Skip to main content

Meijo Beats the Odds for Record-Breaking 7th-Straight National University Women's Ekiden Title


Six-time defending national champion Meijo University came to Sunday's Morinomiyako Ekiden national university women's championships with the weakest team since before its reign started in 2017, but with a flawless team performance that saw all six women on the team make top 4 on their stage Meijo beat the odds to go home with a record-breaking 7th-straight national title.

Previous dynasty Ritsumeikan University came out hard with stage wins on the first two legs of the 38.0 km race, but a win on the 5.8 km Third Stage by Meijo 2nd-year Asuka Ishimatsu on her 20th birthday turned a 6-second deficit to Ritsumeikan into a 31-second lead. That closed to 15 seconds by the end of the Fifth Stage, but another stage win from anchor Nanase Tanimoto was enough to give Meijo the win by 52 seconds.

2nd eight times in the last 10 years, Daito Bunka University landed there again thanks to a stage win on the 9.2 km Fifth Stage by Sarah Wanjiru and a wicked kick over the last 100 m on the track from anchor Mariya Noda, who caught Ritsumeikan's Asa Kobayashi steps before the line to put DBU into 2nd again and Ritsumeikan 3rd with both schools clocking the same time.

Josai University surprised with a 4th-place finish, anchor Hinata Kaneko running down Nittai University anchor Sakurako Yanai to do it. 3rd last year, Osaka Gakuin University was 6th this time, moving up steadily after a rocky 19th-place opening leg and bumping Kansai University down to 7th on the anchor stage. Tohoku Fukushi University made the Sendai locals happy with its first-ever podium finish at 8th, 1st-year Amisa Murayama moving them into that position and 1st-year anchor Hikari Kobayashi keeping them there. Tamagawa University was 9th and the first non-podium finisher, 29 seconds behind Tohoku Fukushi.

So if a weaker Meijo can still beat the best everyone else can bring, is there any hope of seeing someone else break them anytime soon? On the one hand, not really. Meijo used no 4th-years today, and with the exception of Tanimoto, a 3rd-year, the rest of the team was made up of all 1st and 2nd-years. They could run the same team next year, and even if lead runner Nanaka Yonezawa and Tanimoto are at less than 100% again they'd still have a margin of error to play with.

On the other hand, Daito Bunka, Ritsumeikan, Josai, Nittai and Osaka Gakuin all had one runner finish in a double-digit place, i.e. they were all one runner short of having a team that could compete with today's Meijo. Daito Bunka in particular ran five 1st years and one 3rd year, and the 3rd year, Momona Yotsumoto, was the weak link at 12th on her stage. That's a team that can come back stronger and stronger. Maybe not next year, but in two, or three, Daito Bunka has the basic material to finally take the step beyond 2nd.

The next major ekiden on the university women's schedule will be the Dec. 30 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden, the other national-level race on the collegiate calendar. Meijo has won the last 5 years there too, ending a Ritsumeikan dictatorship that saw Ritsumeikan win 11 of the event's first 12 runnings. Mt. Fuji features 7 stages, so the bar will be even higher for fielding a team that can perform on all seven. It's up to Daito Bunka, Ritsumeikan, and the other top 5 finishers today to come up with the people to take Meijo down.

41st Morinomiyako Ekiden

National University Women's Ekiden Championships
Sendai, Miyagi, 29 Oct. 2023
26 teams, 6 stages, 38.0 km

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (6.6 km)
1. Tomo Muramatsu (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 21:21
2. Nanaka Yonezawa (Meijo Univ.) - 21:24
3. Ayaka Maeda (Kansai Univ.) - 21:37

Second Stage (4.0 km)
1. Sayuki Ota (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 12:55
2. Kaede Rikimaru (Meijo Univ.) - 12:58
3. Machiko Iwasaki (Takushoku Univ.) - 13:03

Third Stage (5.8 km)
1. Asuka Ishimatsu (Meijo Univ.) - 18:52
2. Momoa Yamada (Tamagawa Univ.) - 18:53
3. Kurumi Yoda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 18:56

Fourth Stage (4.8 km)
1. Kokoro Nakachi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:53
2. Ichigo Ishikawa (Josai Univ.) - 15:56
3. Momoka Tsutano (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 15:58

Fifth Stage (9.2 km)
1. Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:20
2. Risa Yamazaki (Nittai Univ.) - 29:53
3. Hikaru Kitagawa (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 30:13

Sixth Stage (7.6 km)
1. Nanase Tanimoto (Meijo Univ.) - 24:46
2. Asa Kobayashi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 25:08
3. Hinata Kaneko (Josai Univ.) - 25:10

