Waseda University 1st-year Shota Fuchigami and Toyo University 1st-year Hayato Shimoda were the stars of this year's National University Track and Field Championships this weekend at Kanagawa's Todoroki Stadium. Squeezing through the men's 400 mH first round in 3rd in his heat with a time of 50.72, Shimoda watched as Fuchigami won semifinal 2 in 48.78, 0.31 under the U20 national record set way back in 1996 by two-time World Championships bronze medalist Dai Tamesue. Lining up next in SF3, Shimoda bettered Fuchigami with a 48.59 U20 NR. That was only good enough for 3rd in his semi behind Shunta Inoue (Hosei Univ.), whose 48.46 missed the 2005-era meet record by 0.11, and 2nd-placer Shu Watanabe (Nittai Univ.) who ran 48.51 but it got him to the final.
There Fuchigami delivered again, going under Tamesue's old record for the second time and beating Inoue by 0.12 to win in 48.96. Shimoda couldn't deliver the same kind of performance, finishing 7th in 50.08, but with two first-years at rival schools popping up at the same time it's looking like the next few years are going to be good ones for Japanese men's hurdling.
The women's 400 mH was also solid, with Ami Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) going 0.14 under the old meet record in the semifinals with a 56.65 to win SF3 with Moe Matsuoka (Chuo Univ.) and Mizuna Ono (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) just missing the MR in 56.87 and 56.96. Yamamoto bettered that with a 56.35 MR to win the final, over a second ahead of runner-up Miku Takino (Ritsumeikan Univ.).
The other big result of the meet was in the men's 4x100 m final. The collegiate record of 38.54 by Chuo University in 2010 featured future Junior World Champion, Olympic and World Championships medalist Shota Iizuka on anchor and has survived the 14 years since then as a target for the next generations. Both Waseda and Toyo beat it here in a super-tight race to the line. Toyo, which had Olympian Hiroki Yanagita running second, was ahead at the final exchange, but Waseda anchor Naoki Inoue ran down Toyo's Riku Oishi to get the win and the new record in 38.45 and Toyo 2nd but still under Chuo's old record in 38.47. Nihon University, the only team under 39 seconds in the qualifying round, ran 38.98 for 3rd in the final, while Chuo was disqualified for overrunning the second exchange.
The level of competition was high in a lot of events, with four other meet records and even more near-misses:
- Shuta Azuma (Hiroshima Keizai Univ.) set a 1:46.83 MR in the men's 800 m final, winning by 0.98 and 0.19 under the old record.
- Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) made up for her 2nd-place finish in the women's 5000 m last year with a 15:35.18 MR for the win this time, just over 3 seconds under Kasumi Nishihara's old record. This time Wanjiru had pressure the entire way from Risa Yamazaki (Nittai Univ.), who just missed Nishihara's mark with a 15:38.89 for 2nd. Rio Einaga (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) edged 10000 m champ Haruka Ogawa (Rikkyo Univ.) by 0.36 for 3rd in 15:50.49.
- Maki Saito (Tokai Univ.) crushed her own discus throw meet record by over 2 m, winning with a 56.77 m throw on her fifth attempt.
- Raika Murakami (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) also beat her own meet record in the women's hammer throw, her 65.34 m throw on her third attempt coming in at 1.31 m better than her MR last year.
Wanjiru's 5000 m MR aside, performances in distance events weren't especially fast this year, some even slow:
- Ogawa's 33:04.54 win by 0.80 in the women's 10000 m was impressive for the level of self-control she showed, always staying near the front of the pack and relaxed as collegiate record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) led most of the way and through the constant turnover in the last third of the race. When she went to the front, it was for real. Mariya Noda (Daito Bunka Univ.) executed the same kind of race but couldn't match Ogawa's speed in the last 100 m, 2nd in 33:05.34 with Einaga 3rd in 33:06.32. Fuwa ended up 7th in 33:12.79, a long ways from where she was 3 years ago before serial injuries but good enough that she was all smiles at the finish.
- Ai Watanabe (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) took the women's 1500 m final in 4:21.93, with Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.) the only woman under 10 minutes in the 3000 mSC in 9:57.12.
- The men's 1500 m also went to a Nittai athlete, Hiroto Takamura winning the final in 3:44.11.
- The men's 5000 m was bafflingly slow, Stephen Muchini (Soka Univ.) the only runner to go under 14 minutes with a 13:52.25 for the win. The fastest Japanese runner in the field with a 13:28.67 PB earlier this year, Taishi Ito (Waseda Univ.) was a distant 2nd in 14:05.82 ahead of Yasuyuki Kusakari (Tokai Univ.), 3rd in 14:07.36.
- The men's 10000 m played out like a fartlek session, Shadrack Kipkemoi (Nihon Univ.) coming out on top in 28:41.26, Stephen Lemaiyan (Surugadai Univ.) next in 28:43.82 and Raphael Longisa (Takushoku Univ.) 3rd in 28:48.03.
- Top-ranked Yuki Murao continued Juntendo University's domination of the men's 3000 mSC, just off his PB with an 8:34.83 win over Yuto Urata (Chuo Univ.), 2nd in 8:35.09.
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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