StarBulletin.com

Chun surprises Somera to reach semifinals


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POSTED: Saturday, February 27, 2010

Some of the tiniest competitors in the Blaisdell Arena provided some of the biggest drama on the opening day of the Chevron/HHSAA state girls wrestling championships.

Today's action promises even more.

Meghan Chun of St. Andrew's Priory pulled off the biggest on-paper surprise of the day with an upset of top-seeded Allene Somera of Kailua in the quarterfinals of the 98-pound weight class.

She advanced to today's semifinals with a pin in the second period. The semifinal matches are scheduled to start at 10 a.m., with the finals set for 4 p.m.

While Chun was unseeded in the bracket, it was hardly an unfamiliar matchup. Chun and Somera spent most of last summer training together in preparation for the junior nationals, where Chun earned All-America honors.

Chun took a 5-0 lead early in yesterday's meeting before ending the match in the second period, putting Somera on her back with a power double-leg takedown, to set up a semifinal matchup with Megan Aina of Kamehameha-Hawaii.

“;It was the best match she's wrestled all year,”; said Pac-Five coach John Schmidtke, whose wrestlers compete for their individual schools in the state championships. “;It was a match I knew she was capable of wrestling.

“;She was consistently aggressive, she hit all of her moves forcefully and we say you have to win the moment of truth. In every match you have situations where it's a 50-50 situation. There were two of those moments and she won both and it made a big difference.”;

; Second-seeded Erin Uehara of Punahou, another of Chun's summer training partners with Team Hawaii, also reached the semifinals with a win over Waianae's Jennifer Arao. Uehara and Chun met in the finals of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships a week ago, with Uehara pulling out an 8-3 win in overtime.

“;She knew she wrestled an excellent match against Erin, so she had a really good week of practice and came into this with a real strong belief that she could do what she did today,”; said Schmidtke, father of two past boys state champions.

Four past state champions remained on course with two potentially meeting in the finals of the 125-pound class. Punahou's Chrissy Chow, the 2008 champion at 114 and the top seed, will face Konawaena's Tanalei Louis in the semifinals. Pearl City's Kelly Ancheta, last year's 114 champion, advanced on the opposite side of the bracket.

Kamehameha's Macy Yonamine moved to the semifinals of the 103 class a year after winning at 108. Joy Yamashita of Aiea, the reigning champion at 120, also survived the first day.

Kahuku enters today's matches atop the team standings with 76 points, pursued by defending state champion Punahou (59), Pearl City (58.5) and Kamehameha (56).

Of the Red Raiders' 10 entrants, six reached the semifinals—Darian Auna (103), Kehau Kamakaala (114), Alana Iseke (120), Anela Santiago (140), Amber Ah Sue (155) and Libby Petrie (220). The Red Raiders also scored in the consolation bracket with wins by Kayla Martin (108) and Kristy Rabaino (125).

But Kahuku coach Reggie Torres isn't all that comfortable with the cushion.

“;They've got tough matches,”; Torres said of the Red Raiders semifinalists. “;That's the key, the people who make it to the finals are going to score big points. ... We're going to have to put at least half of them in to be competitive with Punahou and Pearl City and Kamehameha. We expected them to be in the semis, but getting beyond that is going to be tough.”;

Punahou had six wrestlers in the semifinals, while Pearl City and Kamehameha have four each.