There were big meets across the country this weekend, but the biggest results were at the Nittai University Time Trials in suburban Yokohama. Across the fastest two 10000 m heats Saturday night, a total of 10 men, 7 of them university athletes, broke 28 minutes. Topping the list was 19-year-old Tokyo Kokusai University 1st-year Richard Etir, who just missed a world-leading time as he blasted a new collegiate record of 27:06.88 to win the A-heat. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) was also under 27:10, taking 2nd in 27:09.96. 2023 Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University added another sub-28 runner to its roster as 4th-year Takumi Karasawa took 5th in 27:57.52, with Waseda University 3rd-year Haruto Ishizuka 6th in 27:58.53.
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In the B-heat, Yamanashi Gakuin University 2nd-year James Mutok won in 27:50.54, edging Soka University 3rd-year Kamina Leakey by just 0.08. YGU 1st-year Birian Kipyegon was 3rd in 27:51.65.
3000 m was the main event for women at Nittai, with Judy Jepngetich (Shiseido) taking 1st in 8:53.98. 5000 m A-heat winner Maki Izumida (Daiichi Seimei) ran only 16:11.33 for the win. Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH) won the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:32.44, indoor 5000 m NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) 2nd in 13:34.02. 10000 m Olympian Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) dropped the fastest Japanese men's 1500 m of the weekend, running 3:42.19 for the win in the fast heat.
Another 4 men were under 28 minutes for 10000 m Saturday at the Hyogo Relay Carnival meet in Kobe. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsuibishi Juko) was fastest in 27:32.07, with just over a 5-second spread back to 4th-placer Benard Kibet Koech (Kyudenko). Top Japanese man Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) was over a minute behind in 28:41.29. B-heat winner Nelson Mubithi Mandela (Obirin Univ.) just missed adding another 27-minute mark to the day's haul, running 28:01.88.
Esther Wangui (Starts) took the women's 10000 m in 32:22.45, with Desta Burka (Denso) and Kazuna Kanetomo (Kyocera) both finishing within 9 seconds of her. Marathoner Yuka Ando (Wacoal) won the women's 5000 m win 15:42.47, Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) taking the 2000 mSC in 6:27.31 and Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) the 1500 m in 4:09.79. There was no elite-level men's 5000 m on the program, but Olympian Ryoma Aoki (Honda) won the men's 2000 mSC in 5:30.39 by 0.03 over Taisei Ogino (Asahi Kasei), and Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) took another easy win in the 1500 m in 3:43.03.
At the National University Individual Championships in Kanagawa, the most notable men's results were in the 1500 m, where Nittai University's Hiroto Takamura led the top 3 under the old MR in 3:43.70. Another meet record happened in the 3000 mSC, where Waseda 4th-year Atsushi Shobu took over a second and a half off his own meet record from last year to win in 8:38.94. Komazawa's Taiyo Yasuhara added another win to the team's 2023 resume, taking the 5000 m title in 13:59.16. Yuito Yamamoto of Josai University claimed the 10000 m title in 29:29.98.
The women's 1500 m title went to Saki Katagihara (Tsukuba Univ.) in 4:24.80, Mayu Kawase (Daito Bunka Univ.) taking the 3000 mSC title in 10:13.78. Times were better in the longer events, where DBU 1st-year Sarah Wanjiru had a great debut with a 15:33.29 MR in the 5000 m, 0.40 under the old record from 2021. Nittai 3rd-year Risa Yamazaki won the 10000 m in 32:40.40.
There's no official 2-mile Japanese NR, but that was the distance event on offer at the Tokyo Spring Challenge meet. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) won the men's race in 8:35.79, with Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) scoring the women's win in 9:42.44.
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