final, just missing the meet record in 8:52.04. Nyiva was 2nd again in 8:56.20, just holding off Lucy Nduda (Aomori Yamada H.S.) who took 3rd in 8:56.91. Mizumoto was the top Japanese woman again at 4th in 9:10.22.

Kenyan boys were absent from the 1500 m, where Kiyoto Ono (Akita Kogyo H.S.) won Heat 4 in 3:50.58 and then the final in 3:44.93. Heat 3 winner Haruto Matsuo (Saku Chosei H.S.) was 2nd in 3:45.69, with 3rd-placer Ryoto Aoki (Omuta H.S.) running 3:46.31 to just improve on his Heat 1-winning 3:46.43. The top 11 were all under 3:50, another sign that Japanese middle distance continues to inch forward.

The boys' 5000 m was dominated by Kenyans, with Johnson Mogeni (Yugakkan H.S.), Emmanuel Kipchirchir (Kurashiki H.S.) and Daniel Ndiritu (Oita Tomei H.S.) winning the three qualifying heats. Mogeni ran 13:58.71, Kipchirchir 13:59.13 and Ndiritu 14:13.18, with only one other runner, Kazuma Maeda (Hotoku H.S.) going sub-14 in qualification, 2nd to Kipchirchir in 13:59.33. In the final the three heat winners went in reverse order of the their qualifying times, Ndiritu taking the national title in 13:50.54, Kipchirchir a close 2nd in 13:50.79 and Mogeni 3rd in 13:54.85. Impressively, Maeda pulled out another sub-14 for 4th, running 13:58.01 to beat Kenyan Duncan Maina (Senshu Tamana H.S.), 5th in 13:59.84.


There was no girls' 3000 m steeplechase, but in the boys' race Sora Saito (Rifu H.S.) duplicated Ndiritu's feat, running the slowest heat-winning time of 9:15.92 in Heat 4 and then winning the final in 9:04.39 in a close race over Heat 1 winner Soma Nagahara (Saku Chosei H.S.), 2nd in 9:04.75, Heat 4 runner-up So Honma (Koku Gakuin Kugayama H.S.), 3rd in 9:04.98, and Heat 3 winner Ryusei Hayashi (Osaka H.S.), 4th in 9:05.10.

75th National High School Track and Field Championships

Pocari Sweat Field, Naruto, Tokushima, 3-7 Aug. 2022

Girls' 1500 m Final 
1. Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 4:08.72
2. Janet Nyiva (Kurashiki H.S.) - 4:11.58 
3. Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 4:17.28 
4. Airi Tashima (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 4:17.49 
5. Kana Mizogami (Luther Gakuin H.S.) - 4:19.24 
6. Kurea Watanabe (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 4:20.05 
7. Akari Matsumoto (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 4:20.57 
8. Kanako Nawa (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 4:23.70 
9. Imari Suzuki (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 4:23.71 
10. Aoi Yamaguchi (Sabae H.S.) - 4:24.77

Girls' 3000 m Final
1. Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 8:52.04 
2. Janet Nyiva (Kurashiki H.S.) - 8:56.20 
3. Lucy Nduda (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 8:56.91 
4. Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 9:10.22 
5. Kokone Sugimori (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 9:10.97 
6. Sarah Wanjiru (Teikyo Nagaoka H.S.) - 9:13.31 
7. Ngadogo Chebotibin (Kojokan H.S.) - 9:14.33 
8. Susan Kamon (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 9:16.66 
9. Kana Mizogami (Luther Gakuin H.S.) - 9:19.96 
10. Riho Yoshida (Toyokawa H.S.) - 9:25.78

Boys' 1500 m Final
1. Kiyoto Ono (Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 3:44.93 
2. Haruto Matsuo (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 3:45.69 
3. Ryoto Aoki (Omuta H.S.) - 3:46.31 
4. Sonata Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 3:46.40 
5. Koshiro Tanimoto (Omuta H.S.) - 3:46.72 
6. Rui Suzuki (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) - 3:46.82 
7. Hikaru Ogawara (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) - 3:47.17 
8. Shoei Narusawa (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) - 3:47.35 
9. Takumi Nakagawa (Mashita Seifu H.S.) - 3:48.52 
10. Kanta Kotagiri (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) - 3:48.74

Boys' 5000 m Final
1. Daniel Ndiritu (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 13:50.54 
2. Emmanuel Kipchirchir (Kurashiki H.S.) - 13:50.79 
3. Johnson Mogeni (Yogakkan H.S.) - 13:54.85 
4. Kazuma Maeda (Hotoku H.S.) - 13:58.01 
5. Duncan Maina (Senshu Tamana H.S.) - 13:59.84 
6. Sonata Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 14:04.92 
7. Kazuki Abe (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) - 14:05.06 
8. Yuta Minamisaka (Kurashiki H.S.) - 14:14.14 
9. Yoshihiro Kusuoka (Keisei H.S.) - 14:18.82 
10. Shinsaku Kudo (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) - 14:20.44  

Boys' 3000 m Steeplechase Final
1. Sora Saito (Rifu H.S.) - 9:04.39 
2. Soma Nagahara (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 9:04.75 
3. So Honma (Koku Gakuin Kugayama H.S.) - 9:04.98 
4. Ryusei Hayashi (Osaka H.S.) - 9:05.10 
5. Oju Tsujimoto (Hamamatsu Kaiseikan H.S.) - 9:07.25 
6. Hayate Honma (Saitama Sakae H.S.) - 9:10.84 
7. Tensei Egami (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 9:11.70 
8. Hinata Yuda (Kansai Hokuyo H.S.) - 9:11.98 
9. Takeho Fujio (Koku Gakuin Kugayama H.S.) - 9:13.57 
10. Maharo Nishizawa (Rakunan H.S.) - 9:16.26

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...
1 comment
Read more

Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21. Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S. , 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda . Nagano Higashi ...
Post a Comment
Read more