Skip to main content

Omwamba Doubles and Suzuki Defends in National University T&F Championships 5000 m

by Brett Larner

Two days after winning the National University Track & Field Championships 10000 m title, Kenyan first-year Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) returned to outrun Nihon University's Kenyan pair Benjamin Gandu and Daniel Kitonyi and all Japanese comers for the 5000 m title.  Running off a slow first 2000 m in 5:40, Omwamba accelerated throughout the second half of the race to take the win in 13:53.53, Gandu 2nd in 13:55.81.  Shuho Dairokuno (Meiji Univ.) was the top Japanese finisher, 4th overall in 14:02.01 a step ahead of Aoyama Gakuin University's star first-year recruit Kazuma Kubota with Aoyama Gakuin captain Takehiro Deki just behind in his first quality performance since his 2:10:02 marathon debut at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Defending collegiate 5000 m champion Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) was only 14th in 14:22.38 just ahead of his twin brother Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.)

The women's 5000 m went out the other way, defending champion Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) taking things out very fast with a 3:03 first km and burning off all competition early. Suzuki was alone for almost the entire race, opening a 20-second gap on chaser Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) before fading badly over the final 2000 m. Suzuki slowed to 3:20/km but still managed to hold on for her second-straight win, clocking a solid 15:44.45 to Shoji's 15:51.25. 10000 m champ Haruka Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) was 8th in 16:04.93.

2012 National University T&F Championships Day Three
National Stadium, Tokyo, 9/11/12
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:53.53
2. Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 13:55.81
3. Daniel Kitonyi (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 13:57.68
4. Shuho Dairokuno (Meiji Univ.) - 14:02.01
5. Kazuma Kubota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 14:02.70
6. Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 14:03.71
7. Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.) - 14:05.56
8. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:06.18
9. Shuhei Yamamoto (Waseda Univ.) - 14:08.10
10. Tatsuya Oike (Juntendo Univ.) - 14:14.21

 Women's 5000 m
1. Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) - 15:44.45
2. Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) - 15:51.25
3. Shiho Takechi (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:56.78
4. Miho Shimizu (Hakuoh Univ.) - 15:58.50
5. Mai Tsuda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:59.25
6. Sairi Maeda (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:59.81
7. Nanaka Izawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 16:04.15
8. Haruka Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) - 16:04.93
9. Mutsumi Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16:05.63
10. Hitomi Suzuki (Tamagawa Univ.) - 16:11.90

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more