This will be one of those rambling articles that are so fun (to write, and, hopefully) to read.
We start this week’s wrestling story with a bit about two other sports — basketball and hockey.
Walking into the Punahou and Moanalua gyms on Friday and Saturday for last week’s ILH and OIA action, I ran into a few officials and coaches and several times broke out this slogan: “Wrestling, where there’s a basketball game on EVERY mat.”
And just in case I’m confusing anyone, what I mean by that is every match has its own beginning, middle, end and unique storyline. If you attend a basketball game, it has the same thing, but with only one contest on the court instead of a hundred (more or less) on multiple mats over the course of an evening.
This is not a recommendation to switch your allegiance from basketball or any other sport, but more to give readers an eye-opener into the variety of plots and subplots and narratives that can be found in wrestling.
And if I ever use that aforementioned line again, I will change it slightly to “Wrestling, where there’s a hockey game on EVERY mat.”
And that leads to an interesting thing that happened Friday at Punahou.
While checking the scoring tables for possible upcoming good matches, I happened to notice the name “Ing” on one of the scoresheets. There’s many people with that last name, so it didn’t fully occur to me that it could be someone I know.
A little later, the crowd (no fans in attendance due to COVID-19, but plenty of cheering athletes and coaches) was buzzing over a match on one of the center mats. I looked over. It was two boys and the score was really tight.
Hmmm, time for some video, even though it was hard to tell which kid was with ‘Iolani and which one was with PAC-5 because both uniforms are black.
It looked like the PAC-5 kid had a slight edge throughout and, indeed, he ended up winning a grueling one, 12-7, at 120 pounds vs. the Raiders’ Evan Endo. During the match, someone yelled “Go Zach” and it was then that I realized I know a Zach Ing.
Sure enough, it was him. Afterward, I walked up to him and he said, “Abramo, what are you doing here?” not knowing that I cover wrestling.
Interestingly enough, last season at Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas, I was Zach’s teammate in one of the rec leagues. In a different division, I was a teammate with Matt Ing, Zach’s dad.
Small, small world. I had no idea he was a wrestler. But pretty cool, and it gives me an easy way to promote the GREAT sport of hockey while writing about the GREAT sport of wrestling.
As a matter of fact, if any wrestling coach out there would like to bring their athletes to KIHA to try it (maybe as an outing AFTER the season), email me at [email protected]. They have inline (roller) hockey skates and other equipment for rent. I guarantee that at the very least you will have A LOT of fun and possibly even become a candidate for another slogan I say to anyone who is thinking of trying it: “Once you pick up a stick, you’ll never want to put it down.”
But, hey, I don’t want to pull anyone away from wrestling. A little cross-training, though, is good.
So I got to talking with Zach — whose brother Aaron is an ice hockey goaltender and boarding at Lake Forest High School in Illinois — to see how his season is going so far.
PAC-5’s Zach Ing.
“I’m not where I’d like to be, but not bad,” he said. “This is my second year of wrestling. I also did it my sophomore year, but I was unable to wrestle last year when COVID hit.”
Zach, a Hawaii Baptist Academy student, admitted he was “super gassed” during that match.
“It was close,” he said. “In the beginning I felt good because I was getting my shots and I was defending him pretty well. I started getting tired really fast, but I noticed he was getting a lot more tired than I was, so I was trying to take advantage of it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it worked out at the end.
Before starting wrestling, Zach was into judo and jiu-jitsu.
Another teammate of ours in that rec league, Kawena Lee, is a Saint Louis senior who recently signed a letter of intent to play inline hockey on scholarship for Bethel University in Tennessee.
A video of parts of Zach’s match against ‘Iolani’s Evan Endo is below
Oh, one more thing about Zach — I’m pretty sure I saw a photo of him on his dad’s Facebook page recently where he was holding up two big fish that he caught. Lot o’ skills on that boy. If I find that photo, I will post it here.
An advertisement for Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas and sister facility, 808 Futsal.
Kysen Terukina Is Ranked No. 22 In The Intermat NCAA Division I Rankings
Former Kamehameha standout and four-time state champion Kysen Terukina is No. 22 in the Intermat NCAA Division I rankings as a sophomore at Iowa State.
Terukina also wrestled for the Cyclones in 2021, when there was a shortened schedule.
“Kysen’s doing good, undefeated (13-0),” Kamehameha assistant and Kysen’s brother Shayden Terukina told Bedrock Sports Hawaii on Friday night. He still has a long ways to go with some tough matches coming up. I’m hoping for the best and always supporting him.
