National Champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. Girls Win Kitakyushu Women’s Invitational Ekiden

The 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls ended their season with another win, taking 1st at the 35th Kitakyushu Women’s Invitational Ekiden Sunday in Fukuoka. Running against corporate league competition like 2023 Queens Ekiden winner Sekisui Kagaku and high school Nationals 3rd and 4th placers Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S., Kamimura Gakuen got off to a slow start when leading runner Rina Kurokami was only 13th on her stage and 24 seconds off the lead.

But having delivered Kamimura Gakuen the national title last month with an incredible anchor stage run, its second runner Caroline Kariba showed again that she’s a budding international-level talent, chopping 18 seconds off the 3.8 km Second Stage CR, an amazing 47 seconds fastest than the previous record by a high school athlete. That was enough to put Kamimura Gakuen out front by 18 seconds over the Kyocera corporate team and 42 seconds ahead of Kunei Joshi Gakuin. Its lead stayed steady over the next two stages, with Kyocera hanging on to the top corporate spot and Ritsumeikan Uji moving up to 2nd high school 6 seconds back from Kyocera.

Corporate teams ended the race with a 10.4 km anchor stage that was split into two parts for the high school division. Higo Ginko anchor Miku Sakai turned in a stage-winning 33:26 to overtake Kyocera anchor Mio Kuroda and Ritsumeikan Uji’s Momoka Onishi, crossing the finish line in 2nd overall in 1:28:15. Onishi was only 4 seconds behind, giving Ritsumeikan Uji 3rd overall in 1:28:19. Kyocera was 2nd in the corporate division in 1:28:42 and Sysmex 3rd in 1:29:25, with 3rd-place high school team Kunei Joshi Gakuin holding Sysmex off by 6 seconds for 5th overall in 1:29:19. Running a mostly B-team, national corporate champion Sekisui Kagaku was 9th overall in 1:30:37 despite an 11:37 CR on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage by Rina Sasaki.

35th Kitakyushu Women’s Invitational Ekiden

Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 21 January, 2024

31 teams, 5 stages (6 for H.S. teams), 27.2 km

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (5.3 km) – Misaki Shitamori (Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S.) – 17:13

Second Stage (3.8 km) – Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) – 11:04 – CR

Third Stage (3.9 km) – Yumi Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) – 12:42

Fourth Stage (3.8 km) – Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku) – 11:37 – CR

Fifth Stage (open, 10.4 km) – Miku Sakai (Higo Ginko) – 33:26

Fifth Stage (H.S., 5.9 km) – Chiseno Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) – 19:26

Sixth Stage (H.S., 4.5 km) – Rin Setoguchi (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) – 14:29

Top Team Results

High School

1. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. – 1:27:54

2. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. – 1:28:19

3. Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. – 1:29:19

4. Ginga Gakuin H.S. – 1:30:19

5. Kitakyushu Shiritsu H.S. – 1:31:47

6. Suma Gakuen H.S. – 1:31:54

7. Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. – 1:32:24

8. Yamada H.S. – 1:33:44

9. Luther Gakuin H.S. – 1:34:00

10. Kyushu Kokusai H.S. – 1:34:36

Open

1. Higo Ginko – 1:28:15

2. Kyocera – 1:28:42

3. Sysmex – 1:29:25

4. Iwatani Sangyo – 1:30:07

5. Sekisui Kagaku – 1:30:37

6. Universal Entertainment – 1:30:41

7. Route Inn Hotels – 1:31:57

8. Toto – 1:32:34

9. Kitakyushu Select Team – 1:36:38

text and photo © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved