Kysen Terukina puts his name to forefront of a family of wrestlers with four titles
JAMM AQUINO/JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Baldwin’s Coby Ravida reacts after defeating Moanalua’s Elijah Ascuncion in the boys 120-pound state championship match of the 2020 HHSAA Wrestling Championship on Saturday, February 22, 2020 at Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.
JAMM AQUINO/JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Kamehameha’s Kanai Tapia, top, works against Kapolei’s Branden Pagurayan in the boys 152-pound state championship match of the 2020 HHSAA Wrestling Championship on Saturday, February 22, 2020 at Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.
JAMM AQUINO/JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Kamehameha’s Kysen Terukina held up four fingers for his four state titles after winning the 132-pound crown.
Producing great wrestlers is a Terukina family tradition.
Kysen Terukina, the latest in a long line of Hawaii greats from the Ewa Beach clan, polished off his fourth state championship Saturday at Blaisdell Arena. That’s one more than the next in line among Terukinas.
After beating Saint Louis’ Elijah Kaawa in the 132-pound final at the Texaco/HHSAA Wrestling State Championships, the Kamehameha kid was up front in saying he nearly let his mind take him off the prize.
“I was kind of overthinking it a lot,” said Terukina a minute after the win. “I never focus on what the other guy is going do to, but this match, I put those thoughts in my head. I was more defensive instead of moving how I move. I knew I was going to get the job done, but it’s not really how I wanted to wrestle. I’m a four-time (champ) and I’m happy with it.”
Terukina, who finishes the season as the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler, was also super relieved that four years of pressure is off of him.
The Terukinas have cultivated 16 state titles. It started with his father Darryl (1983 and ’84 state champion) and his uncle Ben (’84, ’85, ’86). Then came brothers Shayden (’08, ’10, ‘11), Blaysen (’15, ‘16) and Zayren (’17, ’18).
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There was nearly a 17th family championship Saturday, but Ino Terukina of Campbell, who is Ben’s daughter, lost in the 112-pound girls final to Kamehameha’s Haley Narahara. Ino and her twin sister, Kili, who finished third at 117 pounds, are juniors, with another shot to add to the family haul.
It wasn’t clear who Kysen would be rooting for in Ino’s match. When asked a bit before it began, he said, ‘Well, she is going against somebody from our team.’ ”
Kanai Tapia, another Warriors wrestler, made a jump from No. 4 to No. 3 p4p. The junior did that with an exclamation point by rifling through two other p4p wrestlers in the loaded 152-pound division — two-time 152 state titlist Branden Pagurayan in the final and Moanalua’s Boltyn Taam, who won states at 160 a year ago.
Coby Ravida of Baldwin finished his illustrious wrestling career as a three-time state champ and also moved up one notch to No. 2 in the final p4p list. His brother Tobey Ravida, a sophomore, entered the top 10 — at No. 9 p4p — for the first time after earning his first state championship Saturday in the 113-pound class.
Rounding out the p4p list are two-time state champs Brant Porter of Kamehameha (No. 4), Pagurayan (No. 5), Legend Matautia (No. 6) and Zander Manuel (No. 7) of Punahou, and two wrestlers who won their divisions for the first time Saturday — Nicholas Cordeiro (No. 8) of Waianae and Blaze Pascua (No. 10) of ‘Iolani.
Pascua also entered the p4p list for the first time.
Na Menehune’s Taam and former state champ Elijah Asuncion, also of Moanalua, were on the p4p list going into states, but dropped out after not going all the way.
