We’re here at the Kamehameha gym and the ILH championships have been going on since noon. The semifinals are done and we will be updating you on some of those matches. We will be giving you a list of finals matches as soon as they are available, and if we can (depending on the gym setup), will give you a live blog of the finals on a separate post. Updates follow. >> 2:45: Saint Louis’ Corey Cabanban, a three-time state […]
Kamehameha’s Zion Grace Vierra will be trying to put her name along the best in ILH history on Thursday at Kamehameha. Vierra is the top seed at 147 pounds in the ILH championships, and has a bye into the final against teammate Jordan Yogi. If Vierra can win that wrestle-off for a top seed at states, she would collect the ILH slam. She won at 119 pounds as a freshman, 127 as a sophomore and 138 as a junior. Vierra […]
Saint Louis state champion Corey Cabanban will lead the boys field at 126 pounds in the ILH championships on Thursday at Kamehameha. The Crusader is the top seed in his weight class and is the only boy going for the league slam. He won at 108 as a freshman, 113 as a sophomore and 120 as a junior. He followed each of those efforts with state titles. He will become the first grand slam winner from Saint Louis since Brandon […]
If a documentary crew is available, bring your movie cameras and other gear to wrestling practices at various schools over the next week and plan to be at the state tournament Feb. 14 and 15 at Blaisdell Arena for a postscript. There is an intense competition in Hawaii’s 170-pound class. Yes, it’s already been written about by Hawaii Prep World extensively, but the plots and subplots — if explored — may turn out to be better than reality TV. None […]
Lahainaluna’s Kainalu Estrella completed his mission on Maui, earning the rare grand slam with a championship at the league championships on Saturday night. Estrella pinned Kamehameha-Maui’s Noa Helm in 2 minutes, 50 seconds for the historic win. No boys wrestler has won titles all four years since at least 1980. Estrella won at 113 pounds as a freshman, 120 as a sophomore, 128 as a junior and 134 this year. He also had the fastest pin in Saturday’s tournament, winning […]
Updates on the OIA championships finals matches Saturday at the Leilehua gym will follow as soon as they become available. GIRLS FINALS >> 127: Alizeih Villaipando (Moanalua) vs. Charity Curran (Campbell) >> Notes: Villaipando scores with an escape late in the first period, 1-0. … Curran comes back for a 2-1 lead early in the second. … With mor than a minute remaining in the second, Curran goes ahead 3-1. … Curran gets an escape for a 4-1 lead. >> […]
Kapolei’s Jacob Yamaguchi pulled off a big upset Saturday at the OIA championships at Leilehua. In a back-and-forth struggle, Yamaguchi defeated Radford’s Christian Tavares 13-12 in the 138-pound semifinals. Tavares is No. 7 in Hawaii Prep World’s pound-for-pound rankings. At the Officials touranament in December, Tavares defeated Yamaguchi 9-3. Now, Yamaguchi moves on to face Moanalua’s Noah Wusstig in the 138 final. Wusstig topped Leilehua’s Naikoa Simao in the other semifinal Saturday. “It was super hard,” Yamaguchi said after the […]
As expected, the OIA championships semifinals at 170 pounds were razor close Saturday at Leilehua gym. Kachi Respcio of Campbell held off Gianni Oyadomari of Kapolei 6-5, and Keanu Punley of Leilehua rallied back late to defeat Sitaleki Tongi of Kahuku 5-4. Respcio and Punley will meet in the final later Saturday. At the Officials tournament in December, Respicio won the 182-pound class, and Punley beat Tongi 5-2 for the 170-pound title. Then at the OIA West meet last week, […]