Team Results - top 8 auto-qualify for 2024
1. Meijo University - 2:04:29
2. Daito Bunka University - 2:05:21
3. Ritsumeikan Universtiy - 2:05:21
4. Josai University - 2:06:06
5. Nittai University - 2:06:45
6. Osaka Gakuin University - 2:07:19
7. Kansai University - 2:07:44
8. Tohoku Fukushi University - 2:08:57
-----
9. Tamagawa University - 2:09:26
10. Juntendo University - 2:09:45
11. Tokyo Nogyo University - 2:09:47
12. Takushoku University - 2:10:03
13. Toyo University - 2:10:05
14. Osaka Geijutsu University - 2:10:12
15. Chuo University - 2:10:51
16. Asia University - 2:11:14
17. Chukyo Gakuin University - 2:11:14
18. Tsukuba University - 2:11:31
19. Kantaiheiyo University - 2:12:00
20. Kansai Gaikokugo University - 2:12:14
21. Fukuoka University - 2:13:50
22. Kyoto Koka Joshi University - 2:14:05
23. Josai Kokusai University - 2:15:45
24. Niigata Iryo Fukushi University - 2:17:07
OP - Tohoku Region Select Team - 2:20:26
25. Sapporo Kokusai University - 2:20:53 

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Fisico said…
Damn, seeing Sugasaki Namika last few hundreds meters in the third leg was such a painful watch, hope she's alright, it didn't look like specific injury but more that she was physically unable to lift her legs anymore
Osaka Geijutsu also finish 1mn15s away from 8th so she's probably devastated about it :(
October 30, 2023 at 2:28 AM
Stefan said…
As I was watching the race unfold I was expecting one of Meijo's runners to under perform and bring the rest of the field a lot closer but it never happened. Full credit to them and with the depth of talent within the team they will be difficult to beat at the Mt Fuji exiden. The final 52 second margin was not the margin I was expecting. Nanase Tanimoto was smiling with a couple of kilometres left in her leg which indicates there definitely is some wiggle room to extending this margin if required. Scary stuff for the opposing teams.

Great run in the 5th leg by Sarah Wanjiru from Daito Bunka Univ. to bring them into the mix. Her running style is so deceptive. At one moment, I thought something was amiss because her cadence looked slow but her stride is so long. She is stealthy fast! However, she was still 1min 20 seconds outside of Seira Fuwa's incredible 28:00 course record on that leg 2 years ago.

I thought Haruko Hosaka did very well in the 1st leg to finish fourth in a time of 21:45 given her fall on the track very early on. It looked inconspicous when it happened but I just viewed her twitter and there is significant bruising on both knees.
https://twitter.com/0423haruko/status/1718603402253664645

After looking at the finishing time over the past 7 years, it seems like the other teams are not improving rather Meijo is just coming back to the field ever so slightly which is disappointing as a viewer who wants to witness overall times come down and progression from all teams.
2023 Meijo 2:04:29
2022 Meijo 2:03:11
2021 Meijo 2:02:59
2020 Meijo 2:02:57
2019 Meijo 2:04:34
2018 Meijo 2:05:26
2017 Meijo 2:05:15

Thanks Brett for the wonderful recap. It was another excellent athletic event worth watching.
October 30, 2023 at 6:52 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

2023 Champion Kamimura Gakuen Girls Ready for Sunday's National High School Ekiden

Ahead of the Dec. 22 National High School Ekiden in Kyoto, the 2023 national champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls held an open practice session for the media. 2023 was Kamimura Gakuen's only 2nd national title ever. Can it make it two in a row? The Kamimura Gakuen girls won the Nov. 2 Kagoshima Prefecture High School Ekiden, its 9th-straight win and 31st victory overall in the prefectural qualifying race for Nationals. 3rd on her stage at Nationals last year as part of the winning team, Hina Ogura summed up this year's lineup. "There's no really dominant star runner this year, but each person is aware of their position on the team and working together to share in everyone playing leading roles." Sakine Noguchi ran the Second Stage at Nationals last year. "I think we've improved our stamina," she said, "so I hope that we can get the best possible results and all finish with a smile." Handling the First Stage last year, Rin Setoguchi said,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ekiden Great Naoki Okamoto to Retire in January at Age 40

  The Chugoku Denryoku  men's corporate team has announced that team member Naoki Okamoto , 40, will retire in January. Born in May, 1984, Okamoto went to Tohaku J.H.S.  and Yura Ikuei H.S.  before enrolling at Meiji University . His 2nd year at Meiji he helped it make it through the Hakone Ekiden qualifying race for the first time in 14 years and ran Hakone at the end of that season in 2005. He went on to run it his 3rd and 4th years too, placing 6th on the First Stage and 9th on the highly competitive Second Stage. After graduating in 2007 he joined Chugoku Denryoku. He was a regular on its team at the New Year Ekiden, winning the Fifth Stage in 2010. But where he really made his name was the National Men's Ekiden, held every January in Hiroshima where Chugoku Denryoku is based. Running it 19 times, he passed a total of 134 competitors in his career there and came to be recognized as one of the event's icons. He also won its Seventh Stage in 2009. In the marathon, ...
Post a Comment
Read more