Wrestlers Keep Up Momentum

School may have been on vacation for two weeks, but the Molokai High School wrestling team took no rest this year. The boys and girls teams took on 19 teams from Hawaii, the mainland and Canada at the Maui Invitational Dec. 21-22, and a round-robin tournament plus duals this past weekend, on Jan. 8.

Coach Randy Manley said the December invitational was “good all around” – six boys and six girls placed in the top six, including Simon Blair (135 lbs), Jordan Hao (287) and Charisse Manley (140). The boys’ team placed sixth overall, while the girls’ placed fourth. Charisse Manley was also named Outstanding Wrestler in the 130 and above weight class.

The wrestlers returned again to Maui last Saturday for a Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) tournament.

“It was kind of a mixed bag,” said Coach Manley. “A bunch of our first timers had their first matches [Jan. 8]. Some did fairly well for their first time out, some found out they have a lot more to learn.”

He added that overall at the MIL tournament, the team did not score well, but there were some individual achievements. Stanley Kamali`i won the 135 weight class, Kenny Enos (120 lbs) came in second in his weight class, Austin Maliu-Calairo (189B) got third place, Conan Kawano (140) came in fourth, and Kilo Au Lani Gonzales (189A) placed fifth. On the girls’ side, Keila Tanner (125) came in third.

While as a team, the boys did not win any duals, Kevin Dudoit (140) won all of his dual matches against Baldwin/Kamehameha Maui, Maui High and Lahainaluna. However, Lady Farmers Michal Torres-Umi (120) and Charisse Manley (140) pinned their Kamehameha Maui/Baldwin opponents to win a dual for the girls’ side.

“Yesterday definitely showed us we have some improvements to make,” Coach Manley added. “[The problems] aren’t huge which is great, we didn’t get dominated, just some small adjustments.”

The wrestlers take on the MIL again this weekend at Kamehameha Maui, Jan. 15.