Skip to main content

Three Meet Records Cap Final Day of National High School Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620



After a National High School Track and Field Championships packed with new records including two junior and high school national records, three more meet records capped the final day of competition, hot temperatures in the mid-30's notwithstanding. Nao Kanai (Kawasaki Tachibana H.S.) got things started in the boys' 110 m hurdles with a record 13.85, the only boy to go under 14 seconds despite a strong +1.4 m/s tailwind.  Chihiro Nozaki (Rakunan H.S.) followed up in the boys' triple jump with a 15.80 m meet record jump to win by almost 75 cm.  Shinichi Yukinaga (Seiko Gakuen H.S.) rounded out the action in the boys' discus throw with a mark of 55.59 m for the win, like Kanai short of his PB but enough for a new National High School Championships record.



The girls' 3000 m had an unexpected turn of events when favorite Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.), the 2014 Youth Olympics 3000 m gold medalist, losing a shoe in a two-part fall at the start of the race, stopping to take off the other one and run in socks but never managing to regain contact with the pack, dropped out at 1200 m.  In her absence, with six girls still together at the bel the race turned into a duel between Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) and Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.), qualifying round leader Yuka Mukai (Sera H.S.) unable to stay with them over the last 250 m.  Kuraoka had the strongest finish, breaking away from Shimada for the win in 9:09.89 with Shimada just under a second behind.  Mukai took 3rd far back in 9:14.73.  Kenyan Joel Mwaura (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) had an easy win in the boys' 3000 m steeplechase, the only boy to break 9 minutes with a new PB of 8:52.57.



In the girls' 4x400 m relay, Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) returned from a busy schedule that saw her set junior and high school national records in the 400 mH, a meet record in the 400 m, take 2nd in the 800 m and anchor the Keiai girls' 4x100 m relay team to do it again, anchoring the Keiai 4x400 m to the win in 3:40.76.  The boys' 4x400 m was a tight race, with the top four teams finishing within less than a second of each other.  Kyushu Gakuin H.S. won the title in 3:10.18.



In overall team scoring, Ishizuka's Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S. repeated as national champion, its 63 points nearly doubling the score of runner-up Shigakukan H.S. of Aichi.  Kyoto's Rakunan H.S., alma mater of sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.), took the boys' national title with a score of 49 points, Tokyo H.S. moving up from 3rd last year to take 2nd this year with 24 points.

68th National High School Track and Field Championships 
Day Five Highlights
Wakayama, Aug. 2
click here for complete results

Girls' 3000 m Final
1. Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) - 9:09.89
2. Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 9:10.63
3. Yuka Mukai (Sera H.S.) - 9:14.73
4. Shinobu Koyoshigawa (Sera H.S.) - 9:15.14
5. Rika Kaseda (Narita H.S.) - 9:15.64
6. Fukiko Ando (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 9:16.42
7. Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 9:17.38
8. Kana Tsuchida (Niigata Meikun H.S.) - 9:27.21
9. Kanami Sagayama (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 9:27.52
10. Yuki Munehisa (Saikyo H.S.) - 9:29.35
-----
DNF - Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.)
DQ - Mary Sipuko Manela (Kaishi Kokusai H.S.)

Boys' 110 m Hurdles Final +1.4 m/s
1. Nao Kanai (Kawasaki Tachibana H.S.) - 13.85 - MR
2. Hayao Tagami (Rakunan H.S.) - 14.10 - PB
3. Papudenpa Hiramatsu (Roka H.S.) - 14.19 - PB
4. Rei Igarashi (Aizu Gakuho H.S.) - 14.36 - PB
5. Masaki Toyoda (Rakunan H.S.) - 14.38
6. Takuma Kato (Niigata Shibata H.S.) - 14.50
7. Rui Takahashi (Miyagi Shibata H.S.) - 14.57
8. Hiroki Toyama (Kannabe Asahi H.S.) - 14.69 (14.49 PB in semifinals)

