by Brett Larner The 2009 National University Individual Track and Field Championships took place June 12-14 in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Tokyo. An elective meet in which student athletes can choose to compete as opposed to September's team-oriented National University Track and Field Championships, the National Individual Championships offer a rare chance to see athletes from other parts of the country take on those from the powerful, Tokyo-centric Kanto Region. Coached by Keiichi Murai , the husband of two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa , Matsuyama University's Mami Sogabe and Toshika Tamura both broke the year-old women's 1500 m meet record. Sogabe clocked 4:29.03 and Tamura 4:29.10, with Ritsumeikan University's Hanae Tanaka getting under the old record as well in 4:29.12. New meet records also came on the track in the men's 3000 mSC, with Masamori Kabuki of Tohoku Fukushi University running 8:58.79 to mark the meet...
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