Kapolei wins second boys title; Roosevelt girls get first crown

There’s a certain pride when the judoka of Kapolei High School talk about their town.

That’s especially true after the Hurricane boys captured their second consecutive title at the HHSAA Judo State Championships on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center. The ‘Canes piled up 93 points to claim the crown by a wide margin.

Moanalua (64), ‘Iolani (48), Pearl City (37) and Damien (25) followed in the team standings.

Senior Kekua Marumoto (161 weight class) won his second individual title to help lift Kapolei.

"I was surprised my sophomore year when I won it, but honestly, the individual state championship doesn’t mean a lot to me. Winning as a team really warms my heart because it means we bring the trophy back to the city of Kapolei," said Marumoto, who will attend New Mexico Military Institute next fall. "Winning another state team title doesn’t stun me. Our sensei (Marc Narciso) is an outstanding coach and he’s amazing. The belief he has in each of us. I can play judo really well, but he takes us to a whole new level."

Roosevelt ended Pearl City’s run of three girls judo state titles in a row. The Rough Riders captured their first crown and coach Ryan Shimokawa gave credit to the synergy created between the wrestling and judo programs.

"I feel great. Completely unexpected going into this thing, so many great teams and so much competition. Luckily, we came out on top," he said. "We worked closely with our wrestling program and a lot of girls crossed over. We’re getting momentum through the entire wrestling season, getting more tough and it carried into judo season. We were banged up, but we healed up just in time."

Roosevelt, with 65 points, outpointed runner-up Aiea (50), Moanalua (44) and Pearl City (42) and Punahou (42).

Individually, it was a big night for Jordan Ng of ‘Iolani and Cole Chandler of Mid-Pacific. Each won a third state title and endured big challenges.

Ng, at 121, got past tall, tough Anthony Brett by wazari in one of the closest battles of the night.

"I feel great not so much about how well I did, but I put my best effort out there and finish my senior year strong. I’ve never actually played him, but I’ve had friends who played him. I’ve seen his matches and he is a really strong righty and favors uchi mata (throw)," Ng said. "I knew it was strong, and if I was going to have a chance, I had to watch for that and not let him get in too deep. Him being tall, I didn’t really get under him that much."

Ng used a sumi gaeshi (throw) to get the edge.

"It’s kind of like a rolling throw. I rarely ever use it. That was my last-resort kind of throw," he said.