Men's 800 m NR and 2 H.S. Records Cap National High School Track and Field Championships Highlights

The new Japanese men's 800 m NR of 1:44.80 by Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) and winning solo 2:00.81 meet record by Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) were the big stories at this year's National High School Track and Field Championships in Fukuoka, but there were a lot of other good results across the meet's five days.

Jeremy Koga (Tokyo H.S.) set a new high school NR and meet record in the 110 m hurdles, winning the final in 13.59 (-0.7) after breaking them in the semifinals in 13.67 (-0.9). 2nd-placer Koki Takajo (Miyazaki Nishi H.S.) was also under the old records in 13.68.
Another high school NR and meet record went down in the boys' high jump, where Kaisei Nakatani (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) cleared 2.24 m on his 2nd attempt. That beat future NR holder Naoto Tobe's previous H.S. NR of 2.23 set back in 2009.
Kei Wakana (Sano H.S.) broke the boys' 200 m meet record, running 20.61 (+0.1) to win the final. Manaka Matsui (Otsuka H.S.) took the girls' pole vault meet record, clearing 4.05 m on her 2nd attempt and walking away as the only athlete to go higher than 3.80 m. Kyo Kikuta (Hosei Ni H.S.) tied the boys' 400 m hurdles meet record in 50.14 to win the final.
The boys' 5000 m saw an amazing 10 runners break 14 minutes, led by Samuel Ngayu (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) in 13:38.84 with Rui Suzuki (Yachiyo Shoin) close behind in 13:39.85 for 2nd, breaking Keita Sato's record for fastest time ever by a Japanese-born runner at High School Nationals.
Kenyans Janet Jepkoech (Kurashiki H.S.), Lucy Nduta (Aomori Yamada H.S.), Rose Wangui (Sera H.S.) and Jacinta Nyokabi (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) all went under 9 minutes in the girls' 3000 m final, with Jepkoech taking 1st in 8:46.62. Jepkoech also won the 1500 m by over 5 seconds in 4:07.59.
Tetsu Sasaki (Saku Chosei H.S.) ran a solid 8:37.23 to win the boys' 3000 m steeplechase final by over 5 seconds after finishing 3rd in the 1500 m final in 3:46.67 behind teammate Yamato Hamaguchi, 3:43.58, and winner Felix Muthiani (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.), 3:40.66.

Complete results here.

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