It was a dominant night of wrestling for the Hilo girls.
Nine Viking girls finished in first, and Hilo scored more than 100 points over the second place Kamehameha to secure the girls title at the BIIF wrestling championships at Ellison Onizuka Gymnasium on Saturday in Kealakekua.
“I’m a retired Army veteran, and one of the biggest things we learn in the service is resilience and facing adversity,” Hilo head coach Ryan Taniguchi said. “They’ve shown extreme resilience from the time I’ve worked with them. I have had kids make weight changes and position changes within a week to cover for friends who couldn’t make weight. The kids showed resilience. That’s the bottom line.”
The Hilo girls came out on top with 235 points, followed by Kamehameha (98), Kealakehe (88), Keaau (80), Konawaena (72), Hawaii Prep (46), Pahoa (15), Waiakea (14), and Honokaa (7).
Waiakea was the winner of the boys division with 183 points, followed closely by Hilo (142), Kamehameha (109), Kealakehe (97), Konawaena (82), Keaau (68), Hawaii Prep (50), Honokaa (36), Ka’u (16), and Pahoa (8).
Waiakea’s Brayden Spain, Aiden Shikuma, Rylan Smith, Caleb Shimaoka, Waylon Spain, Isaac Vickery and Alejandro Blanco all finished first in their weight classes to help snag the title for the Warriors.
Hilo’s Elijah Apao, Lyle Silva, and Sione Holani were the gold medal recipients for the Viking boys. HPA’s Jeremiah Borce came in first in the 128-pound class, Kamehameha’s Kamalu Anahu in 162, Kealakehe’s Cody Evile in 197, and Honokaa’s Chandon Pacheco won a gold medal in the 222-pound weight class.
For the Viking girls, the nine first place finishers were Liliana Campbell, Angela Viernes, Ashley Lavarius, Arionna Beatty, Rayden Kukahiwa, Tia Leao, Kitana Lowery, Luana Chung-Hulama, and Leona Toledo.
Taniguchi was proud of how both his teams performed Saturday. He said it was a big step up from where the Hilo wrestling program was at when he took over two years ago.
“I’ve been with the team for two years, and two years ago, we had about 12 kids,” Taniguchi said. “The team is at about 52 right now. Morale is high. And we’ve increased the participation between both girls and boys.
“Kids need to be challenged, and they stepped up this year. Each and every one of these kids and these girls stepped up. It just so happens my girls, they showed extreme dominance here today.”
Kealakehe had two winners in the girls division — Andrea Faldonea for the 99-pound weight class and Pualani Louis in the 119 class. Kamehameha also had two gold medal winners with Lainey Eckart in the 129 class and Tehya Tanigawa in 134. Keaau’s Kaleinani Mauaole won a gold medal for the Cougars, in the 186-pound weight class.