Kamehameha’s Hoshino defends top spot

Five wrestlers ranked on the top of these rankings were in action at Kamehameha on Saturday, and each one of them came through.

Blaysen Terukina of Kamehameha won at 113, Alex Ursua of Pearl City took 126, Kalaheo’s Jacob Solomon won at 152, Pearl City’s Blake Cooper did his thing at 160 and Kamehameha’s Jonah Hoshino fended off a charge from No. 3 Kristian Vaana Kikuyama at 170.

No. 3 Cody Cabanban added a gold at 106 and No. 3 Keith Correa of Kamehameha won at 145. Two No. 4s, Chance Ikei of Kaiser and Jordan Fuamatu of Pearl City, won titles, with Fuamatu barely getting by Leilehua’s Soakimi Hufanga 1-0 at 285.

The only real surprise was provided by Kamehameha’s Kevin Efta at 160, where he made the final over No. 3 Lopaka Lono of Leilehua.

I have expanded the boys rankings to top 10s, please don’t read to much into anything after No. 5 as it is more of a “watch list” than a ranking and makes this easier for me to update each week. Also, I have determined that although it makes little sense, I will continue to rank wrestlers at weights where they competed even if it gives me Josh Terao at the top of the rankings at two weight classes. I equate that to a boxer being a champion across different levels, but any wrestler who doesn’t compete at a given weight for a period of one month will drop out of the rankings for that weight class.

Thanks to all who have emailed and posted, let’s keep this fun and believe you have a say in these. Sometimes I will agree, as with Terao over Akeo, and sometimes I won’t. But your opinions are heavily weighted. I am no wrestling expert, just trying to cover a beat the best way I know how. I may lag on replying to comments sometimes, but I will always read them.

There are five events on Saturday and I can only go to one. If anyone knows of any good stories, let me know via email. This weekend is going to be critical to these rankings in that I must get INDIVIDUAL results at least the finals from all of them or it puts a huge hole in this. Cross your fingers. I hope to add neighbor-island girls to those rankings today, but if I don’t get to it don’t look for it until Wednesday. I try not to touch a computer on Tuesdays.

There were two events that I know of this week, the OIA/ILH crossover at Kamehameha and an event on the Big Island that I don’t have results for yet. I will take any and all individual results at sapreps808@gmail.com.

Rather than flood our home page with eight wrestling rankings posts every week, all of the rankings can he found here:

http://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/wrestling/

CAMPBELL UPDATE

A lot of ranked wrestlers competed at Campbell, but there were few upsets. The most competitive brackets were at 132 and 170, where three ranked wrestlers lined up against each other in each class.

Top-ranked Josh Terao dominated the 132 class as usual, beating No. 2 Zackary Diamond in the final with No. 3 Jahcobe Hunter taking third. Hunter had a chance to make it a three-man race but lost to Diamond 16-0 in the semis before battling back.

Castle’s Rodney Williams entered at 170 at the favorite as the second-ranked wrestler, but finished second behind Iolani’s Christian Nacole. Williams didn’t lose, though, beating state placer Spencer Kiehm of Iolani 3-1 before forfeiting the final to Nacole. That weight class had the greatest shakeup with Keihm and Nacole making their debuts.

Jordan Ng of Iolani (113 pounds) and Liam Corbett of Radford (145) avoided upsets to keep their spots atop the rankings.

All weight classes are now current, with the only exception being the action on the Big Island, which I am missing results for.

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