Warriors get to the podium

Kapaa junior wrestler Shanaya Marshall finished with a bronze medal to lead the Kauai Interscholastic Federation wrestlers at the Garner Ivey Maui Invitational wrestling tournament that wrapped up over the weekend at the Maui War Memorial Gym.

Five KIF wrestlers made the trip to the Valley Isle — two Kauai High School, and three Kapaa High School grapplers — with all three Warrior wrestlers finishing on the podium following two days of wrestling.

Following Marshall, Kapaa senior Braeden Jensen finished in fourth place, and Anna Malia Santos earned a fifth place finish at the tournament, KIF wrestling director Mac Pigott described as “one of the toughest, and always the first major preseason high school wrestling tournament in Hawaii.”

Pigott said, “This year, the MIT was all that as most of the top Hawaii high school wrestlers showed up on Maui to test their skills.”

Kauai High School sophomore Dannan Adams wrestled the maximum allowable five matches on the first day, finishing with a 3-2 record, including two falls. Halle Sakai also picked up two falls in four matches wrestled.

“It is great to see our Kapaa wrestlers competing at this level and getting a place on the podium,” said Kapaa wrestling coach Jess Jensen. “The wrestlers worked hard in the off season and since we started our official practices. We still have a lot of work to do to get them wrestling in the finals, and winning these tournaments which is where we want to be.”

Pigott said more KIF wrestlers will compete in the following weeks in preseason tournaments, including the Offiials Scholarship tournament, the Moanalua Holiday Duals, and Pa‘ani Challenge.

The KIF league start on Jan. 6 with the KIF championships on Feb. 3. The Chevron Hawaii High School Athletic Association 2018 wrestling championships will take place at the Blaisdell Center on Oahu, Feb. 14 and 15.