The Kyoyama J.H.S. girls and boys won Sunday's National Junior High School Ekiden in Shiga's Kibogaoka Bunka Park, becoming only the second school in the event's 31-year history to sweep both titles. In the five-stage, 12.0 km girls' race, Kyoyama's Haruka Higuchi was 9th on the 3.0 km opening leg. Running 2.0 km each, Wakana Minami and Mei Iwasaki moved up through the field into 2nd, and with a stage-winning run Mayu Ishihara put them into the lead. Anchoring the Kyoyama girls was National Junior High School Championships 1500 m winner Rikka Kuroda . Kuroda comes from a strong running family, with her father Masayoshi Kuroda having run the Hakone Ekiden for Hosei University , her oldest brother Asahi Kuroda having won his stage at this year's Izumo Ekiden for Aoyama Gakuin University , and her middle brother Zen Kuroda of Tamano Konan H.S. having placed 2nd in the 3000 mSC at this year's National High School Championships. Kuroda dropped 2nd-place...
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