Pearl City players celebrate after winning the school's second straight judo championship in 2013, fourth overall. Evan Asato | SL

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If the past six years are any indication, the girls state judo team championship should be a two-horse race.

In the 12-year history of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Judo State Championships, Punahou and Pearl City have combined to win seven titles. The Buffanblu won three straight from 2009 to 2011, while the Chargers have claimed four championships, including the past two.

Pearl City, which won its fifth consecutive Oahu Interscholastic Association crown this year, is considered a slight favorite over the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Buffanblu.

The coaches of the two teams, however, give the edge to each other.

Chow respectfully disagreed with Puahala's assessment.

"I'd have to say that Pearl City is the favorite," Chow said. "We did well in the ILH and we're solid, but our team is pretty young. We have a lot of freshman on our team. Pearl City looks like the team to beat."

The Chargers are the only team to have a player in each of the 10 weight classes. They have 14 total entrants, but just three are seeded amongst the top four in their respective weight classes.

"I think their past success benefits them a lot," Chow said of Pearl City. "They have a good program, which kind of perpetuates itself. They always have alumni coming back to help and pass on their experience from one year to the next."

Among the individuals Puahala will be relying on are a trio of league champions in Chastyne Dolor (109 pounds), Netanya Kang (129) and Megan Ramos (154). Others expected to contribute are Adrienne Nazareno (98 pounds), Breanne Takaesu (103), Mikayla Abe (115), Joen Tominaga (122), Kayla Arakaki (139), Trudi Eltagonde (172), Ashlyn Antonio (220).

Punahou is second in total entrants with 12 judoka in nine weight classes. Six of the Buffanblu are amongst the top four seeds in their respective weight class, led by a pair of No. 1 seeds. Freshman Jenna Enoka is the top seed at 98 pounds and senior Jessica Oda is the top seed at 109.

"We're strong in the lightweights, where more of our experience is," Chow said. "Even though tye're young, they have that competition experience."

Other individuals for the Buffanblu include Skye Sakashita (103 pounds), Sarah Watanabe (115), Taryn Ichimura (122), Sophia Stratton (139), Kelsey Kim (172) and Rika Sarkar (220).

The top six place-finishers score points toward their respective teams' totals. The champion earns 16 points, runner-up 12, third place nine, fourth place seven, fifth place five and sixth place three.

Other teams expected to contend are Kamehameha, Mililani, McKinley and Moanalua.

There are three judoka who are seeking their second straight individual title: Mililani's Kaylin Castro (109 pounds), Roosevelt's Kristen Kojima (115 pounds) and Kamehameha's Jaclyn Fontanilla (154).

Two others — Kamehameha's Teshya Alo and Mililani's Phairin Hicks — will not have that chance. Alo, who has already won two wrestling and one judo state title as a sophomore, did not compete at the ILH individual championships and consequently failed to qualify for the state tournament. Hicks, who won at 139 last year, suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.

Castro, who went unbeaten as a freshman last year, has lost the last two times she faced Pearl City freshman Chastyne Dolor, who beat her at both the Western Division and OIA individual championships.

"Castro is always the person to beat," Puahala said. "Even though Chastyne is the OIA champion, Castro is still the state champion and until you beat the state champion in the state tournament, they're still the state champion."

The two are on opposite sides of the bracket; Dolor drew the No. 4 seed and has a potential semifinal showdown against Oda, the No. 1 seed from Punahou, while Castro is unseeded and could end up meeting Kamehameha's Hilina'i Meyer, who lost to Oda in the ILH title match last week.

Kojima beat Mililani's Haylie Shinsato in the OIA final two weeks ago in a rematch of last year's state championship, which Kojima won by ippon. Those two are expected to once again meet in the 115-pound final Saturday afternoon.

Fontanilla captured the 154-pound crown last year in her first season and is the top seed at the weight class this year. She could see Pearl City's Ramos, the OIA champion, in the final.

> HHSAA Girls brackets