Skip to main content

Omwamba Over Kitonyi for National University Track and Field Championships Distance Double

by Brett Larner
videos by aoshin0507 and ekiden news



The 2014 Japanese National University Track and Field Championships wrapped up Sunday with a pair of new meet records and some great races.  The day started with early morning men's and women's 5000 m postponed from Saturday after a thunderstorm hit the area.  1500 m champion Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) faced off against 10000 m champ Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) in the men's race, battling each other all the way to the end with Omwamba getting the double by less than a second in 13:40.21.



The women's 5000 m was equally close, Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) winning in 15:46.94 with both Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Saori Noda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) within a second of her.



Daito Bunka University had better luck in the women's 3000 mSC, where it took three of the top four places and its top runner Chikako Mori beat national university record holder Mayuko Nakamura (Tsukuba Univ.) and outran Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama Univ.) by 0.30 seconds to win in a meet record 10:00.69.



The other meet record of the day came in the men's 10000 m race walk, where Eiki Takahashi of the relatively minor Iwate Univ. clocked 39:44.78 to win by a comfortable margin.



Star first-year sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) won his first national university title, winning the 200 m in 20.59 (-0.1) after skipping the 100 m.  In the men's 800 m, national record holder Sho Kawamoto (Nihon Univ.) faltered badly, finishing only 4th in 1:51.97 behind Daisuke Sakurai (Kyoto Univ.), the winner in 1:51.34.  The race of the day, however, came in the men's 4x400 m, where 100 m National University Champion and London Olympian Ryota Yamagata ran a fantastic second leg that put Keio University's team into the lead over favorite Waseda University.  Waseda looked set to pick them off on the anchor leg, but Keio anchor and 200 m specialist Yuki Koike somehow summoned up the strength to hold off Waseda's 2014 World Junior Championships 400 m silver medalist Nobuya Kato, falling across the line to win by 0.04 in 3:04.58.

2014 National University Track and Field Championships Day Three
Kumagaya, Saitama, 9/7/14
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:40.21
2. Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) - 13:40.91
3. Shota Shinjo (Chuo Univ.) - 13:52.40
4. Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) - 13:53.84
5. Shinnosuke Ogino (Nihon Univ.) - 13:54.20
6. Hikaru Kato (Nittai Univ.) - 13:54.35
7. Makoto Mitsunobu (Waseda Univ.) - 13:54.46
8. Daiki Taguchi (Waseda Univ.) - 13:54.71
9. Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:57.04
10. Kenya Sonota (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:02.64

Women's 5000 m
1. Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:46.94
2. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) -15:47.88
3. Saori Noda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 15:47.90
4. Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 15:50.68
5. Yuko Kikuchi (Hakuoh Univ.) - 15:52.41
6. Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) - 15:55.12
7. Manaka Kobori (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 15:55.52
8. Sayaka Sato (Toyo Univ.) - 15:58.85
9. Nanako Kanno (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16:00.57
10. Yukiko Okuno (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 16:09.97

Men's 800 m Final
1. Daisuke Sakurai (Kyoto Univ.) - 1:51.34
2. Yota Mizuma (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - 1:51.79
3. Tomonori Tanaka (Kinki Univ.) - 1:51.82
4. Sho Kawamoto (Nihon Univ) - 1:51.97
5. Koki Murakami (Keio Univ.) - 1:52.07
6. Ryunosuke Okada (Nihon Univ.) - 1:52.14
7. Shota Arakawa (Nittai Univ.) - 1:52.89
8. Noriaki Kaida (Kansai Univ.) - 1:53.13

Women's 800 m Final
1. Fumika Omori (Nihon Univ.) - 2:08.22
2. Miho Ito (Juntendo Univ.) - 2:08.45
3. Mariko Takeuchi (Chukyo Univ.) - 2:08.55
4. Hana Yamada (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) - 2:08.62
5. Miho Shingu (Fukushima Univ.) - 2:09.13
6. Rina Ono (Fukushima Univ.) - 2:09.66
7. Akiho Fukuzato (Yokohama Kokuritsu Univ.) - 2:09.82
8. Mayuka Kitane (Juntendo Univ.) - 2:11.52

Men's 200 m Final (-0.1)
1. Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) - 20.59
2. Shota Hara (Jobu Univ.) - 20.71
3. Akiyuki Hashimoto (Waseda Univ.) - 20.82
4. Yuki Koike (Keio Univ.) - 20.91
5. Kotaro Tanguchi (Chuo Univ.) - 21.02
6. Yushi Terada (Heisei Kokusai Univ.) - 21.05
7. Shoichi Kobayashi (Toyo Univ.) - 21.16
8. Kento Terada (Chukyo Univ.) - 21.94

