KAPA‘A — Waimea and Kapa‘a walked off with three gold medals apiece in Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Wrestling, which took place Saturday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a. Among Waimea’s gold count, Marissa Hesapene, working through one of the most
KAPA‘A — Waimea and Kapa‘a walked off with three gold medals apiece in Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Wrestling, which took place Saturday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
Among Waimea’s gold count, Marissa Hesapene, working through one of the most exciting matches of the day, remains undefeated in the Girls 109 pound class. She is joined by Charlie Kahepu‘u, who is undefeated in the 215 and 289 pound class, and Fa‘a Tafua, who edged out Kaua‘i’s Bryson Yoro, 5-4 in the final round.
Kapa‘a’s gold came with Storm Haire preserving his undefeated record in the 152 pound class, Ronnie Perono taking the 145 pound class, and Jeremiah Obrero keeping his undefeated record intact in the 189 pound class.
Shawn Taguas of Kaua‘i captured the Red Raiders’ sole gold medal with a win over Philip Zaviryukha.
Continuing in the medal count, Waimea captured four silver medals, Kaua‘i had one and Island School finished with one. Waimea, Kaua‘i, Kapa‘a and Island School each finished with a bronze medal each.
The cold bug definitely was a factor in Saturday’s meet as the combined flu bug and injuries whittled the field to 31 wrestlers going through 33 bouts and limiting action to just one mat.
Kaua‘i’s Kaisa Ishikawa and Waimea’s Kapili Akana were involved in one of the exciting exhibition matches which went back-and-forth before a flurry of moves by Ishikawa gave her the win, 17-9.
Ishikawa picked up a 3-2 lead over Akana, but the Menehune wahine worked tough in the second round to finish 9-6 before Ishikawa turned the tables in the third round for the win.
Courtney Brock of Kaua‘i continued the excitement in the Girls 109 pound ring, working hard to stay in control over Waimea’s Hesapene.
Late in the first round, Brock countered Hesapene’s takedown attempt and had the Menehune cheerleader on her back, working for a pin, to take the round 9-8. But Hesapene came back in the second round, pinning Brock and retaining her undefeated record.
Kaua‘i’s Bryson Yoro suffered his first loss to Fa‘a Tafua following a close match last Saturday where Yoro prevailed.
This week, Tafua scored first, marking the only score in the opening round with a takedown, 1-0.
Following a scoreless second round in the 130-pound class, where a penalty assessed to Tafua, both grapplers broke away from the conservative second round when Yoro scored a takedown only to have Tafua reversing the position. Yoro answered with a reversal in the waning seconds, but the clock ran out, giving Tafua the win, 5-4.
In another exciting exhibition match, Kapa‘a’s Jeremiah Obrero met Kahepu‘u in a scratch weight match, but Obrero, normally fighting the 189 pound class, was outmatched by the Waimea light heavyweight, who got a pin in the first round.
KIF wrestling moves to the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea Saturday with the first matches getting under way at 10 a.m.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
