After three years in Hall of Honor inductee Ashley Gooman‘s shadow, Paige Respicio decided that it is not such a bad place to be.
Respicio, a three-time state champion at Kamehameha, accepted an offer from Midland University in Nebraska to join its successful wrestling program.
Please help us welcome our newest Warrior, Paige Respicio!! Paige will be joining us from Kamehameha High School where she won 3 Hawaii state championships! pic.twitter.com/bCrUBRHyj0
— MidlandU Women's Wrestling (@MidlandU_WWR) March 29, 2020
Respicio won state championships the last three years after finishing third as a freshman and won the ILH all four years of her career. Her only loss at states was to Baldwin’s Jahnea Miguel when both were freshmen. She avenged that loss two years ago and beat Baldwin’s Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp in the most-hyped state final this year.
Estrella-Beauchamp, who finished No. 3 in HPW’s pound-for-pound list behind Respicio, accepted an offer from Midland in January.
Midland currently boasts of four All-Americans, three of them from Hawaii. Gooman, another three-time state champion from Kamehameha, Tanalei Louis of Konawaena and senior Leilani Camargo-Naone of Kamehameha. Gooman and Louis won conference titles this month.
Gooman and Respicio teamed up to give Kamehameha the state team title in 2019 and the Warriors repeated this year. Gooman and Camargo-Naone were teammates on Kamehameha’s 2016 title-winning team.
Other Hawaii girls listed on the Warriors’ roster are Mahealani Lewis of Kamehameha, Kapolei product Keely Oyadomari and Tayler Peligrino-Hayase of Lahainaluna.
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