Skip to main content

Ishizuka 400 m MR, Sani Brown Anchors Josai 4x100m Semis on Day One of Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620 and aoshin0507



#1-ranked Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) turned in the performance of the day on the opening day of the National High School Track and Field Championships, setting a meet record 53.30 to win the girls' 400 m.  After dominating the semifinals in 53.92, the only girl in the field to break 54, Ishizuka had no trouble at all running away from closest competitor Yuna Iwata (Niijima Gakuen H.S.) in the final, winning by more than a second over Iwata's 54.37 PB.  2015 World Youth Championships team member Rin Aoki (Soyo H.S.) also ran a PB of 54.74 for 3rd.  The boys' 400 m final saw Daisuke Funato (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) unexpectedly win with a 47.06 PB, taking down favorites Manato Sasaki (Morioka Minami H.S.) and Sho Someya (Seibudai Chiba H.S.) who took only 4th and 5th.



Another highlight came in the first heat of the boys' 1500 m, where a strong surge from Kakeru Nakamura (Saigyo H.S.) at 700 m meant a fast race for #1-ranked Kazuyoshi Tamogami (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.).  Nakamura opened up a good-sized lead over the third lap, but in the home straight Tamogami easily caught him, jogging across the line under control in 3:49.69 with Nakamura just behind in 3:49.80.  Tamogami's recent 3:47.63 best looks like it may be in danger.  #2-ranked Kazuki Kawamura (Ogaki Nihon Prep H.S.) with a best of 3:47.69 coasted it in in the second heat in 3:54.44 while four other boys, two of them in the first heat with Tamogami and Nakamura, broke 3:51, promising some depth to tomorrow's final.



The boys' hammer throw final saw all three podium placers throw PBs over 60 m, Ryota Muraki (Hisai H.S.) getting the win with a throw of 63.62 m. In the boys' 4x100 m relay heats, World Youth Championships double sprint gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) turned in a big anchor run to move Josai up from 5th to 2nd in 40.93, just missing 1st but moving his team on to Thursday's semifinals.  Ishizuka also returned in the girls' 4x100 m to anchor the Keiai girls, coming up from 4th and running down first place to put them into the semis in 46.93.

68th National High School Track and Field Championships 
Day One Highlights
Wakayama, July 29
click here for complete results

Boys' 400 m Final
1. Daisuke Funato (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) - 47.06 - PB
2. Hiroki Daira (Sanda Shosei H.S.) - 47.28 (47.24 PB in semifinal)
3. Takuto Eto (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 47.46
4. Manato Sasaki (Morioka Minami H.S.) - 47.55
5. Sho Someya (Seibudai Chiba H.S.) - 48.29
6. Haruhiko Nakatsukue (Soyo H.S.) - 49.03
7. Ayumu Miura (Junshin H.S.) - 49.10
8. Shuichiro Matsubara (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 50.98

Girls' 400 m Final
1. Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) - 53.30 - MR, PB
2. Yuna Iwata (Niijima Gakuen H.S.) - 54.37 - PB
3. Rin Aoki (Soyo H.S.) - 54.74 - PB
4. Airi Ikezaki (Funairi H.S.) - 55.08 (55.02 PB in semifinal)
5. Fumi Matsumoto (Okazaki Joshi H.S.) - 55.68
6. Yuna Uesugi (Hirakata H.S.) - 55.74
7. Ryo Koda (Tochiku H.S.) - 55.82
8. Sayumi Yoshida (Aichi H.S.) - 55.97

Boys' 1500 m Qualifiers
3:49.69 - Kazuyoshi Tamogami (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) - 1st, H.1
3:49.80 - Kakeru Nakamura (Saigyo H.S.) - 2nd, H.1
3:50.46 - Kazuya Nishiyama (Daisan Tokyo Nogyo Prep H.S.) - 1st, H.3
3:50.51 - Taku Tomihara (Jinsei Gakuen H.S.) - 3rd, H.1
3:50.88 - Atsuya Ubukata (Sano Nihon Prep H.S.) - 2nd, H.3
3:50.95 - Tsubasa Komuro (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 4th, H.1
3:51.03 - Tomohiro Soeda (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 3rd, H.3
3:51.65 - Taisei Ogino (Kato Gakuen H.S.) - 5th, H.1
3:51.66 - Masahide Saito (Waseda Jitsugyo H.S.) - 1st, H.4
3:51.80 - Satoshi Tsuboi (Ogaki Nihon Prep H.S.) - 4th, H.3
3:51.82 - Haruki Nishimura (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 2nd, H.4
3:51.84 - Hiroaki Saito (Kugayama Koku Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 6th, H.1
3:51.99 - Yuya Nakamura (Osaka Toin H.S.) - 3rd, H.4
3:54.18 - Rikuto Iijima (Midorioka H.S.) - 1st, H.2
3:54.44 - Kazuki Kawamura (Ogaki Nihon Prep H.S.) - 2nd, H.2
3:54.58 - Shoma Funatsu (Ohori Fukuoka Prep H.S.) - 3rd, H.2

Girls' 1500 m Qualifiers
4:21.80 - Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 1st, H.4
4:22.74 - Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 1st, H.2
4:22.97 - Kimi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 2nd, H.2
4:23.24 - Kanami Hiraga (Junten H.S.) - 3rd, H.2
4:23.61 - Chika Tarumoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 2nd, H.4
4:24.32 - Yuki Kometani (Tokiwa H.S.) - 3rd, H.4
4:24.84 - Yuna Wada (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 4th, H.4
4:25.05 - Chika Mukai (Shigakukan H.S.) - 1st, H.1
4:25.14 - Ryo Koido (Suijo H.S.) - 5th, H.4
4:25.76 - Kana Tsuchida (Niigata Meikun H.S.) - 4th, H.2
4:26.97 - Keiko Okada (Yawatahama H.S.) - 2nd, H.1
4:27.02 - Yuka Matsumura (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 5th, H.2
4:27.06 - Shino Wakisaka (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 3rd, H.1
4:27.59 - Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) - 1st, H.3
4:28.39 - Honoka Kudo (Oita Nishi H.S.) - 2nd, H.3
4:29.17 - Arisu Fuwa (Takasaki Kenko Fukushi Prep H.S.) - 3rd, H.3

Boys' Hammer Throw Final
1. Ryota Muraki (Hisai H.S.) - 63.62 m - PB
2. Masao Ikeda (Sayama H.S.) - 61.72 m - PB
3. Kenji Miyazaki (Wakayama Kogyo H.S.) - 60.45 m - PB

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

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

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