Nanea Estrella pulled a devastating double whammy Saturday night.
One was for the history books. The other was for fun, if you can call it that.
First, the Lahainaluna senior pinned Kamehameha’s Skye Realin in the 132-pound division to pull off a rare four-peat at the Texaco/HHSAA Wrestling State Championships at Blaisdell Arena.
“I just did it,” she said. “I’m so happy. There’s so much that I put in for all four years and so much that I went through and so much sleep deprivation and emotion, and for all of this to just happen, it’s overwhelming.”
Not long after the win, Estrella gave one of her coaches, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Zane Monteleone, a blast double leg and he hit the mat on his back.
“All the stuff that he put me through in practice, he deserves it,” said Estrella, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler who is the sixth Hawaii girl to win states all four years.
>> PHOTOS: State wrestling: Day 2 championship matches
In the night’s marquee matchup, Kamehameha’s Paige Respicio (No. 3 p4p) scored a late takedown to sew up a 4-1 victory over Baldwin’s Waipuilani Beauchamp-Estrella (No. 2 p4p) at 138 pounds. Both were going for their third state titles, but only Respicio got it.
“Everything I’ve done through the years, I did for my dad,” said Respicio, whose father, Clifford, died when she was in middle school.
>> VIDEOS: Watch all 28 finals matches
Respicio was part of the Warriors’ girls squad that won a second straight team title with 169 points to edge second-place Lahainaluna (161.5).
Haley Narahara also contributed in a big way to that Kamehameha victory. She clinched the team trophy in the night’s penultimate match by winning her first state championship with an 18-3 technical fall over Campbell’s Ino Terukina in the 112 final.
“It means all of our hard work paid off,” Narahara said. “We tried our best to knock out the competition.”
In a grueling 155-pound final match, Castle’s Sadie Antoque (No. 6 p4p) finished off Baldwin’s Kaceylee Pua, winning by fall at 3:59 to put a second state trophy in her case.
Baldwin’s Shayna Kamaka (No. 8 p4p) and Lahainaluna’s Shannon Jaramillo also became two-time state winners. Kamaka pinned Nanakuli’s Shannlynne Mahoe in 30 seconds in the 168 final, and Jaramillo took just 28 seconds to win by fall over Maryknoll’s Dylan Huddy at 184.
Another girl, Kahuku’s Tangiteina Niutupuivaha (No. 4 p4p), missed out on a three-peat. In the 225 final, Hilo’s Leona Toledo scored a takedown with 25 seconds to go for a 4-2 victory.
“I did it for my team, I did it for my coaches and I did it for my family and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here,” Toledo said after securing her first state title.
At 122 pounds, Kalani’s Emily Paulino broke through for her first state title, getting a takedown with 50 seconds to go to beat Pearl City’s Makana Cooper 3-2. Cooper, a senior, was trying to add to her family legacy after brothers Makana, Baylen, Blake and Raynald combined for eight previous state championships.
Six other girls rose to the top of the state in their divisions for the first time: Moanalua’s Lana Perez (No. 5 p4p, 127 pounds), Waianae’s Tiare Carlson (145), Aiea’s Brianna Funakoshi (102), Aiea’s Alejandra Corral, and Mililani’s Erin Hikiji (No. 10 p4p, 97) and Victoria Lee (117).
With a 2-1 victory in the 107 final, Corral prevented Campbell’s Alizeih Villalpando (No. 7 p4p) from a second state title.
Like Estrella-Beauchamp, Bears teammate Jahnea Miguel (No. 9 p4p) missed out on her bid for a third state championship, losing 3-2 to Kamehameha’s Krystal Puahala in the 127 semifinals.
Texaco/HHSAA State Wrestlin… by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
