After 4 hours of intense competition, and a spirited performance by our team, our efforts garnered a second place finish to Kamehameha in the team race, finishing with 6 individual champions on the day.  We were grateful for the opportunity to compete and for everyone who helped make the day possible.  Champions included: Cameron Kato, Ryne Sato, Bun Straton, Giovanni Borja, Chieko Imai, and Kiana Lau.

It has been the pleasure of this coaching staff to have worked with such a fine group of young men and women.   From day one on the stairs to the last few days on the mat, this team has been focused, disciplined, and committed to and for each other.  In the face of challenges great and small this team has shown resiliency, flexibility, and an unwillingness to accept anything less than their very best.  We are proud of the work the wrestlers have put in this season, and prouder yet of the people they are becoming.  We would like to congratulate all of the wrestlers on their successes thus far in life, and all those waiting for them in the future.

“It was a privilege, it was an honor”.

Coach Mike, Matt, Colin, Dee, Erin, Matt

Chieko Running the Mills

Wrestling for Position

Classic Old School Rivalries

Victory does not come easily

Running the head to the knee

Captain Bradford

Kiana Lau and Katja Berthold wrestling for the top spot

Aloha to all the JV and Varsity for coming to support us!

On Tuesday, December 13th the Punahou Intermediate wrestling team held a joint practice with the Washington Intermediate Eagle Wrestling club. Coached by Brett Kumabe c/o ’95 the Washington Eagles and Punahou Buff n Blue have collaborated on a number of successful projects in the past, and continued that success with a spirited and eventful afternoon.

Getting to Know Each Other

The day started off with warm-ups, stretching and getting to know each other. We learned all sorts of information about each other like where we are from and our favorite ice cream flavors, school subjects, and video games. We practiced our neutral position and spin drills with the help of varsity wrestlers Nicole Taniguchi c/o ’12, Brian Peralta c/o ’12, and L.J. Remillard c/o ’13. We had fun learning different moves and seeing different styles of wrestling.

Working on Basing Up

After a short water break and reviewing how to base up from the bottom position we moved on to every wrestlers favorite part of practice…..WRESTLING! We broke up into groups of three and banged heads (both figuratively and literally). This was the most enjoyable part of practice and the wrestlers got a lot out of it. We ended the day learning to walk like an elephant, crawl like a bear, and learning to play chess… Like a Wrestler!

Much Aloha to Coach Brett, Joey, Andrew and the entire Washington Intermediate Eagles Wrestling club for visiting Punahou and providing us a tremendous opportunity to share and advance the sport we love. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Washington Intermediate and wish everyone a happy holiday season!

Coach Mike

Under Overs

Double Leg Takedown!

Showing the boys how its done!

Battling for Position!

Collar Tie!

Lower your stances!

Wrestling is hard but fun. =)

Putting away mats at the end of the day

This past weekend our intermediate wrestling team had two great opportunities to advance their knowledge in the sport of wrestling. Our first year wrestlers competed in their first tournament at Washington Intermediate School, and our veterans got to watch some of the best wrestling in the state at the first Pa’ani Challenge Girls Wrestling Tournament.

It was a great day for our first years who competed for the first time in a scrimmage with the Washington Intermediate Eagle Wrestling Program. Coach Brett Kumabe c/o ’95 set this up and we are grateful to have had this preseason opportunity. There was some awesome wrestling on both sides and we continued to cultivate our relationship with our brother/sister school down the road.

Our veterans and some zealous first years who couldn’t get enough helped run the first Pa’ani Challenge at Punahou. They saw some of the best girls from around the state go head to head for the first time this year. The field included national champions, state champions, and multiple state placers. We appreciate the intermediates help and the opportunity to learn and grow.

We’ve had a great first month of wrestling and hope to see you all at the ILH intermediate tournament at the St. Louis Field House. Approximate start time of 9:30am-10:00am.

Aloha,

Coach Mike

This past Thursday, May 20^th Punahou wrestlers practiced and competed with the Washington Intermediate Eagle Wrestling Club for the last time this year.  This event capped off a successful month of joint practices and getting to know each other.

The day started off with warm-ups and team building.  Then our own Evan Johnson (2x state placer) started off a clinic with arm drag setups to a single leg.  Next Mckinley’s Bradley Suda (2x state placer and runner-up this year at 108lbs) demonstrated one of his favorite single leg finishes (An inside trip).  After learning these moves and drilling, the wrestling started.  It was an action packed meet with a lot of scoring and good, hard wrestling.  In the most anticipated matchup of the night Brett Kumabe c/o ’95 matched up with Brett Will c/’11 for an exciting match won by Brett Will.

Once the mats were put away we enjoyed a night of food and fellowship with the Eagles Wrestling Club and staff from the Boys and Girls Club.  We had a great time and would like to thank Coach Brett Kumabe for setting this up and providing us with such great opportunities.  What a coach!

We had a great time and look forward to working with them next year!

Coach Nelson coaches team "Brett Will and Friends"

Mckinley's Marilyn, Bradley Suda and Punahou's Bryan Peralta and Evan Johnson keep score

Alex and Hanale

The Bow n Arrow

Puma Michael Saito in his first wrestling match

Coach Brett Kumabe and Brett Will

This past weekend Punahou wrestlers from all levels competed in the annual AAU Maui State Wrestling Championships.  It was a great opportunity for our varsity wrestlers to get their feet wet in their first freestyle competition of the season, and for our younger wrestlers to compete against new opponents from different islands.

This year’s tournament of 552 participants was contested on 8 mats, Saturday May 15^th at the Lahaina Civic Center.  It was a great day of wrestling for all, and Punahou ended the day with three individual champions:  Josh Crimmins, Makana Valdez, and Nicole Taniguchi.

During down time the kids engaged in a variety of activities.  Among the highlights were dinner at Ka’ahumanu Mall, jumping whales on the drive to Lahaina, donkey and sheep petting, endless shenanigans at the Puma Inn, cooking breakfast together, eating 15 lbs of bacon and Portuguese sausage, Krispy Kreme, and learning that Tasaka’s Guri Guri shop is closed on Sundays =(.

Once again we were fortunate to stay at the Puma Inn in Makawao.  The kids had a lot of fun and spent time getting to know wrestlers from other grade levels.  Much gratitude goes out to the outstanding upperclassmen leadership on the trip, and to the young ones for bringing an endless amount of energy and enthusiasm.

Despite missing our initial flight, we were able to get all students and coaches back to Oahu by late Sunday evening.  We had a great time and look forward to next years trip!

Coach Mike

After a slow start to the morning, the team really picked up the pace and turned in their best performance of the year in the final round. The boy’s team placed 18 wrestlers and finished the day with 9 individual champions. The girl’s team placed 8 wrestlers and finished the day with 4 individual champions.

The boys’ team’s gutsy performance in the last round propelled them to a narrow win over strong team performances from Pac-5 and Kamehameha. Though no official girl’s team’s scores were recorded we placed more girls than any other team.

Congratulations to the Punahou Intermediate Wrestling Team, 2009 ILH Champions!

{Editor’s Note: If you have a picture of the Inter Championship that we can use for this article, please send to me so we can stop using the picture of the high school kids }