Punahou and Kamehameha take home team trophies

Punahou played the role of gracious host at yesterday's ILH wrestling championships but didn't extend their hospitality to the mat.

The Punahou boys and Kamehameha girls took home team titles after the daylong meet at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

The Buffanblu boys captured five individual titles and notched five second-place finishes to win the team title going away with 209 points. Kamehameha's four individual champions helped the Warriors tally 142 points for second. Iolani finished third with 110.

In a battle of defending state champions, Punahou senior Daniel Chow wore down Keani Nishigaya to claim the 145-pound gold medal.

The Punahou senior and two-time defending state champ seized command of the match with a takedown with under 30 seconds left in the second period.

"That was basically a scramble," Chow said. "Basically in scrambles, it's whoever wants it more who comes out on top."

It was Chow's second win this season over Nishigaya, who won last year's state title at 130 pounds.

Reid Oshiro (125 pounds), Chad Taniguchi (140), Rudie Schaefer (152), Kolu Buck (171) and Sani Fuimaono (285) also racked up points for the Buffanblu boys.

Other individual boys' titlists included Drake Medeiros of Saint Louis, who gritted out a tough 5-4 victory over Mid-Pacific Institute's David Terao to claim 103-pound honors, and Kamehameha's Shayden Terukina, who edged Punahou's Andrew Hirai 6-5 to win at 112 pounds.

Iolani's Andrew Chung handled the Buffanblu's Troy Murakawa 4-2 to win at 135.

"He's dominated everyone in the ILH this year," said Iolani coach Yoshi Honda. "We expect nothing less from him."

On the girls' side, the Warriors (125 points) took home four individual championships to edge Iolani (121). Punahou took third with 100.

Kamehameha's Reiko Campos pinned Punahou's Shelby Asato to win the 120-pound title. Teammates Kelia Parilla (125 pounds), Taisha-Ann Santiago (140) and Tehani Bollinger (175) also won their divisions.

Buffanblu faithful erupted in cheers after Chrissy Chow, Daniel's sister, whirled around Iolani's Megan Morisada, a two-time defending state champ, and scored a takedown with less than 20 seconds remaining in their rugged 114-pound showdown to claim a 7-3 win.

Keiko and Ian Akamine made up another winning sibling act. Keiko, another defending state titlist, dominated fellow judoka and childhood pal Macy Yonamine of Kamehameha to win 9-3 at 103 pounds.

"It's kind of hard, because we're pretty good friends," said Akamine, who's known Yonamine since their kindergarten days in Pearl City. "I kept trying to push the tempo and not give her time to think."

Brother Ian, a freshman, held off Punahou's Maika Nagata 6-4 to win the 130-pound division.

The top four finishers in each weight class will compete in the Chevron/HHSAA Wrestling State championships this Friday and Saturday at Blaisdell Arena.