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Yamaguchi and Sakai Win Close Senior Races at National XC Championships


Japan's National Cross Country Championships happened Sunday on their usual course in Fukuoka, the main event the JAAF uses to choose its teams for next month's Belgrade World Cross Country Championships. Performances at last summer's Budapest World Championships come into consideration, but most of the Belgrade team will be chose from top 8 finishers in the senior races in Fukuoka and top 6 in the U20 races.

In the U20 women's 6 km, last year's National High School Ekiden First Stage winner and heavy favorite Narumi Okumoto (Oita Tomei H.S.) led the entire way and ended up with the biggest margin of victory in the four races, winning by 6 seconds over Misaki Shitamori (Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S.) in 20:16. National High School Ekiden champ Kamimura Gakuen H.S. gave the meet a miss, but boys' champ Saku Chosei H.S. came in strong in the U20 men's 8 km, with Fourth Stage runner-up Yamato Hamaguchi getting the win in 23:35 and Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Sasaki taking 3rd in 23:52. Tomoya Inoue (Rakunan H.S.) made Hamaguchi work for it, taking 2nd in 23:37, with Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) and Nao Nanatsue (Kansai Hokuyo H.S.) finishing together 2 second back from Sasaki in 23:54.

Both of the senior races had extremely close finishes. In the senior women's 8 km, Miku Sakai (Higo Ginko) and Erika Tanoura (Sekisui Kagaku) were head-to-head most of the way, opening almost a minute on the rest of the field. Coming into the home straight Tanoura kicked to open a meter on Sakai, but Sakai responded and went by to take the national title, both women clocking 26:11. 3rd-placer Azusa Mihara (Route Inn Hotels) was far back in 27:05, with one of the pre-race favorites Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) 4th in 27:12 and another, Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Ginko), dropping out.

The senior men's 10 km saw Waseda University alum Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) lead a front group of four including Waseda's Tomonori Yamaguchi, Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Kyushu) and Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) away from the rest of the field, with Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) just behind. On the hills on the final lap Yamaguchi attacked, breaking away from everyone except his former Waseda teammate Igawa. Igawa tried to run Yamaguchi down in the home straight, but Yamaguchi held on for the win with both clocking 29:16. Having fallen behind on the last lap, Bando kicked hard to retake Ogikubo and Fujimagari for 3rd in 29:21. Yamaguchi was just announced as part of the United Airlines NYC Half field, and his coach Katsuhiko Hanada told JRN that he will do both NYC and World XC two weeks apart.

Further back in the men's race, 39-year-old Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) finished 44th in 31:19 in the last race of his career. Widely respected in Japan since his brilliant and inspiring Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage CR run his second year at Juntendo University, Imai was celebrated by the rest of the field post-race and thrown into the air like a winner. Post-race he said, "Thank you for cheering for me today, and thank you to everyone who helped keep me going throughout my 24-year career. I came this far thanks to all of you. To all the younger athletes, I hope you'll keep chasing your goals and having fun along the way. Thank you."

National Cross Country Championships

Fukuoka, 25 Feb. 2024

Senior Men's 10 km
1. Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.) - 29:16
2. Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) - 29:16
3. Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) - 29:21
4. Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 29:22
5. Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Kyushu) - 29:23
6. Kota Murayama (GMO) - 29:34
7. Shota Sugimoto (Comodi Iida) - 29:36
8. Takanori Wakesu (Nittai Univ.) - 29:40
9. Tomoya Nakamura (Osaka Gas) - 29:41
10. Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) - 29:43
11. Hazuma Hattori (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 29:47
12. Shoya Saito (Josai Univ.) - 29:48
13. Kaisei Sugiyama (Kao) - 29:53
14. Ryota Shibako (Teikyo Univ.) - 29:55
15. Takumi Yokokawa (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 29:56
16. Ryuto Urushibara (Yasukawa Denki) - 29:57
17. Renato Ogata (Toyo Univ.) - 29:58
18. Ryo Nishikubo (Kyudenko) - 30:00
19. Yoshiki Kimura (Makes) - 30:02
20. Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software) - 30:03
-----
44. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 31:19
-----
DNF Sota Watanabe (Sunbelx)

Senior Women's 8 km
1. Miku Sakai (Higo Ginko) - 26:11
2. Erika Tanoura (Sekisui Kagaku) - 26:11
3. Azusa Mihara (Route Inn Hotels) - 27:05
4. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 27:12
5. Sayuki Ota (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 27:21
6. Maki Izumida (Daiichi Seimei) - 27:22
7. Chika Kosakai (Japan Post) - 27:26
8. Koyuki Kato (Daiso) - 27:26
9. Miki Hirai (Uniqlo) - 27:28
10. Yuna Arai (Sekisui Kagaku) - 27:29
11. Mao Kogure (Juntendo Univ.) - 27:40
12. Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 27:43
13. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 27:46
14. Hikaru Hamano (Chuo Univ.) - 27:48
15. Sakura Takehara (Daiso) - 27:51
16. Yuka Mukai (Bears) - 27:54
17. Mizuho Yamaga (Sekisui Kagaku) - 27:57
(OP) Sharon Mwanti (KEN/Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) - 27:59
18. Nanase Tanimoto (Meijo Univ.) - 28:04
19. Azusa Sumi (Universal Entertainment) - 28:12
20. Misaki Kato (Daiso) - 28:13
-----
DNF Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Ginko)

U20 Men's 8 km
1. Yamato Hamaguchi (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 23:35
2. Tomoya Inoue (Rakunan H.S.) - 23:37
3. Tetsu Sasaki (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 23:52
4. Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 23:54
5. Nao Nanatsue (Kansai Hokuyo H.S.) - 23:54
6. Kaito Matsui (Saitama Sakue H.S.) - 23:58
7. Nozomi Sugaya (Komazawa H.S.) - 24:01
8. Yu Miyazaki (Toyo Ushiku H.S.) - 24:04
9. Riku Anjima (Ogaki Nichidai H.S.) - 24:07
10. Shunsuke Kuwata (Kurashiki H.S.) - 24:07

U20 Women's 6 km
1. Narumi Okumoto (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 20:16
2. Misaki Shitamori (Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S.) - 20:22
3. Miyu Murakami (Narita H.S.) - 20:23
4. Chisen Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 20:24
5. Sakura Ishikawa (Toyoda Otani H.S.) - 20:24
6. Aoi Hosokawa (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 20:25
7. Nagomi Yuda (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) - 20:27
8. Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 20:28
9. Misaki Nagaoka (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 20:29
10. Haruka Suguro (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 20:35

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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