Tears of both joy and sadness, pained expressions of fatigue and anguish, deep sighs of relief and of course, smiles from ear to ear.
The Texaco/HHSAA State Wrestling Championships are always an emotional night.
Saturday was no different at the Cannon Activities Center on the Brigham Young-Hawaii campus on the North Shore.
From multiple freshmen notching the first of what could eventually turn out to be a state slam to seniors breaking through in their final attempt, the stories of each of the 28 individual winners are equally unique as they are compelling.
Nobody seemed to have more fun than Kahuku junior Maia Esera, who pinned her way to a state championship at 225 pounds.
The last-minute venue change created some hardships for neighbor island schools, but was a pleasant surprise to Esera, who got to wrestle right down the road from her high school.
“Things like this don’t happen. States is always at the Blaisdell,” Esera said. “Everyone is in here, all of my family, the whole school, I heard the tomahawk during my match, it was so crazy. I loved the energy.”
A boisterous crowd kept up the energy through the finals, which lasted for more than four hours.
It began with the girls 132-pound weight class and top seed Eloise Woolsey of Kapolei winning by sudden victory, 5-3, over defending champion Teani Medeiros-Maielua of Lahainaluna.
The event ended with Kamehameha junior Evan Kusumoto dominating the boys 113-pound final to win his second title.
It was a long wait until the final match, but it didn’t affect Kusumoto, who jumped up a weight class this year after winning at 106 as a sophomore.
“It kind of sucks going last because you drain your energy watching the finals but it’s all good,” Kusumoto said. “When you talk about jumping up in weight, there’s different competitors but it’s just wrestling.”
The lightest weight classes for boys and girls were dominated by a pair of freshmen who have a bright future.
Moanalua’s Adriana Daoang, who began wrestling when she was 5, pinned all four of her opponents en route to the 97-pound girls title with two of them coming in less than 20 seconds.
Saint Louis’ Hunter Berger, who said he started wrestling when he was 6, won by pinfall in the final to claim the boys 106-pound title.
“It feels really nice to know that I’ve worked hard for something and it’s already paying off,” Daoang said. “It made me feel really good because my team was supportive of me all the way through. It’s a really nice feeling.”
She was one of seven different state champions from Moanalua, which repeated as girls state champions.
Kapolei won the boys state titles for the first time to become the third OIA school to win it since 2018.
“It’s really big for the school,” Kapolei acting head coach Jason Yanase said. “Our kids work super hard. Only they know how hard they’ve worked. Everybody banded together, boys and girls, and busted their butts. Coach Salter pushed them hard. They won this for him too.”
Kapolei did it despite missing their head coach Sean Salter for the second straight tournament.
“The coaching staff really held them together and pushed them along,” Yanase said. “They really did everything that was asked. They held their composure; they played really hard; they played their hearts out, for him.”
Lahainaluna’s Kivah Caballero, who finished third at Officials at 127 pounds and second at 122 pounds at Pa’ani, knocked off top seed Maya Rose DeAngelo of ‘Iolani with two points in the final second to win the 122-pound title.
Caballero, who didn’t place at states last year after injuring her ankle in the quarterfinals, was one of two Lunas to win on the girls side.
“Honestly I thought I was done. I’m a senior so I was like ‘I have to do something.’ I reversed her, got my two (points), and all I could think about was I’m not going out like this,” Caballero said. “I was thinking of my Dad up there. He’s not here today to watch me, so I was thinking about him trying to make him proud.”