Women's 200 m Final (+2.8)
1. Tomoka Tsuchihashi (Iwate Univ.) - 24.12
2. Anna Fujimori (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 24.30
3. Arisa Niwa (Chukyo Univ.) - 24.38
4. Akira Koyama (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 24.40
5. Yuki Jinbo (Tsukuba Univ.) - 24.53
6. Saya Kitazawa (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.) - 24.71
7. Mizuki Nakamura (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 24.81
8. Aimi Yamashita (Fukushima Univ.) - 27.31

Men's 3000 mSC
1. Shuya Tsuda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 8:49.71
2. Hiroshi Yanokura (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 8:52.45
3. Kazuma Watanabe (Toyo Univ.) - 8:54.77
4. Takumi Murashima (Juntendo Univ.) - 8:57.15
5. Takuma Imai (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - 8:57.21

Women's 3000 mSC
1. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10:00.69 - MR
2. Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama Univ.) - 10:00.99 (MR)
3. Atsumi Miyamoto (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10:11.89
4. Soyoka Segawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10:12.14
5. Mayuko Nakamura (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10:12.51

Men's 400 mH Final
1. Takaoki Hashimoto (Nihon Univ.) - 50.72
2. Seiya Kato (Tsukuba Univ.) - 50.91
3. Atsushi Yamada (Tokai Univ.) - 51.11
 
Women's 400 mH Final
1. Misa Yamada (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 58.81
2. Ayaka Nishida (Kobe Univ.) - 58.95
3. Manaho Sugiyama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 59.28

Men's 110 mH Final (-1.3)
1. Genta Masuno (Kokusai Budo Univ.) - 14.10
2. Hiroki Fudaba (Kokusai Budo Univ.) - 14.12
3. Gen Yada (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) - 14.24

Women's 100 mH Final (-0.3)
1. Miku Fujiwara (Mukogawa Joshi Univ.) - 13.66
2. Masumi Aoki (Int'l Pacific Univ.) - 13.67
3. Aya Ito (Fukushima Univ.) - 13.75

Men's 4x400 m Final
1. Keio Univ. - 3:04.58
2. Waseda Univ. - 3:04.62
3. Nihon Univ. - 3:04.93
4. Chukyo Univ. - 3:05.57
5. Chuo Univ. - 3:06.25
6. Nittai Univ. - 3:07.51
7. Tsukuba Univ. - 3:08.14
8. Int'l Pacific Univ. - 3:08.63

Women's 4x400 m Final
1. Tsukuba Univ. - 3:40.73
2. Higashi Osaka Univ. - 3:40.92
3. Aoyama Gakuin Univ. - 3:41.40
4. Konan Univ. - 3:41.41
5. Fukushima Univ. - 3:42.11
6. Nittai Univ. - 3:42.94
7. Tokyo Gakugei Univ. - 3:43.45
8. Tsuru Bunka Univ. - 3:44.53

Men's 10000 m Race Walk
1. Eiki Takahashi (Iwate Univ.) - 39:44.78 - MR
2. Kai Kobayashi (Waseda Univ.) - 40:22.77
3. Daisuke Matsunaga (Toyo Univ.) - 40:56.35
4. Yuga Yamashita (Toyo Univ.) - 41:09.29
5. Yosuke Kimura (Juntendo Univ.) - 41:12.45

Men's High Jump
1. Takashi Eto (Tsukuba Univ.) - 2.22 m
2. Kazuhiro Ota (Kanazawa Seiryo Univ.) - 2.16 m
3. Daisuke Nakajima (Nihon Univ.) - 2.13 m

Women's Long Jump
1. Hitomi Nakano (Tsukuba Univ.) - 6.08 m
2. Mao Igarashi (Fukushima Univ.) - 6.07 m
3. Kaede Miyasaka (Yokohama Kokuritsu Univ.) - 6.07 m

Men's Pole Vault
1. Ryohei Yamakata (Setsunan Univ.) - 5.30 m
2. Shota Enoki (Chukyo Univ.) - 5.20 m
3. Fumitaka Ishikawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 5.10 m

Men's Shot Put
1. Ikuhiro Miyauchi (Nittai Univ.) - 17.48 m
2. Daichi Nakamura (Kokushikan Univ.) - 16.52 m
3. Hiroki Nishimiya (Nihon Univ.) - 16.50 m

Women's Shot Put
1. Erina Fukutomi (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 15.13 m
2. Shoko Matsuda (Kokushikan Univ.) - 14.99 m
3. Eriko Saga (Tokai Univ.) - 14.59 m

Men's Discus Throw
1. Kengo Anbo (Tokai Univ.) - 53.73 m
2. Hiroya Kobayashi (Juntendo Univ.) - 52.94 m
3. Masateru Yugami (Chukyo Univ.) - 52.56 m

Women's Discus Throw
1. Eriko Nakata (Chukyo Univ.) - 49.10 m
2. Maho Taira (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 47.90 m
3. Natsumi Fujimori (Juntendo Univ.) - 47.67 m

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters