LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Soka University competed in the Duel in the Desert meet, hosted by the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State University, on Friday, Sept. 25, at Floyd Lamb Park. The Lions' women's team placed third of four teams, while the men did not compete as a full team.
In the women's 5K,
Yuko Hashimoto led Soka with a seventh-place finish in 20:04.6, trailing only a group of UNLV runners and one Nevada State runner.
Tomoe Hamazaki followed in 21:30.9 (15th),
Sara Siegler in 21:47.7 (17th),
Anna Kawaguchi in 21:50.7 (18th) and
Charlize Bolton in 22:51.1 (23rd) to round out Soka's scoring five. Sophie Iizuka (23:22.0, 25th) and
Yuka Vitorino (27:40.1, 30th) also competed for the Lions. Soka posted a team time of 1:48:05 with a 21:37 average and a 6:58 average mile, and a five-man gap of 2:47 among its scorers.
On the men's side,
Mark Pliushchanskii paced Soka in the 8K, finishing 14th in 30:47.3.
Angel Barrios Bohorquez followed in 31:04.0 (18th),
Shion Hirano in 32:08.9 (23rd) and
Hironobu Shinomiya in 32:13.5 (26th). The Lions did not have enough runners to field a scoring team.
