Tokai anchor Akihiro Gunji pumped his fist and then opened his arms wide as he crossed the finish line of the two-day Tokyo-Hakone Intercollegiate Ekiden on Thursday in Tokyo. He didn't stop, though -- the junior continued running for a while before jumping into the arms of his teammates to wildly celebrate the school's first Hakone title.
Led by Yohei Komatsu, who posted a new section record for the eighth leg, all five Tokai runners on the day finished no worse than third in each of their sections to overtake first-day leader Toyo and snap Aoyama Gakuin's winning streak at four. Aoyama Gakuin rebounded from sixth place the previous day to finish second. Toyo was third, followed by Komazawa and Teikyo.
"It feels surreal -- this is the greatest feeling," Tokai coach Hayashi Morozumi said. The school finished fifth last year, more than 12 minutes behind winner Aoyama Gakuin. "I felt that all 10 runners had confidence in what they have achieved in the past, and proved that from the start to the end," Morozumi added.
Tokai started the second day 1 minute 14 seconds behind Toyo. The tide turned in the seventh leg -- the second section of the day -- with junior Ryohei Sakaguchi trimming Toyo's lead to just 4 seconds. Komatsu, also a junior, caught Toyo in the next leg, and converted the deficit to a cushion of about 50 seconds. The remaining two runners widened the gap for the team's victory.
"I wanted the runners in the ninth and 10th legs to race comfortably, so I was determined that my section would decide the race," said Komatsu, who broke Hakone's longest-held record, set in 1997. He was chosen as the race MVP.
Aoyama shows pride; Waseda 12th
Aoyama Gakuin showed its prowess as the four-time defending champion, posting the best time of the second day. None of the Aoyama runners finished worse than second Thursday, with senior Yuji Onoda posting a new record on the downhill sixth section.
Waseda University, a 13-time Hakone winner that finished third last year, ended up 12th, dropping out of the top 10 that secures automatic entry to next year's Hakone Ekiden.
The prestigious university finished a lackluster 15th the previous day, and was able to up its ranking by three spots.
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