Ndungu With Two Meet Records in 22 Hours at Hokkaido H.S. Regionals

by Brett Larner

First-year Charles Ndungu (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.), the first-ever Kenyan to grace the Hokkaido high school regional circuit, continues to carve a place for himself in the record books. Running in typhoon conditions June 20 he set a six-second meet record of 14:27.98 in the qualifying heats of the 5000 m at the Hokkaido Regional H.S. Track & Field Championships, winning his heat by well over a minute. Twenty-two hours later he returned to take another thirty seconds off his own record with a new mark of 13:57.81 in the final. Second through fifth succeeded in getting within a minute of Ndungu, led by senior Fusanosuke Araya (Otani Muroran H.S.) in 14:51.08.

Next month Ndungu will travel to the National H.S. Championships, where he will face his first real competition since arriving in Japan this spring, including fellow Kenyans Jeremiah Karemi (Toyokawa H.S.), John Gathaiya (Sera H.S.), John Maina (Aomori Yamada H.S.) and Hiram Ngatia (Sendai Ikuei H.S.).

2012 Hokkaido Regional H.S. Track & Field Championships Men's 5000 m Final
Hokkaido, 6/21/12
click here for complete meet results

1. Charles Ndungu (1st yr., Kenya/Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) - 13:57.81 - MR
2. Fusanosuke Araya (3rd yr., Otani Muroran H.S.) - 14:51.08
3. Daiki Suzaki (2nd yr., Otani Muroran H.S.) - 14:52.19
4. Shotaro Shimaguchi (3rd yr., Takikawa Nishi H.S.) - 14:54.02
5. Shuhei Tsukidate (3rd yr., Otani Muroran H.S.) - 14:54.23

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
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