The National Sports Festival wrapped up Tuesday in Saga with one of the best races of the meet, the junior women's 3000 m. The top 5 all went under 9:00, with Daisy Jerop (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) dominating in 8:56.36. Sharon Mwanti (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) was 2nd in 9:01.65, with Mei Hokiyama (Yamada H.S.) close behind in 9:04.86 for 3rd, Rin Setoguchi (Kamikura Gakuen H.S.) 4th in 9:06.63 and Pauline Wanjuku (Teikyo Nagaoka H.S.) 5th in 9:09.36. All told the top 12 broke 9:30.
The junior boys' 3000 m was almost as competitive. Sei Yoshida (Tokai Sapporo H.S.) and Kain Inagaki (KERT) raced right to the line, Yoshida getting the win in 8:07.12 but Inagaki scoring a junior high school record with an 8:07.29 for 2nd. 3rd and 4th-placers Yudai Fujii (Miyazaki Nichidai H.S.) and Taira Ichikawa (Sendai Ikuei) couldn't have been closer, Fujii taking 3rd in 8:17.06 and Ichikawa 4th in 8:17.07, with the rest of the top 10 all getting under 8:30.
Monday's junior men's 5000 m had 8 under 14 minutes. Yamato Hamaguchi of 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Saku Chosei H.S. outran them all for the win in 13:40.65, Haruki Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S,) outrunning Felix Muthiani (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) 13:44.72 to 13:45.43 for 2nd. MR holder Yuma Yamamoto and Sekisui Kagaku teammate Chikako Mori went 1-2 in the senior women's 5000 m, Yamamoto running 15:50.98 with Mori 5 seconds back.
Ai Watanabe (Sonoda Joshi Gakuin Univ.) had an excellent run to win the senior women's 800 m in a meet record 2:02.39, enough to move her up to all-time Japanese #8. But it wasn't enough to beat the top time in Saturday's junior women's 800 m, where NR holder Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) ran a MR 2:02.09 for the win. Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) fell just before the finish while leading her qualifying heat in the junior 800 m and failed to make the final.
Sota Okamura (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) also broke the MR in the senior men's 800 m, winning in 1:47.09. A surprise came in the junior men's 800 m, where Muthiani doubled to easily beat NR holder Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) 1:48.22 to 1:49.67. 3rd-placer Seita Kikuchi (Morioka Nishi H.S. almost got Ochiai too, finishing just back in 1:49.94 and showing that the higher you climb, the bigger the target on your back.
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Having watched Sherry Drury this year, it would be fair to say it's been a step backward from where she was. Her race tactics and execution still need a lot of work. A year or so ago I recall Nozomi Tanaka falling at the finish line in a similar manner to how Sherry Drury fell. Her legs just gave way from the effort. Since then Tanaka has gone from strength to strength so I'm hoping in a couple of years Drury will be the same but it won't be easy. The competition is fierce and I'm not convinced Drury has that speed endurance in her legs. She has youth on her side to build this so next track season will be interesting and perhaps an Ekiden leg too.