Business as usual

The Pa’ani Wahine Challenge at Punahou prides itself on all of the things it does other than hold a wrestling tournament, but it was just business as usual for Waianae senior Malie Gonsalves.

Gonsalves pinned all three of her opponents on Friday at Hemmeter Fieldhouse, capped by a win over Sarah Imai of Punahou in 1:33, putting her on her back in under a minute and working the stoppage from there. Gonsalves has won each of her seven matches this year by pin, and the only girl who could take her to the second period on Friday was teammate Alexis Nelson … and she survived only 16 seconds.

"It wasn’t like a real match," Gonsalves said. "We both wanted to get some mat time, so we just wrestled a little bit."

Gonsalves was second after losing 9-1 to Punahou’s Thai Ha Sloan in the Pa’ani Wahine Challenge last year, and she lost to her 10-3 in the state championship two months later. But now Sloan has graduated and the title of toughest girl under 100 pounds belongs to either Gonsalves or Roosevelt’s Maia Phanthadara. Gonsalves wrestled at 101 in last week’s Officials Tournament, and Phanthadara did not compete on Friday.

Gonsalves spent her summer lifting weights and competing nationally in freestyle, finishing third in regionals at Las Vegas but not getting pinned.

"This tournament is a really good experience," Gonsalves said. "It goes a lot faster, which I like."

Gonsalves is hoping to bring the Seariders their first female state champion since Chastity Molina in 2003, but ask her who the best wrestler is this year and Kamehameha sophomore Teshya Alo immediately comes to mind.

Alo, the reigning state champion at 130 pounds, was judged the most outstanding wrestler for tearing through all three of her opponents. She beat Anela Wasson of Kahuku in 49 seconds, teammate Tate Williams in 47 seconds and Punahou’s Kori Lynn Kunioka in 49 seconds. That’s not a lot of time on the mat, but it was long enough for Olympic medalist Clarissa Chun to take notice.

"She is there, not even up and coming. She is there already," Chun said. "Amazing. You can tell she has put in a lot of work at such a young age."

Campbell’s Brandi Yoshida took the big prize. Yoshida finished fifth in the 101-pound class after suffering an injury in her first match against Punahou’s Kimi Mesick, but was given the American Savings Bank Fighting Spirit Award for her 3.84 grade-point average and volunteer work outside of wrestling, including taking children to see their mothers in prison.

Along with the award, Yoshida earned $1,000 for her school and drew the biggest cheers during the awards presentation.