“He didn’t have as many matches as usual last year, but he got in the lineup and experienced those D-I caliber matches and even qualified for the NCAA tournament and competed in that. He transitioned that success to this year and that’s why he’s doing so well. He is wrestling more confidently.”
Iowa State’s Kysen Terukina is No. 22 in the Intermat NCAA Division I 125-pound rankings.
Another four-time Hawaii champion, Corey Cabanban, is a redshirt junior at Iowa State.
“They’ve had some matches together,” Shayden said about Kysen and Corey, who are both at 125 pounds and sometimes at 133. “They’ve been pushing each other and representing us real well. I think they had one real match (with referees) and it was a one-point match that Kysen won. It was real tight. They grew up together and know each other so well. It’s hard to get the best of someone when you know their style so well. They train together. The coaching staff and Corey being there is part of Kysen’s success.”
And what about Terhukina’s thoughts about the two-time defending state champion Kamehameha Warriors on both the boys and girls sides under new head coach Dave Chu this year?
“I want to see both squads do well and we’re strong on both sides,” he said. “But we’re not done yet and have a long way to go.”
Another Terukina brother, Zayren, is No. 6 in the Intermat NCAA D-III 141-pound rankings. He’s a junior at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
Kamehameha’s Jax Realin Looks Up To Big Sister
Jax Realin, a freshman, is following in her sister Skye’s footsteps at Kamehameha.
Skye, a two-time state placer (second and third), is wrestling for McKendree University (Lebanon, Illinois).
“I’m excited to be wrestling again,” Jax said Friday night. “I haven’t wrestled in two years since middle school, so I’m excited for any matches that I get.”
From Skye, Jax said, she learned a lot.
“She’s my role model and I’ve always looked up to her in wrestling and in school,” said Jax, who said she thinks Kamehameha has a chance to win the boys and girls league and state championships this year.
Kalani Wrestlers Looking Solid
On Saturday at an OIA round-robin tournament at Moanalua, Kalani showed that it’s got a strong contingent of wrestlers again this year.
In the Falcons’ mix on the boys team are Kade Okura (132-pound state third place in 2020), Ramos Suzuki (who plans to wrestle at 145) and Jayce Kamimura (113-pound state fifth place in 2020).
Some of Kalani’s top boys wrestlers are Kade Okura, Ramos Suzuki and Jayce Kamimura.
“This is pretty fun,” Okura said. “I’m glad to be back on the mat wrestling and try to take it one match at a time because I don’t really know when the last match will be because of this COVID stuff. I’m grateful for all of our wrestling.”
The Falcons may be among the teams competing for an OIA title.
“Our team is pretty stacked,” Okura added. “We’ve got Suzuki, Jayce, these guys are all top dogs in their weight classes. Hopefully we have enough guys safe and healthy to continue. We do have a lot of guys that can fill up all or the majority of the weight classes.”
Okura and Suzuki got through their matches unscathed at Moanalua, but Kamimura dropped two intense matches to Mililani’s Coen Shigemoto — 3-1 and by fall at 5:18.
Check Back Soon For Last Weekend’s Results
Check back soon to Bedrock Sports Hawaii for last weekend’s results and videos from:
>> OIA round-robin tournament at Moanalua
>> ILH dual meets/individual matches at Punahou
And we will also have results from:
>> OIA round-robin tournament at Castle
>> MIL round-robin tournament at Baldwin
>> A smattering of results from Kealakehe’s matches in the BIIF at Hilo and Keaau
In a few of the more interesting individual matches on Oahu from Friday and Saturday:
>> Punahou’s Harley Ceberano trailed Kamehameha’s Kaleikoa Mannering 5-0, but came back to win by fall at 2:30 in the 225-pound class.
>> In back-to-back matches with very little rest in between, Mid-Pacific up-and-coming sophomore Logan Lau looked solid in winning both by fall at 120 pounds. One of those matches was against Saint Louis freshman Kamuela Holland. The other was a late third-period pin against Kamehameha freshman Dylan Landford.
>> At 107 pounds, two girls who are “on the radar” in Bedrock Sports Hawaii’s pound-for-pound rankings met up at Moanalua, where Mililani’s Tristan Nitta defeated Na Menehune’s Madison Kalamau by major decision, 10-1.
>> There was also a tough match going on at 117 pounds, where Mililani’s Victoriana Kim won by injury default over Moanalua’s Hailey Perez. Perez, who appears to have hurt her shoulder, won a week earlier against Kim, by fall at 1:29 at the Radford round-robin tournament.
