Leilehua’s Liam Corbett and Chance Ikei of Kaiser carried Team Hawaii at this week’s national wrestling championships in Fargo, N.D.
Corbett pinned the first opponent put against him in the freestyle competition but fell in the second round before winning another match in the consolation bracket.
Ikei competed in Greco Roman and won his first match 16-12 but lost his second 14-6. He blitzed his opponent 11-0 in the first match of the consolation bracket before losing 10-0.
Other Hawaii wrestlers to win in the first round were Cameron Kato (Punahou), with a 10-0 technical fall, Joshua Gallarde (Campbell) and Zachary Diamond (Mililani). They all lost their next two matches.
Kato did earn All-American status in the Greco-Roman tournament, taking sixth place after winning his first three matches in the championship bracket and fighting back from there.
Jordan Baker, Joseph Fong (University) and Jaron Pagaduan (Castle) won their first matches in the consolation bracket after falling in the first round but were stopped after that.
Donovan Morante (Leilehua), Seannacy McNeill (Kealakehe), Dominic Boland (Damien) and James Sullivan (Campbell) all went winless in the toughest tournament for high schoolers in the country.
Bracket can he found at http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2015/July/20/Fargo-Special-Section
I feel like Kato’s name should be in the headline since he is the only guy to bring home a medal.
This is an embarrassment. What else can I say.
The wrestlers were not prepared and the coaches all need to be replaced. They don’t have a clue.
replaced? the coaches are volunteers who pay their own way to fargo. most of the better coaches in the state are more focused on their own teams and don’t take the time to help team hawaii. don’t blame the coaches who actually make the trip on their own dime.
So Nerrad as long as a coach travels on his or her dime their skill level as a coach doesn’t matter? The better coaches stay away from participating because of the politics of HFUSA.
Hawaii’s governing body is so out of touch with reality that we don’t stand a chance on the boys national level. The leadership we had shown on the girls side has passed and they are being overtaken by the mainland girls. The only exception are the Alo sisters.
By the way what about the wrestlers who forked out nearly $3000 to be on the Hawaii National
team only to go 0-2 or 1-2? Shouldn’t their dime matter Nerrad? Shouldn’t the coaches have told them to save their money and get better before entering a tier 1 tournament??
Im saying put up or shut up. don’t diss the coaches who volunteered to go when u guys stayed home and did nothing to contribute. $3000 is news to me. last i heard it was about half that but even still if u have the money or can fundraise then why not take a trip to train and compete with the best? I’ve been to fargo. went 0-2 in greco and 1-2 in freestyle but it was more about the experience and improving. I came back and won a state title the next year. After seeing the studs at fargo it definitely gave me a mental edge over the competition in hawaii and I’m certain it will for the current team hawaii kids as well.
Mark B.,
Who are the “better coaches” staying away from HFUSA? The same ones coaching the kids for 10-11 months out of the year until they start going to Team Hawaii practices?
A couple of years ago, basically the same coaching staff took kids up who came back with a bunch of accolades.
The high schools need to step up during the Team Hawaii period and make practice facilities available large enough to accommodate 20-40 wrestlers per session.
mxp2000 and Darren … obviously you guys have never gone up to Fargo and seen the competition. Please help coach at Team Hawaii and bring over your wrestlers … going to Fargo will open your eyes. Over the last 10-15 years I’ve seen my of our State Champions and multiple time State Champions go up to Fargo and flat out get licked. I promise you it wasn’t because a lack of coaching or a lack of hard work. I agree, the practices have a lot of room for improvement but I don’t blame the coaches. Many of the kids that went up are club wrestlers and are coached by a variety of other coaches. It would be like saying we are all failures as coaches because our kids can’t be as competitive as we’d hope. So, unless you’ve coached Travis Lee, David Terao, or Josh Terao …. tell me who you’ve coached that would do any better and be a guaranteed All-American at Fargo. Any success our wrestlers have up at Fargo is really a joint effort by many … John Robinson and Kevin Corbett will be the first to tell you that it wasn’t all them. The only coaches in Hawaii that I know that have fielded teams that have been mostly competitive against visiting mainland teams in dual competition have been Matt Oney, Todd Los Banos, and Yoshi Honda. And I know you are none of the above.
um there was girls in fargo from team hawaii as well why didn’t get any coverage ?