Girls' 100 m Hurdles +0.9 m/s
1. Yumi Tanaka (Kansai Prep Daiichi H.S.) - 13.87
2. Ten Sasaki (Morioka Daiichi H.S.) - 13.93
3. Sakiko Kamata (Koryo H.S.) - 13.98
4. Reina Nakamura (Osaka H.S.) - 14.00 - PB
5. Marumi Kanai (Yokohama Minami H.S.) - 14:03 - PB
6. Rika Okamoto (Otokuni H.S.) - 14.07 - PB
7. Natsuki Nakatsuka (Otsuka H.S.) - 14.12 (14.00 PB in semifinals)
8. Mariko Negi (Kunori Gakuen H.S.) - 14.13
9. Saaya Kato (Ogaki Shogyo H.S.) - 14.25 (14.12 PB in semifinals)

Boys' 3000 m Steeplechase Final
1. Joel Mwaura (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) - 8:52.57 - PB
2. Taisei Ogino (Kato Gakuen H.S.) - 9:00.05
3. Kota Oki (Narita H.S.) - 9:01.78 - PB
4. Hikaru Makino (Kobayashi H.S.) - 9:04.85 - PB
5. Hiromu Endo (Koku Gakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.) - 9:06.63

Boys' 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. - 3:10.18
2. Morioka Minami H.S. - 3:10.66
3. Soyo H.S. - 3:10.87
4. Narita H.S. - 3:10.93
5. Tokyo H.S. - 3:11.69
6. Uji Yamada Shogyo H.S. - 3:13.97
7. Kansai Prep Hokuyo H.S. - 3:14.17
8. Osaka H.S. - 3:14.95
9. Miyazaki Kogyo H.S. - 3:17.85

Girls' 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S. - 3:40.76
2. Soyo H.S. - 3:42.74
3. Narita H.S. - 3:43.09
4. Shigakukan H.S. - 3:44.61
5. Hachioji H.S. - 3:44.62
6. Tokyo H.S. - 3:46.61
7. Chukyo Prep H.S. - 3:48.37
8. Municipal Funabashi H.S. - 3:49.24

Boys' Triple Jump Final
1. Chihiro Nozaki (Rakunan H.S.) - 15.80 m -0.2 m/s - MR, PB
2. Shota Inagawa (Niigata H.S.) - 15.06 m -0.4 m/s
3. Shinya Kobayashi (Suge H.S.) - 14.98 m -0.2 m/s

Girls' Shot Put Final
1. Nanaka Kori (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) - 14.96 m
2. Yuri Saito (Kochi Otemae H.S.) - 14.20 m - PB
3. Sae Sakamoto (Mita Kokusai Gakuen H.S.) - 13.84 m - PB

Boys' Discus Throw
1. Shinichi Yukinaga (Seiko Gakuen H.S.) - 55.59 m - MR
2. Hiroshi Nakamoto (Wakayama Kogyo H.S.) - 47.19 m
3. Satoshi Tobimatsu (Kyushu Sangyo Prep H.S.) - 47.17 m

Girls' Final School Standings
1. Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S. (Osaka) - 63
2. Shigakukan H.S. (Aichi) - 35
3. Tokyo H.S. (Tokyo) - 25
4. Soyo H.S. (Kanagawa) - 25
5. Okazaki Josai H.S. (Aichi) - 22
6. Kurashiki Chuo H.S. (Okayama) - 20
7. Morioka Daiichi H.S. (Iwate) - 17
8. Osaka H.S. (Osaka) - 16

Boys' Final School Standings
1. Rakunan H.S. (Kyoto) - 49
2. Tokyo H.S. (Tokyo) - 24
3. Osaka Toin H.S. (Osaka) - 21
4. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. (Kumamoto) - 21
5. Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. (Fukushima) - 20
6. Narita H.S. (Chiba) - 19
7. Josai Prep H.S. (Tokyo) - 18
8. Seiko Gakuen H.S. (Tokushima) - 16

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half