Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Alo, Mataafa win fourth; Warriors pull away from Lunas for team crown


 



Kamehameha's Teshya Alo and Lahainaluna Lalelei Mataafa have joined elite company.

The pair captured their fourth individual titles on the final day of the Chevron Hawaii/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Wrestling State Championships at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena Saturday night.

Alo pinned Kahuku's Viviana Barcina in the 132-pound final and Mataafa did the same to Aulii Young, of Saint Francis, to win the 225-pound bracket.

They become just the seventh and eighth four-time winners in the 50-year history of the state tournament. Just two girls — Moanalua's Caylene Valdez ('00-'03) and Kamehameha's Randolyn Nohara ('04-'07) — had done so previously.

"Wow," Mataafa said when told of her feat. "I still feel like I haven't wrestled yet. I feel like I want to wrestle more, but I feel great right now and I'm sure and happy that I finally did it."

Mataafa has the unique distinction of having gone past the first round just once in her high school career and having won every match via pin fall. She needed just 57 seconds to dispatch Young.

"No matter who I challenge I always have the same mindset every time — that I'm going to go out there and win at all costs — and it's not all about the first-round pins because I just want to win, so however it comes I'm happy," Mataafa said.

Alo, a former FILA cadet world champion and the reigning national high school girls' wrestler of the year, as elected by ASICS, required even less time against Barcina, pinning the latter in 36 seconds.

"It feels great to know that I can actually achieve a goal that I was dreaming of since I was in middle school and I'm still dreaming and I still have goals to achieve so hopefully I can keep it all going," said Alo, who will compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Des Moines, Iowa in April, where she could punch her ticket to Rio De Janeiro.

Along with another individual crown, Alo helped Kamehameha to its second team title in three seasons.

The Warriors won five of the 14 weight classes to accumulate a girls' state-tournament record 216 1/2 points.

"It feels amazing and I'm just so happy," Alo said. "It's a great way to end my senior year. These girls are incredible and they're just the best group of girls that you could possibly find and that's why we won — because of the team."

Lahainaluna was second with 195 1/2 points. Pearl City (125 1/2 points), Roosevelt (106 1/2) and Kapolei (93) rounded out the top five.

Kamehameha laid claim to its first championship in 2014, but had to settle for second place last year.

"Being that it eluded us last year, we're very honored and privileged to win," Warriors' coach Bill Venenciano said. "The girls came out here and wrestled with the support of their parents and the school and their effort was tremendous because this is a tough sport."

The Lunas were looming in the rear-view mirror of the Warriors for much of the tournament and even late into the early evening Saturday. They trailed by a single point, 180 1/2 to 179 1/2, in the team standings entering the finals round.

"I think that really built momentum into our coaching strategy which was that one point meant everything towards the team's overall state championship hopes," Venenciano said. "They knew that and they knew that those extra points — those major decisions, tech falls, those pins — would go a long way, but they were able to stay composed, they dealt with the pressure, they believed in each other and they pulled it out."

In addition to Alo, Ashley Gooman (102 pounds), Donavyn Futa (117), Pomaikai Yamaguchi (138) and Leilani Camargo Naone (184) also claimed individual titles. It is the second championship for Futa, who won at 113 pounds two years ago, but opted not to wrestle last year.

"I think what really drove me was seeing all my real supporters and the people who stuck by my side when times were rough and I wanted to win this year for them and I did," said Futa, who pinned top-seeded Kaile Kron of Lahainaluna in the third period. "We put in a lot of hours in the gym and we just all pulled through at the end."

A staggering 11 of its 14 participants in the tournament placed in the top six of their respective weight classes.

Jaclyn Fontanilla was the lone runner-up of the bunch at 145 pounds, while four others — Hilinai Meyer (107), Zion Vierra (127), Taj Vierra (155) and Callan Medeiros (168) — each placed fifth. Anela Chow added a sixth-place finish at 122 pounds.

Pearl City's Asia Evans repeated at 127 pounds with a 4-2 win over Waianae's Anuhea Hamilton in a rematch of the Oahu Interscholastic Association final one week prior.

"I knew where both of our weakest and strongest points were, so I knew where to put myself in the match and where I would be most comfortable wrestling at," said Evans, who overcame an elbow subluxation suffered early in the season.

Other individual winners were Roosevelt teammates Menjam Tamang (97 pounds) and Macy Higa (112), Lahainaluna's Iverly Navarro (107), Waianae's Tehani Carlson (122), Radford's Angela Peralta (145), Leilehua's Kelani Corbett (155) and Molokai's Cendall Manley (168).



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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