The boys and girls semifinals at the Officials tournament have finished at Leilehua High gym.
There was a huge upset at 113 pounds with defending state champion and No. 4 pound-for-pound Kysen Terukina getting pinned by Baldwin freshman Kahilihiwa Joy.
Joy went on to pin his opponent, unseeded Jude Michael Talana, in the final in 35 seconds. That match was held early before all of the other finals matches because Joy and had to catch a plane back to Maui.
Here are the boys brackets and team scores.
Here are the updated girls brackets heading into the finals.
Also, the updated girls team scores.
There were two other upsets of No. 1-seeded wrestlers in the boys semifinals, both by kids who also play football for their schools — Kahuku’s Sitaleki Tongi toppled No. 1 Kasey Kikuyama 7-6 at 170 pounds, and Damien’s Harry Lloyd beat No. 1 Chance Rodriques of Maui 7-5 at 285 pounds.
Tongi came back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 7-2 and barely held off Kikuyama’s comeback attempt.
“Surpising,” Tongi said, who has never placed at states before. “I came in with a clear mind and get ready for the match. I saw I was up, I it just kind of clicked for me. I was shocked and I was excited.”
Lloyd, a sophomore wrestling for the first time this season, also took a big lead and had to hold off Rodrigues’s try to take over. Rodrigues scored with a takedown late in the match to get within those two points.
“He was a really tough opponent,” Loyd said. “He really worked me a lot. It was a close match all the way. His drive is just awesome.”
About doing so well in his first big tournament, Lloyd added, “We’ve got great coaches and they’ve helped me a lot and I have teachers around that are my size. They have 285s come in to wrestle me to make me better.”
Here’s more on Joy’s stunning upset of Terukina..
A total of 11 No. 2 boys seeds lost in either the quarters or semis. According to tournament officials, seedings were based on results of last season’s Officials tournament and state meet.
In the girls semifinals, most of the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds made it to the finals.
Four No. 2-seeded girls wrestlers went down in the quarters or semis:
>> No. 2 Princess Balasico of Farrington lost to Leilehua’s Savannah Ramos in the 97-pounds semis
>> No. 2 Iwi Kinimaka of Campbell lost to Lahainaluna’s Pelegrino Hayase in the 145 semis
>> No. 2 Anela Kahuli Apo lost to Baldwin’s Siera Vida in the 184 semis
>> No. 2 Alexis Nova Posiulai of Kamehameha lost to Campbell’s Charity Curran in the 127-pound quarters on Friday
The 168-pound showdown everyone is looking forward to — No. 1 Kelani Corbett (No. 2 p4p) of Leilehua vs. No. 2 Jennie Fuamatu (No. 6 p4p) of Pearl City — is still on. Both advanced.
Another interesting final matchup features Lahainaluna’s Ira Navarro (No. 4 p4p), who won states at 97 last season, vs. Roosevelt’s Xiaolin Mai at 102 pounds. Mai placed second at 102 at states two years in a row .
Defending 117-pound state champion Nanaea Estrella (No. 9 p4p) of Lahainaluna takes on a challenge from one in a long line of the Cooper Pearl City family — Makana Cooper — in the 122-pound final.
Lahainaluna’s Kauanoe Keahi (No. 10 p4p) is still the only top girls seed to be taken out. She lost to Pearl City’s Wynter Brown in Friday’s quarters.
Two girls named Ikei are in the finals — and Tiare Ikei at 112 pounds and Roselani Ikei at 132.
Readers: We are making a new post for OFFICIALS FINALS matches.
Some other tidbits from Saturday:
>> Kahuku’s Teniya Alo (No. 1 p4p), Kamehameha’s Ashley Gooman (No. 3 p4p), Farrington’s Lavenia Fotu (No. 5 p4p) and Leilehua’s Brett Barefoot (No. 6 p4p) are not entered in the Officials tournament for various reasons. Gooman was not feeling well and Fotu was taking a break, according to team coaches. Barefoot is attending to personal matters. Alo is nursing a knee injury.
>> Moanalua’s Logan Garcia, who was supposed to be in the 126-pound bracket, did not make weight this weekend.
Garcia won the state 106-pound class in 2016 and placed second to Saint Louis’ Corey Cabanban at 120 pounds at states last season. Cabanban is a three-time state titlist, and it was quite possible they could have met at the Officials finals.
>> Several other Moanalua wrestlers did not make weight, according to sources, including Na Menehune’s Chase Wusstig, who pinned up-and-coming freshman Brandon Pagurayan at 138 pounds in the quarterfinals Friday.
>> After some consolation matches, the finals are expected to start at 3:30 or 4 p.m.
>> According to tournament officials, five different wrestlers came in Saturday morning not meeting protocol (facial hair, fingernails or long hair) and were given 30 minutes to get it worked out. None of them returned.
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