ALISO VIEJO, Calif. – The Soka University Lions competed at the GSAC Championships hosted at Soka University April 23rd through April 25th, with a handful of athletes representing the program across sprints, distance, and field events against a deep conference field.
Men's Highlights
In the distance events, Lev Nakamura, Mark Pliushchanskii, and Eiichi Takemura all competed in the 5000m, finishing 21st (17:27.64), 22nd (18:17.88), and 23rd (18:27.79) respectively. Takemura also ran the 1500m prelim, finishing 20th in 4:43.43. In the 800m prelim, Nakamura ran 2:09.02 for 20th, Katsukawa clocked 2:10.47 for 21st, and Shion Hirano finished 25th in 2:24.47.
Lenny Washiya competed in both sprint prelims, running 11.39 in the 100m (14th out of 21) and 23.30 in the 200m.
Women's Highlights
Miki Kawamura was Soka's top sprint performer, advancing to the 100m final after running 13.02 in the prelim and finishing 8th in the final with a 13.18 in an 8-person field. Kawamura also ran the 200m prelim, clocking 28.11 for 11th. Danielle Sobande ran 13.53 in the 100m prelim (10th) and 28.49 in the 200m prelim (13th). Hiromi Kawashima ran 13.71 in the 100m prelim (12th) and Florencia Linares ran 14.78 (16th).
In the distance events, Char Bolton competed in the 5000m, finishing 14th in 24:16.25 in a 15-person field. In the 800m prelim, Jasmine Lorenzo (2:42.68), Anna Kawaguchi (2:45.52), Sara Siegler (2:46.37), and Tomoe Hamazaki (2:47.98) all competed. Lorenzo alone ran the final, finishing 11th in 2:45.03.
In field events, Hiromi Kawashima took 5th in the long jump at 4.79m (15-08.75), earning 4 team points, and Mili Fukada finished 9th at 4.62m (15-02.00). Fukada also cleared 1.46m (4-09.50) in the high jump for 5th place, earning 4 more points.
