In state wrestling circles, it was one of those mondo matchups that comes around every so often.
Two reigning state champions — Kamehameha’s Blaysen Terukina and Kapolei’s Shandon Ilaban-Totten — squared off in the boys 132-pound final at the Hawaii Wrestling Officials Association Scholarship Tournament on Saturday at Leilehua, and it was Terukina who prevailed with a 5-4 victory.
“Shandon is a tough wrestler,” said Terukina, who won the 120-pound state title last season. “I wrestled him in club all summer. It’s always back and forth. Today was fun. I came out with the better mind-set. I was attacking and controlling the match.”
Terukina, who is the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s No. 4-ranked pound-for-pound wrestler, wasn’t kidding when he said it’s back and forth. When pressed further about who wins more, he said, it’s pretty much 50-50 against Ilaban-Totten, who is No. 3 on the pound-for-pound list and who is the reigning state champ at 126.
The Officials tournament gives fans a preseason preview of who’s who for the states that happen in March.
The ‘Iolani boys and Kamehameha girls emerged as the team champions.
There were plenty of surprises in the finals of the 14 boys and 14 girls weight classes that included 392 competitors. One of the most surprising was in the girls 225 final, where Keaau’s Ebony Ayers pinned Kahuku’s Sabrina Alo, the top seed.
“I kept on going, I wanted to win so bad,” said Ayers, who weighed in at only 184.5 and is a two-time Big Island Interscholastic Federation champ in judo and wrestling. She placed fifth at states last season. “I looked at her and right off the bat I knew she was underestimating me. So I needed to prove her wrong.”
In another upset, Lahainaluna’s Kaile Kron knocked off top-seeded Czarina Pineda-Abaya of Kalani at 117 pounds. Pineda-Abaya appeared to come through with a takedown before time expired, but she didn’t get the call after a discussion by officials and lost 10-9.
“I tried to fight her off by keeping my hips up and not getting taken down,” Kron said. “Yeah, it was a pretty big upset.”
Three other top-seeded girls fell in the finals: Baldwin’s Saydie Kala dropped Kamehameha state champion Callen Medeiros 10-8 at 168; Roosevelt’s Menjam Tamang beat Punahou state champ Bailey Hoshino at 97; and Zion Vierra helped her Kamehameha team to victory by defeating Pearl City state champion Asia Evans at 127. Evans (No. 4) and Hoshino (No. 5) are in the pound-for-pound Top 10.
In one other finals match (aside from Terukina vs. Ilaban-Totten) that pitted two wrestlers in the pound-for-pound rankings, ‘Iolani state champion KJ Pascua (No. 5) handled Baldwin’s Thomas Stevenson (No. 8) 7-1 at 152. Pascua also beat Stevenson in the 145-pound state final last season.
Aside from Pascua, the Raiders had three other individual champs en route to the team title — Kainoa Torigoe (106), Jake Nakasone (120) and Saaiga Fautanu (182).
In addition to Vierra, the Warriors had four others title winners on the way to the team crown — Ashley Gooman (102), Pomaikai Yamaguchi (132), Jaclyn Fontanilla (155) and Leilani Camargo-Naone (184).
BOYS TEAMS
Top Five
1. ‘Iolani, 193.5
2. Campbell, 178
3. Baldwin, 148
4. Kapolei, 132
5. Waianae, 126.5
GIRLS TEAMS
Top Five
1. Kamehameha, 166
2. Lahainaluna, 137.5
3. Roosevelt, 117
4. Pearl City, 116
5. Kapolei, 81
