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Sub-13:30 High Schoolers, 17 Teammates Sub-14 in One Race and More - Weekend Track Roundup

 

The National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Gifu were the main track action this weekend, but there were also two big time trial meets in the greater Tokyo area. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama Saturday, Charles Kamau Wanjiku (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) was right up there with the best in the corporate leagues, soloing a 27:29.56 to win the B-heat by over 40 seconds. Antipas Kibet (Komori Corp.) won what was technically the A-heat in 27:57.48, with the next three runners including Taisei Nakamura (Yakult) squeezing under 28 minutes, in Nakamura's case in 27:59.96.

Erika Tanoura (Sekisui Kagaku) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:47.07, but there wasn't much difference from the B-heat where Momoa Yamada (Tamagawa Univ.) won in 15:50.92. The women's 3000 m was low-key, with Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) taking the A-heat in 9:10.92 and the next four runners all getting under 9:12.

The men's 1500 m saw one noteworthy performance by Japanese standards as A-heat winner Hayato Oguma (Tokyo Jitsugyo H.S.) ran 3:44.36, the 5th-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Steepler Reimi Yoshimura (Cramer Japan TC) took the women's 1500 m in 4:25.31.


As usual Sunday at Nittai was dedicated to men's 5000 m, with a total of 17 heats on the program. In the A-heat, Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) scored the win with a very decent 13:20.75 and the top six all going under 13:30. 6th among those was 12-grader Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.), whose 13:28.78 was the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese high schooler and 5th on the U20 lists.


In the B-heat Yamato Hamaguchi (Saku Chosei H.S.) outkicked 10000 m NR holder Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) for the win 13:38.40 to 13:39.25 in Aizawa's return to competition after injury. Hamaguchi's mark put him at #8 on the all-time high school list and #1 among 11th-graders but came up short of the U20 top 10.


Nearby at Aoyama Gakuin University the Kizuna Time Trials meet was dual between AGU and Soka University with a splash of high schoolers and miscellaneous others. The big result came in Heat 3 of the men's 5000 m, with Soka's Kamina Leakey and Riki Koike going 1-2 in 13:30.54 and 13:34.82. A graduate of Hamaguchi's school Saku Chosei H.S. in his first year at Soka, Koike's time landed him at #9 on the all-time U20 list. 17 runners from AGU went sub-14 in Heat 3, led by Kento Yamauchi in 13:35.04.

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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