Rob Hesia isn’t making the jump from intermediate to varsity on his own.
The first-year Kamehameha boys wrestling coach got three top-three finishes from freshmen, including Kysen Terukina’s victory at 113 pounds, to hold off ‘Iolani by two points and win the boys title at the Hawaii Wrestling Officials Association tournament at Leilehua on Saturday night.
Freshmen Brant Porter (106 pounds) and Kason Nitahara (145) added third-place finishes to runner-up performances by Matthew Perez (132), Braden Suzuki-Scott (160) and Sheydan Dano (195) to help the Warriors (134.5 points) best a field that included the Raiders, Campbell, Waianae, Kapolei and Baldwin.
“We’re going to battle with anybody and that’s my expectation,” said Hesia, who coached the intermediate team last season. “We’re wrestling up — about 80 percent of our guys are up (in weight) right now. We’re still filling out our roster and seeing where people are going to fall.”
Wins by Xiaolin Mai at 102 pounds and Macy Higa at 117 paved the way for Roosevelt to win the girls team title by 16.5 points over Baldwin.
Finals began at certain weight classes in both boys and girls to allow the final matches of the night to involve highly ranked wrestlers.
The girls 112-pound final was dominated by Lahainaluna’s Alexis Encinas (No. 9) in Hawaii Prep World’s pound-for-pound rankings), who earned a 7-0 decision over Kamehameha’s Ashley Gooman, the reigning state champion at 102 pounds who is fifth on the pound-for-pound list.
The boys 120-pound final was a thriller that saw Saint Louis’ Corey Cabanban, a two-time defending state champion and No. 2 pound-for-pound, edge Kapolei’s Jayson Pagurayan 5-4.
Pagurayan, who was seeded sixth after finishing sixth in the state tournament last season, beat third-seeded Triston Santos of Campbell on Friday and second-seeded Logan Garcia of Moanalua earlier Saturday to get to the final.
“I think I did pretty good. I was pretty exhausted,” said Pagurayan, who missed two weeks leading up to the tournament after getting a cut under his eye. “This kind of gave me some confidence at 120 because last year I didn’t do so well.”
Cabanban had the advantage for the entire match, but it was close at the end after he was awarded a two-point takedown only to see it taken away after the officials ruled he was out of bounds.
“(Pagurayan) has always been a good opponent,” Cabanban said. “I’d say I got the takedown but it’s the refs’ call. When they gave me the two I got more comfortable, but when they took it away I got a little nervous.”
‘Iolani had three winners in 106-pounder Kainoa Torigoe, 285-pounder Dane Yamashiro and 170-pounder KJ Pascua, who is ranked one spot ahead of Cabanban at No. 1 in pound-for-pound rankings.
Radford’s Angela Peralta solidified her status as the No. 1 girls-pound-for-pound wrestler. The defending state champion at 145 pounds and three-time OIA champion needed just 32 seconds to pin her opponent in the final.
“I’m pretty happy with today, but I could have done better,” said Peralta, who will wrestle at Menlo College (Atherton, Calif.) next year. “It satisfies me, I guess. I could get pins faster, get my moves in faster and set it up faster. Basically my speed is really it for me.”
Farrington sophomore Lavenia Fotu, who was unseeded at 225 pounds, gave the crowd something to cheer for when she came back and shocked No. 1 seed Mildred Keopuhiwa by pin with 14 seconds remaining in the match.
It was Fotu’s third win of the day and she could barely find words to speak after the match.
“I never knew the time (on the clock). I never pay attention,” Fotu said. “(I had to) prove this to myself.”