Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21.

Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S., 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda. Nagano Higashi won in 1:07:27, 1 second faster than Kamimura Gakuen H.S. did in winning the 2023 title, with Sendai Ikuei 2nd in 1:07:45 and Kunei Joshi Gakuin 3rd in 1:08:05.

A major rule change this year barred non-Japanese athletes from running anything except one of the two 3.0 km legs, which meant the CR on the longer stages were all out of reach. The Third Stage saw a new CR of 9:14 by Lucy Nduta of 9th-place Aomori Yamada H.S. as a result, with 2nd and 3rd placers Rose Wangui (Sera H.S.) and Margaret Muthoni (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) also under the old CR of 9:21. Despite Muthoni's efforts, last year's national champ Kamimura Gakuen was only 5th in 1:08:41. 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) came up short of the fastest time ever by a Japanese-born runner on the 4.0975 km Second Stage but still managing to take the stage win in 12:47. Higashi Osaka Keiai was 6th in 1:08:42.

36th National High School Girls Ekiden

Kyoto, 22 Dec. 2024

58 teams, 5 legs, 21.0975 km

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (6.0 km) - Airi Mashiba (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 19:30

Second Stage (4.0975 km) - Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 12:47

Third Stage (3.0 km) - Lucy Nduta (Aoyama Yamada H.S.) - 9:14 - CR

Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Tsubomi Tezuka (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 9:10

Fifth Stage (5.0 km) - Momoka Onishi (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 15:46

Top Team Results

1. Nagano Higashi H.S. - 1:07:27

2. Sendai Ikuei H.S. - 1:07:45

3. Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. - 1:08:05

4. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:08:32

5. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. - 1:08:41

6. Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. - 1:08:42

7. Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. - 1:08:45

8. Gingawa Gakuin H.S. - 1:09:19

9. Aoyama Yamada H.S. - 1:09:36

10. Saitama Sakae H.S. - 1:10:03

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

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