Skip to main content

National Champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. Girls Win Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden



The 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls ended their season with another win, taking 1st at the 35th Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden Sunday in Fukuoka. Running against corporate league competition like 2023 Queens Ekiden winner Sekisui Kagaku and high school Nationals 3rd and 4th placers Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S., Kamimura Gakuen got off to a slow start when leading runner Rina Kurokami was only 13th on her stage and 24 seconds off the lead.

But having delivered Kamimura Gakuen the national title last month with an incredible anchor stage run, its second runner Caroline Kariba showed again that she's a budding international-level talent, chopping 18 seconds off the 3.8 km Second Stage CR, an amazing 47 seconds fastest than the previous record by a high school athlete. That was enough to put Kamimura Gakuen out front by 18 seconds over the Kyocera corporate team and 42 seconds ahead of Kunei Joshi Gakuin. Its lead stayed steady over the next two stages, with Kyocera hanging on to the top corporate spot and Ritsumeikan Uji moving up to 2nd high school 6 seconds back from Kyocera.

Corporate teams ended the race with a 10.4 km anchor stage that was split into two parts for the high school division. Higo Ginko anchor Miku Sakai turned in a stage-winning 33:26 to overtake Kyocera anchor Mio Kuroda and Ritsumeikan Uji's Momoka Onishi, crossing the finish line in 2nd overall in 1:28:15. Onishi was only 4 seconds behind, giving Ritsumeikan Uji 3rd overall in 1:28:19. Kyocera was 2nd in the corporate division in 1:28:42 and Sysmex 3rd in 1:29:25, with 3rd-place high school team Kunei Joshi Gakuin holding Sysmex off by 6 seconds for 5th overall in 1:29:19. Running a mostly B-team, national corporate champion Sekisui Kagaku was 9th overall in 1:30:37 despite an 11:37 CR on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage by Rina Sasaki.

35th Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden

Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 21 January, 2024
31 teams, 5 stages (6 for H.S. teams), 27.2 km

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (5.3 km) - Misaki Shitamori (Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S.) - 17:13
Second Stage (3.8 km) - Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 11:04 - CR
Third Stage (3.9 km) - Yumi Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 12:42
Fourth Stage (3.8 km) - Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 11:37 - CR
Fifth Stage (open, 10.4 km) - Miku Sakai (Higo Ginko) - 33:26
Fifth Stage (H.S., 5.9 km) - Chiseno Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 19:26
Sixth Stage (H.S., 4.5 km) - Rin Setoguchi (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 14:29

Top Team Results
High School
1. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. - 1:27:54
2. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:28:19
3. Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. - 1:29:19
4. Ginga Gakuin H.S. - 1:30:19
5. Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S. - 1:31:47
6. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 1:31:54
7. Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. - 1:32:24
8. Yamada H.S. - 1:33:44
9. Luther Gakuin H.S. - 1:34:00
10. Kyushu Kokusai H.S. - 1:34:36

Open
1. Higo Ginko - 1:28:15
2. Kyocera - 1:28:42
3. Sysmex - 1:29:25
4. Iwatani Sangyo - 1:30:07
5. Sekisui Kagaku - 1:30:37
6. Universal Entertainment - 1:30:41
7. Route Inn Hotels - 1:31:57
8. Toto - 1:32:34
9. Kitakyushu Select Team - 1:36:38

text and photo © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games (updated)

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. Update:  On Oct. 3 a third athlete, kurash wrestler Yash Kumar Chauhan  of India, was provisionally suspended after an in-competition test detected the steroid metandienone, the metabolic modulator GW1516, and the stimulant mephentermine in his system. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more