Moanalua swept the boys and girls team titles in the OIA East Division championships on Saturday at Farrington, but the battle to watch was in the girls 117-pound bracket.
Roosevelt’s Macy Higa, ranked No. 9 in Hawaii Prep World’s pound-for-pound rankings, edged Kaiser’s Tiare Ikei (No. 8) by a 4-3 decision in a razor-thin final.
Higa won a state title at 112 pounds as a sophomore and finished second last year. Ikei won Officials at 112 pounds last month while Higa won Officials at 117. Ikei, who was third at states at 112 last season, beat Higa during the preseason.
Kahuku senior Teniya Alo, a two-time state champion and the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound wrestler, got in less than three minutes of mat time, pinning her first opponent in 59 seconds before winning the 138-pound final in 1:37 by pin.
Her Red Raiders teammate, Tangiteina Niutupuivaha, pinned Farrington’s Lavenia Fotu, the No. 6 pound-for-pound wrestler, in 1:50 to win the 225-pound weight class.
Moanalua won five of the 14 weight classes on the boys side with Logan Garcia, the only ranked pound-for-pound boys wrestler in the meet at No. 9, winning the 126-pound final by pinfall in 5:00. It was his first major tournament of the season.
Sitaleki Tongi of Kahuku won an OIA East title at 170 pounds. He was runner-up to Leilehua’s Keanu Punley at the Officials tournament in December. On Saturday, Punley placed second to Pearl City’s Kasey Kikuyama in the OIA West 170 final, also on Saturday. That bracket is shaping up to be a free-for-all at OIAs and states.
Full results can be found below.
Alo & Higa dominate the girls side and Logan Garcia dominates the boys.
Garcia down to 126lb & Ikei at 117lb Respicio down to 170lb Paguryan up to 152lb…