Before Tyger Taam entered Moanalua’s wrestling room, the state’s Grand Slam Club was only open to private school boys.
Taam changed that this year, winning his fourth straight state wrestling title to become the sixth boy to do so. The five previous winners went to ILH schools and contemporary Mikah Labuanan of Kamehameha-Maui joined the club two matches after Taam did.
Taam takes a lot of pride in being the first public school athlete to pull it off.
“It made it extremely special,” Taam said. “I didn’t really think much about public vs. private as a kid, but as I got older I realized how much of a gap there can be. I stayed in public school because I didn’t want my parents to pay that ridiculous price and I knew Moanalua had a great athletic and academic program that I can develop in and I’m proud of my choice to this day.”
Taam began his high school journey at 132 pounds as a freshman, pinning his first two opponents inside of 25 seconds and grinding down ILH champion Kai Sekigawa of ‘Iolani 12-1 before sticking OIA rival Bransen Porter of Waianae in 48 seconds.
By the time he was finished, he was 98-0 in his high school career and his final eight state tournament matches ended early after the sophomore beat senior Hakuilua Paaluhi of Waianae 4-3 on a reversal early in the third period. That was the last time he was challenged on the state level, pinning Mililani’s Koen Shigemoto at 138 pounds for the title as a junior and beating him on a 16-0 technical fall at 144 pounds as a senior.
There had been seven OIA boys to win three titles, including Hall of Honor member Yoshi Honda of Radford, but none since Blake Cooper of Pearl City and Mililani’s Braydon Akeo in 2014.
“Growing up I knew what the Hall of Honor was, and now that I am a part of it, it feels so surreal,” Taam said. “It made me realize how far I have come in my journey.”
Even after climbing the mountaintop and showing the way for scores of public school wrestlers like freshman champion Analu Woode of Nanakuli, Taam was not done. Rather than be the ninth of 12 Hall of Honor inductees this year to specialize in a single sport, Taam joined Moanalua’s judo team.
It was not without its challenges, as he hadn’t practiced judo since winning national championships before high school and the only place on Moanalua’s stacked judo roster was at 178 pounds, 25 pounds above his fighting weight.
He added a fifth combat sports gold to his haul in judo, the eighth boy with as many and second from Moanalua behind fellow Hall of Honor inductee Noah Wusstig. He is just the third wrestling slammer to win titles in both, joining Brandon Low of Saint Louis and Mid-Pacific superstar Josh Terao. Terao, a 2014 inductee, is the only boy with eight combat sports gold medals.
When he wasn’t getting his hand raised on wrestling mats after school, Taam fashioned a cumulative grade point average of 3.71 and will attend Menlo College to prepare for a future in business.
“It’s a big jump,” Taam said. “Everyone is going to be strong, experienced and hungrier. My prep achievements got me here and shows what I have done, but not what I’m about to do. Looking ahead, it won’t do much for me, so it’s all up to me now.”
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