Just when it seems there is not anything left that Teshya Alo hasn’t accomplished, she adds another big honor.
Alo, a three-time state champion for Kamehameha, was named the Asics High School Wrestler of the Year.
The award has been given out every year since 2001, and Alo is the first athlete from Hawaii to receive the honor. She has qualified for the U.S. women’s national team and will be eligible for the award again next year.
Zahid Valencia of California is the boys wrestler of the year.
She faced the decision of leaving the school to train at the Olympic Training Center, but has decided to finish her prep career for the Warriors. She will join Lahainaluna’s Lalelei Mataafa in a quest for a fourth state champion. Only two other girls have accomplished it.
Teshya and sister Teniya Alo, a sophomore from Iolani, each won their weight classes at the junior nationals in Fargo, N.D.
It was Teshya’s fifth time as a Fargo champion and Teniya’s first. No one in the history of the event has won more at the tournament than Teshya, who also owns two Cadet national titles.
In Fargo, Teshya beat Hannah Jewell of Michigan 10-0 by a technical fall in the final of the 139-pound class. Teniya beat Ricki Liang of California 15-5 in the championship at 121 pounds.
Teshya was dominant on the national stage just like she is in Hawaii, pinning her first opponent in 1:22, beating her second and third by technical falls and dropping her fourth in 47 seconds.
Fellow Hawaii wrestlers Taysia Kano and Dani Santiago were in her bracket, but none of them met.
Kano beat Taea Regua of California 9-3 in her first match, but lost to Colorado’s Ashlynn Ortega by the same score in the second bout. She pinned Leilani Vital of Texas in 31 seconds, but her journey ended when Corine Thomas of Ohio pinned her in 2:14.
Santiago failed to win a match in the championship bracket, losing 10-0 to Shelley Avelino of California in the first round. She then pinned Oregon’s Christina Cazimero in 22 seconds before Thomas beat her 12-0.
Iwekehauokalewa Kinimaka represented Hawaii at 125 pounds, beating Jessa Huerta Calfornia 13-10 in her first match, but falling in 1:40 to Taylor Ivey of Illinois in the second. She lost to Julissa Taitano of Calfornia in her first consolation match.
Teniya was as dominant as her sister in her bracket, beating Calfornia’s Delilah Houck 10-0, pinning Mckenzie Walker of Virginia in 4:23 and Hailey Cox of Utah in 2:54.
Hawaii is represented by 12 boys at Fargo this week, including Chance Ikei, Zack Diamond and Liam Corbett.
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