Sasaki Breaks 49-Yr-Old Steeple MR, Wanjiru Undefeated Over 5000 m - Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships Highlights

Japan's best university track meet happened the last 4 days in Tochigi at the 105th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships. The race of the meet was without a doubt the D1 men's 3000 mSC, where Japanese U20 all-time #2 Tetsu Sasaki (Waseda University) and Sanetada Ono (Tokai Univ.) pushed each other to both break one of the oldest records in Japanese athletics, 10-mile NR holder Masanari Shintaku's 8:35.2 Kanto Regionals meet record from 1977. Just starting his 2nd year at Waseda, Sasaki got the win and record in 8:24.96, landing just outside the all-time Japanese top 10. Ono took just over a second off his PB to go under Shintaku's old record too in 8:31.41 for 2nd.

On the women's side the race of the meet was the D1 women's 5000 m. Undefeated in the 5000 m and 10000 m at Kanto Regionals her first 3 years, Daito Bunka University 4th-year Sarah Wanjiru lost her shot at a perfect scorecard when she got taken down over the last lap in Thursday's 10000 m by Daisy Jerop (Josai Kokusai Univ.), finishing 2nd in 32:15.41 to Jerop's winning 32:08.75. Back for a rematch in Sunday's 5000 m, Wanjiru and Jerop hammered each other all the way to the line. Both broke the meet record, but Wanjiru got payback by the tiniest of margins, beating Jerop 15:17.01 to 15:17.02. You can't always get everything you want, but at the very least Wanjiru now walks away with 4-straight 5000 m titles.

Other highlights:

Collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) rounded out his 4th year at Kanto Regionals with a double win. First he won a competitive D2 10000 m on Thursday, running 27:43.53 in a race where the top 7, including Japanese athletes Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) and Yoshihiro Kusuoka (Teikyo Univ.) broke 28 minutes. Sunday he set a D2 MR of 13:24.76 to win the 5000 m over teammate Amos Bett, 2nd in 13:28.33, and Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.), 3rd in 13:28.45.
Sora Murata (Tsukuba Univ.) and Mitsuki Kobayashi (Nittai Univ.) both broke Kobayashi's MR in the D1 women's pole vault, Murata clearing 4.17 m on her 1st attempt but Kobayashi only getting as high as 4.12 m.
The D1 men's 5000 m was good too, with Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.) continuing to deliver great run after great run with a 13:31.43 to win over Rui Suzuki (Waseda Univ.), 2nd in 13:33.73.
Chuo University also beat Waseda to win the D1 men's 4x100 m in 39.10. After fast heats where Chuo led the way in 39.05, all 7 teams that finished the final broke 39.7. The winner in Heat 2 in 39.29, Toyo University was DQd in the final but was sure to have gone under 39.7 too, very solid results overall for a regional meet. By comparison, not a single team in the D2 final got under 40.

In overall scoring, Juntendo University took the D1 men's team title with 135 points, Tokai University distantly 2nd with 91 points. Tsukuba University narrowly won the D1 women's title over Nittai University, Tsukuba scoring 139.5 and Nittai 130. Kokusai Budo University was the D2 men's team champ with 95 points. In the graduate school division, Tsukuba won the men's title with 26 points and the women's title with 11 points. Complete individual results across all divisions here.

Japan's Team Performance at World U20 Championships

There wasn't much surprise in the events where Japan did well at the Oregon World U20 Championships , with medals in the men's 110 mH, 400 mH and 3000 m, and top 5 finishes in the women's and men's 5000 m race walks, men's 4x100 m relay, men's pole vault and long jump, men's 200 m, women's 800 m and 3000 m, and women's javelin throw. Jeremy Koga ran a 12.95 (+0.3) Asian U20 AR in the men's 110 mH semifinals, then came back in the final with a 12.97 (+0.7) in the final to take silver behind a brilliant 12.72 U20 WR by American Le'Ezra Brown . Taiju Goto was expected to medal in the men's 400 mH, but after leading the semifinals the best he could do was silver in 49.23, gold going to the Czech Republic's Michal Rada with a 48.59 European U20 AR. Expected to do better in the 1500 m, Ojiro Honda ran a 7:48.49 U20 NR in the men's 3000 m final to score bronze, only to come in near the back of the field in the 1500 m final at 14th in...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Some Mid-Season Women's Corporate Team Roster Changes

The Daiichi Life women's corporate team announced last week on its official site that Paris Olympics 10000 m runner Haruka Kokai and teammate Yuka Masubuchi left the organization as of July 31. Kokai was born in 2003. Kokai rose to the national level while at Sendai Ikuei H.S. , winning the first leg at the National High School Ekiden her 2nd year to lead them to the overall national title. After graduating she joined Daiichi Life, then called Daiichi Seimei, in 2021. In March, 2023 she was the gold medalist in the women's 10000 m at the Asian Championships, and in December the same year she took 3rd in the National Championships 10000 m in an all-time Japanese #7 30:57.67 to score a place on the Paris Olympics team. In Paris she placed 19th. In a statement released by Daiichi Life Kokai said, "I want to thank the team, who always put the athletes first as they shared this journey, and all my teammates for so many good times together. There were times I got really disco...

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