Skip to main content

Nishihara With Another Big Win at National Sports Festival 5000 m

by Brett Larner

2011 national corporate 10000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) continued her unbeaten streak in her first year on the pro circuit, winning the National Sports Festival senior women's 5000 m Oct. 7 in Yamaguchi.  Nishihara ran in a tight pack that included collegiate 10000 m national record holder and former teammate Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) and Japan's top woman at the Daegu World Championships 5000 m, Hitomi Niiya (Sakura AC) before surging away in the last km to take the win in a new PB of 15:23.80.  Also continuing a strong season, Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) outran the rest of the pack for 2nd in 15:29.69, with Yoshimoto 3rd in 15:30.94.

The junior men's 5000 m was a closer race, the top four finishing within roughly three seconds of each other with a gap of ten seconds over the rest of the field.  Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) took the win in 14:04.49 over three members of top-ranked high schools, Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.), Yuta Katsumata (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) and Shun Morozumi (Saku Chosei H.S.), the son of former Saku Chosei H.S. and current Tokai Univ. head coach Hayashi Morozumi.

The athletics program at the National Sports Festival continues through Oct. 11.  The next distance events take place on the Oct. 10 National Sports Day holiday with the junior women's 3000 m heats.

2011 National Sports Festival
Yamaguchi, 10/7/11
click here for complete results

Senior Women's 5000 m
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 15:23.80 - PB
2. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 15:29.69 - PB
3. Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:30.94
4. Hitomi Niiya (Sakura AC) - 15:32.92
5. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:33.54
6. Chinami Mori (Bukkyo Univ.)  15:35.54
7. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 15:40.60
8. Akane Yabushita (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:44.31
9. Chihiro Takato (Team Wacoal) - 15:52.16
10. Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex ) - 15:58.00

Junior Men's 5000 m
1. Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 14:04.49
2. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:05.56
3. Yuta Katsumata (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 14:06.43
4. Shun Morozumi (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 14:07.62
5. Kaoru Hirosue (Kobayashi H.S.) - 14:17.13

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun
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

Weekend Track Roundup

The two-day Hyogo Relay Carnival was the biggest meet of the weekend on the Japanese calendar. Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) kicked off her 2nd academic year with a 31:48.11 win in the GP women's 10000 m, beating Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) by 4 seconds. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) had a tighter win in the GP men's 10000 m, 27:58.01 to 27:58.35 over Jonson Mugeni (Asia Univ.). Kenyans also dominated the men's B and C-heats, Nelson Mandela (Obirin Univ.) taking the B-heat by 0.06 over Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) in 28:05.37 and Patrick Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) the C-heat in 28:14.83. Top Japanese marks across the four races were 32:24.50 by Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic), 28:11.30 by Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon), 28:41.68 by Masashi Nonaka (Toyota), and 28:42.38 by former Rikkyo University head coach Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin). The GP women's 3000 mSC might have been the best race of the meet, both Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.) and Mana
Post a Comment
Read more