Boys wrestling P4P, March 4

The old adage that you can’t lose your spot to injury doesn’t apply to the pound-for-pound rankings.

Mililani’s Zack Diamond slipped out of the top spot for the first time all season when he lost a close match to Waianae’s Sheldon Bailey in the semifinals of the OIA championships. Diamond suffered an injured knee in the bout and forfeited his next to matches to head into the state meet unseeded.

He dropped to No. 4 with the loss. Kaiser’s Chance Ikei dropped even further despite making it to the OIA championship with a flexible cast on his hand but losing to Campbell’s Josh Gallarde in the final. Gallarde rose to No. 8 with the win, not allowing a takedown in two days of what might be the toughest bracket in the state last week.

That called for a change at the top and Leilehua’s Liam Corbett took advantage by grabbing the top spot after being No. 2 behind Diamond all season. The biggest surprise is at No. 2, when Kapolei’s Shandon Ilaban Totten rose from No. 7 last week. He was honorable mention in the first list of the season but has steadily rose and capped it off with three pins of three tough opponents at the OIA championships.

He jumps over undefeated state and OIA champion Tristan Ludiazo of Campbell. All Ludiazo has done is beat everyone in front of him, but he does it by the narrowest of margins. He walks the tight rope in every big match and refuses to fall.

ILH champions Cameron Kato or Punahou, Brian Pascua of Iolani and Blaysen Terukina of Kamehameha are steady in the middle of the rankings, with only Terukina being pushed.

Kapolei’s Jayson Pagurayan at No. 10 shows just how elite this list is, he was dominant at the OIA tournament.

Pearl City’s Maui Lee is back after an inspiring win over Campbell’s Micah Tynanes-Perez in their OIA final, but he doesn’t fit up here yet. State champion Boman Tokioka of Kamehameha and fellow ILH champion Josh Crimmins of Punahou are most on the verge, Crimmins has to face Diamond in a must-see first-round match. There was a lot of outrage on these boards when the draw was announced during Nick Abramo’s live blog from the seeding meeting, but Crimmins and his coach don’t mind.

“The system is what it is,” Punahou coach Yoshi Honda said. “You can’t control the seed after seeding the top four, you can’t control where other wrestlers place in there league. To be the best you have to wrestle the best, it doesn’t matter what order that happens.”

1. Liam Corbett, Leilehua (152)
OIA champ twice, state runner up, Officials champ, OIA West champ
Last week: Pinned Kahuku’s Ikaika Boyle in 3:37, Beat Moanalua’s Kulana Salera 2-0, Beat Mililani’s Marquis Dominique 11-3.

2. Shandon Ilaban, Kapolei (126)
OIA champion twice, state placer, Officials champ, did not compete at OIA West.
Last week: Pinned Kealohi Graycocchea of Kahuku in 1:14, Pinned Leilehua’s Kawailani Somera Rickard in 1:09, Pinned Moanalua’s Antonio Ruiz in 3:03.

3. Tristan Ludiazo, Campbell (285) 
State champion, OIA champ, state placer (4th), MIT champion, Officials champion, OIA West champion
Last week: Beat Moanalua’s Damian Agao Casabar 19-3, Beat Radford’s JP Oishi 3-2.

4. Zack Diamond, Mililani (138)
OIA champ, state runner up twice, MIT champ, Officials champ, OIA West champ
Last week: Beat Pearl City’s Baylen Cooper 21-10, Lost to Waianae’s Sheldon Bailey 4-2, forfeited next two matches due to injury.

5. Cameron Kato, Punahou (113)
State champ, ILH champ, Officials champ
Last week: Won ILH title with a 10-2 win over Cody Cabanban of Saint Louis.

6. Brian Pascua, Iolani (145)
ILH champ twice, state runner up, Officials champ.
Last week: Pinned Kamehameha’s Cullen Slavens in second round for ILH title.

7. Blaysen Terukina, Kamehameha (120)
ILH champion three times, Officials champ.
Last week: Beat Punahou’s Sean Urabe 3-2 for ILH title

8. Josh Gallarde, Campbell (135)
OIA champ, Second MIT, OIA West champ
Last week: Pinned Waialua’s Rodson Velasco in 2:46, Beat Moanalua’s Chevy Tabiolo Felicilda 11-3, Beat Castle’s Jaron Pagaduan 7-0, Beat Kaiser’s Chance Ikei 3-0 for OIA title.

9. Chance Ikei, Kaiser (132)
State champ, Officials champ, did not compete in OIA East championships
Last week: Beat Waianae’s Alika Agustin 8-2, Beat Radford’s Nathan Hill 11-1, Beat Roosevelt’s Bishop Moore by forfeit, Lost to Campbell’s Josh Gallarde 3-0.

10. Jayson Pagurayan, Kapolei (109)
OIA champ twice, state third, Officials champ, OIA West champ
Last week: Beat Campbell’s Isaac Adriano in 1:23, Pinned Mililani’s Tayler Otsuka in 2:12 for OIA title.

Next:
Maui Lee (Pearl City): Beat Campbell’s MIcah Tynanes Perez 3-1 for OIA title
Boman Tokioka (Kamehameha): Beat Robert Straton of Punahou 8-7 for ILH title.
Josh Crimmins (Punahou): Beat Iolani’s James Mizota 10-2 for ILH title.
Thomas Rosen St. John (Lahainaluna): Won 172-pound title at MIL over Tavian Del Riosario of Lanai
Christian Balagso (Lahainaluna): Won 122-pound title for MIL title over teammate Souta Nardi
Corey Cabanban (Saint Louis): Pinned Punahou’s Connor Lee in the third period to take ILH 108-pound title
Thomas Stevenson (Baldwin): Beat Kamehameha-Maui’s Aaron Murray for MIL 147-pound title
Triston Santos (Campbell): Beat Kapolei’s Andre Pagurayan 12-3 for OIA 113-pound title
Connor Mowat (Lahainaluna): Beat Molokai’s Kui Han for MIL 287-pound title
Sheldon Bailey (Waianae): Beat Matthew Mantanona of Campbell for the OIA title at 138.