Quinlan takes silver medal

Daniel Quinlan took home the silver medal in yesterday’s Chevron/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association’s Boys State Wrestling Championships at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

Quinlan, of ‘Ele‘ele but wrestles with Lahainaluna School, was taken down 9-5 by Rudie Schaefer of Punahou School.

The match went all three rounds.

“I was kind of confident (going into the match) because I saw him wrestle another match and he barely beat this kid I beat before,” said Quinlan.

Earlier in the season, Quinlan had a knee injury, but there were no signs of pain throughout the tournament.

“I felt fine. It was good,” he said.

Quinlan earned his spot at the championships by winning the Maui Interscholastic League in the 152-pound weight class. He also won an MIL championship last year, but in the 140-pound weight class.

The junior was given the No. 2 seed in this year’s championships and was given the first-match bye.

From then on, Quinlan won three matches in a row to make it to the title match.

Quinlan first defeated Keola Knight from Kamehameha Schools Kapalama in the preliminaries.

Quinlan defeated Rikki Rutt out of Pearl City High School in the quarterfinals and faced Nicholas Chambers out of ‘Aiea High School in the semifinals.

Quinlan faced Schaefer in the final late last night.

“I really wanted first, but second’s good, too,” he said. “I still have next year to come back to states.”

Quinlan, who bulked up from the 140-pound weight class to the 152-pound weight class for this year, thinks he will go up to the next weight class at 160 pounds next year.

Quinlan’s school Lahainaluna also finished second overall in the boys team standings finishing second also to Punahou.

Punahou earned 225.5 points from all its wrestlers while Lahainaluna finished with 176 points.

Kamehameha Schools Kapalama finished third with 147.

The Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation currently does not have girls or boys wrestling incorporated into its athletic programs.