The Tokyo Tech Track & Field Club put in a strong overall performance at the 71st Tokyo regional track and field championships for national and public universities on June 10. In the track category, the men made history by taking overall victory for the first time in the Institute’s history. Tokyo Tech also took third place in the men’s track and field category and the mixed track and field category.
In the events of this competition, first- to eighth-place finishers score points, with the winner taking eight points and the eighth-place finisher taking one point. In the track category, Tokyo Tech’s men scored points in many of the events. Three Tokyo Tech runners finished with points in each of the 800m, 1,500m, and 5,000m races. These performances guaranteed them a win in the track category. In the field category, three Tokyo Tech athletes scored points in the long jump, and several also did so in the triple jump.
Despite a low number of participants, Tokyo Tech’s women also performed well on the track, scoring points in the 800m and the 3,000m.
Men’s 5,000m: 2nd-year master’s student in Mechanical Engineering Sogo Ito (No. 14, center left) and 3rd-year Materials Science and Engineering student Shunta Nakamura (No. 9, center right) finished second and fifth, respectively
Comments from middle-distance running captain
Yutaro Semba
3rd year, Chemistry
I competed in the men’s 800m and 1,500m, and ran three tough races in one day. I did not achieve a personal best, but I am glad that I was able to score points without any major incidents. As the middle-distance captain, I aim to lead and encourage other members competing in the middle-distance events while balancing my extracurricular and academic activities.
Comments from Tokyo Tech Track and Field Club faculty member
Professor Nobuhiko Sugino
Global Scientific Information and Computing Center
These results were the sum of all the contestants’ abilities in their respective events. In particular, the performances of the master’s-level students, the fourth-year students, and the rising stars who have been competing since high school — the main competitors of the event — were remarkable. These performances encouraged other team members to also contribute outstanding efforts. Many of the competitors also said that the vocal cheering and support, which was banned during the COVID-19 pandemic but was once again allowed at this year’s competition, gave many athletes a strong additional lift. This is a wonderful result for all club members — those who competed, those who systematically cheered on their fellow athletes, those who took on the role of assistants from the morning of the competition, and those who acted as managers and took records of the events. I believe that this result will boost each individual athlete and the whole team in future competitions against rival universities.
A big thank-you also goes out to the Tokyo Tech Track and Field Club alumni who were present to support us during the competition.
Tokyo Tech Track & Field Club members
