Judo to crown 20
new state champions
There will only be winners at the inaugural Hawaii High School State Judo Championships, to hear Kahuku coach Reggie Torres tell it.
Indeed, the sport itself will be the biggest winner tomorrow at the McKinley High School gymnasium, where matches get under way at 1 p.m.
"It will put the sport of judo on the map," says Torres. "It's exciting. Hawaii is the only state in the nation that has judo as (an officially sanctioned) high school sport. Everywhere else, it's a club sport. I hope after this year the sport will get even bigger."
Torres also hopes his Lady Red Raiders will be crowned a state champion by day's end. Kahuku won the Oahu Interscholastic Association championship last weekend on the strength of five individual first-place finishes and will send eight members of its team into battle tomorrow.
A team champion will be determined by a tabulation that awards points for each of the top six placings in each of the 10 weight classes.
Individually, state champions will be crowned in each of the 10 weight classes for both the girls and the boys.
Pac-Five coach Jerome Fukuda likes that individuals will take their turns in the spotlight and points to former Iolani standout Taylor Takata, who is currently training in Colorado Springs as an Olympic hopeful for the 2004 games in Greece.
"We didn't have a way to showcase a kid like that then, although the judo community knew how good he was," Fukuda says.
The OIA has offered boys' judo since 1977 (and girls' judo since 1996), while the ILH is only completing its third season, but Torres stops short of declaring that the public schools have an advantage. Teams from the Big Island and Maui will also compete.
"Not necessarily," says Torres of OIA teams having an edge. "A lot of the kids from the ILH are in clubs. And it's the judo clubs that a lot of the schools are feeding off of. Farrington (of the OIA) is a good example of that as well. It was their first year, and that team was already seasoned."
The Lady Red Raiders expect stiff competition from Kamehameha, Punahou and Pearl City, among others.
"We have to win the matches we're supposed to win," said Torres. "We have to avoid upsets if at all possible. We have the potential to win, but we also have some tough competition."
For their part, Kahuku features five top seeds in Amanda Aquino, Elizabeth Torres, Leilani Relator, Kehau Kamauoha and Jenna Nihipali.
Kamehameha, the ILH's regular-season champion, features Shea Kamakaala, Kalei Kawa'a, Maimiti Ho and three-time undefeated individual ILH champ, Tariya Enos.
In the boys' competition, ILH regular-season champion St. Louis and OIA powers Pearl City and Mililani rate among the favorites.
St. Louis will send eight of its members -- Brandon Low, Shayne Yee, Ben Wilmore, Marlo Corpuz, Sean Barney, Jared Silva, Kyle Otineru and Les Shiroma -- into battle.
Low is seeded second in the 114-pound weight class to Leilehua's Gerry Malanog.
"We're optimistic and hope the boys will come through," says Saint Louis coach Lionel Shiroma, who is assisted by sons Lon and Lane as well as Mike Low and Kendrick Kakazu. "This week has been about reinforcing and fine-tuning our skills. Hopefully, it will all come together. If we place everyone, we think we have a great chance."
"It will be interesting because Pearl City is tough and Mililani is always tough," he said. "Kahuku and Moanalua are always tough, too."
Pearl City is led by Joel Akimoto, Everett Pavo and Eddie Inuma. All are No. 1 seeds in their weight classes.
One of the event's most intriguing first-round matchups features University's Lucas Nakao going up against his twin brother, Lewis Nakao, who competes for Kalani.
Kahuku's Thoran Evans, McKinley's Emile Suehiro, Aiea's Beau Odagiri, and Moanalua's Chris Takesue and Shingo Katsura are also top seeds in the boys' competition.
Other top seeds in the girls format include Kailua's Kimberly Kido, Moanalua's Caylene Valdez, Pearl City's Tonya Kageno, Kapolei's April Due, and Shyann Freitas of Leilehua.