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HHSAA 2013 Boys and Girls Wrestling
Cinderella showed up early for this ball.
Aarica Barcina of Kahuku upset top seed Sarah Grace Alegria of Pearl City and followed it up with a win over Mieko Liemsithisak of Campbell to reach the 109-pound semifinals of the Chevron Wrestling State Championships on Friday at the Blaisdell Arena.
Barcina finished fifth in last year’s tournament after a first-round loss, but the junior wasn’t about to let it happen this time.
"I’ve been told this whole week that this was more like a mental game," Barcina said. "There is always technique, of course, but it is about who wanted it more because all of the top people have all wrestled before, so it is about who wants it more, who has more heart."
Barcina had faced Alegria twice this year, losing the first time but pinning her the second time. Although that takes some of the shine off the upset, Barcina was the only wrestler to knock off a top seed in the first round. None of the top seeds on the girls side fell in the second round, either.
The boys bracket went according to form as well, with each of the top seeds going undefeated in both of the first two rounds.
"We knew Aarica was tough," Pearl City coach Mike Lee said. "She finished fifth in states last year. We knew there were no easy wrestlers in that bracket. Congratulations to her; she earned it."
Alegria didn’t make the upset an easy one. Barcina fought back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it in the first period, and both wrestlers went scoreless until there were 11 seconds left in the match.
That’s when Alegria had Barcina under control, but the Red Raider looked to her coaches and knew she had to do something. She admits being tired, but managed to escape from Alegria’s grasp for the telling point and the 3-2 win.
"I knew what I had to do to win it," Barcina said. "We train for this every day, so I just had to get up."
Barcina had a little easier time in the second round, beating Liemsithisak 7-3 despite the Campbell wrestler’s advantage in strength. She took the lead on an escape in the second period and it grew from there. She clinched it with 26 seconds left when she threw Liemsithisak to the mat to take a 7-3 lead. Liemsithisak hurt her knee on the sequence but finished the match after a break for injury time.
Barcina meets Molokai’s Karley Kaulili in today’s semifinals in a battle of unseeded wrestlers. While the rest of the brackets went largely according to form, Barcina’s weight class saw all four of the top seeds lose on the first day. Nakia James of Leilehua and Angela Enos of Moanalua face off in the other semifinal.
Barcina brought her game despite losing training partner Jahya Costa to a fractured ankle two weeks ago, and new partner Kelly Iuangrath twisted her ankle in practice on Thursday.
"(Costa’s loss) was pretty devastating," Barcina said. "Just because she is a senior and she wanted it as much as I do. We battled and helped each other out all year. I don’t know what it is about my training partners and their ankles."
While the 109-pound class is guaranteed to have a first-time state champ, Kamehameha’s Bree Rapoza moved closer to her third state championship by pinning both of her opponents on Friday.
The Punahou boys have plenty of ground to make up to extend their dynasty. The Buffanblu have won each of the last six team titles but trail three teams after the first day of competition. ILH champion Kamehameha leads the way with 82 points, followed by OIA champion Campbell with 76 and MIL champion Lahainaluna with 68. Punahou has 64 points.
Campbell has eight wrestlers in the semifinals to Kamehameha’s seven. Lahainaluna and Punahou each have four.
Kamehameha hasn’t won the boys title since 2005 and has never won the girls crown, but leads that competition after the first day.
The Warriors have 76 points to Pearl City’s 71, but the Chargers have six semifinalists to the Warriors’ five. Lahainaluna is in third with 68 points and Punahou fourth with 54.
