Here’s the latest highlight clip from Minnesota:

Highlight clip compiled by Robin Chow

Looking at Rick Dang’s pictures from The Clash reminded me of a great story that I should’ve written about earlier.

When we checked in to the hotel, there was a message waiting for us at the front desk — “Call Ray Kealoha”, with a couple of phone numbers. Neither Matt or I knew who Ray was so after we got the wrestlers settled into their rooms and got everyone fed, Matt gave him a call.

Turns out Ray’s from Kalihi and was moved out to Rochester 10 years ago by the National Guard. He read about us in the paper and just wanted to extend a little Aloha to the boys as they got settled into the Minnesota cold.

Ray is great! He joined us at the tournament on Saturday and hung out w/our parents, cheering us on. He was also super helpful when we were stuck at the Rochester airport, trying to figure out what our options were. Ray got us a deal on a hotel in case we needed to spend the night, and stayed at the airport most of the day to keep everyone company.

Braddah Ray, you promised to drop by our wrestling room the next time you come home — looking forward to seeing you again!

We were scheduled to leave Rochester @ 6:10am, but all flights were delayed, then canceled, throughout the morning due to very heavy fog. We waited around the airport until about 11, then got a shuttle back to the hotel to wait there. The incredible hospitality of the folks in Rochester made our delay a bit easier. The hotel let us hang out in their banquet room and gave us back one of our hotel rooms at no charge. And not only did the shuttle company drive us back and forth to the airport for free, the shuttle driver kept checking in with us all afternoon, giving us updates on the airport situation.

Because of the delay out of Rochester, we missed our connection in Chicago. The coaches spent most of the afternoon on the phone with the airlines and with Mrs. Hee back in Hawaii, trying to figure out how we were going to get home without missing any more school than absolutely necessary.

By the time we departed Rochester for Chicago, the best we could do is to split the group in two with one group scheduled to arrive at 8pm Monday and the other group needing to spend an additional night in Los Angeles, not scheduled to arrive home until Tuesday at noon(!).

While Oney & Mr. Beachy got the team over to the hotel for our overnight stay in Chicago, Big Rudie & I set out to see if we could get the second group home sooner than Tuesday. Frustrated by the runaround we were getting from United, I called Jeremy Kort’s (2004 team captain) mother, who works for American Airlines in Honolulu. Talk about saving our okole big time! She very quickly arranged for our second group to get onto a direct flight that American had from Chicago to Honolulu and took care of all the back end administration.

Thank you, Patty!!!

When all was said and done, one group arrived home at 3pm on Monday and the other later that evening. Even with the extra hassle of our trip home, I can’t say enough about what a great experience this was for us. The wrestling was outstanding and it showed us that although we can certainly compete against some of the better teams in the country, we still have a long way to go. Just as memorable was the overall travel experience, from the cold and snow to the warm hospitality of the tournament staff and the people of Rochester.

I can’t wait to go back to The Clash!

Maika called the Holiona’s to let them know we were passing through town. Dana (with some help from Koa) pulled out all the stops and delivered a wonderful buffet of local food to the wrestlers. We didn’t get checked into the hotel until about 10:30p, but the Holiona’s were waiting for us with BBQ chicken, rice(!), edamame, and fresh baked desserts.

Many of the wrestlers were friends with Daniel in middle school and they all had a great time catching up.

Thank you, Koa, Dana and Daniel — we look forward to seeing you guys @ the lacrosse tournament in October!

Out with a bang

Things went much better for the Punahou School of Hawaii on the final day of competition at The Clash VI.

Punahou lost its opening dual to Goodhue 33-30. A controversial slam call cost Punahou six points, which essentially cost the school the dual.

"It was unfortunate, and our kids were pretty upset about it," Punahou coach Matt Oney said. "But they didn’t hang their heads."

Punahou bounced back with two wins to close the tournament, topping Chaparral of Colorado 45-18 and Creighton Prep 39-34.

Oney and his coaching staff presented gift bags to opposing coaches and tournament organizers. They even presented gifts to officials, after they had finished wrestling, of course.

Oney said the trip was worth every penny.

"We’ve been treated so well, from the second our plane landed," Oney said. "It didn’t matter who it was. This was the trip of a lifetime for our kids."

Punahou’s 2-1 record on Day 2 tied them with Goodhue and Creighton Prep, but the tiebreaker went to Punahou and their wrestlers took home trophies as winners of the Eighth Bracket (29th place).

See the entire article here.

After a poor performance yesterday, we had a much better day today. The boys looked much sharper and wrestled much better.

We started with a little bit of a disappointment, dropping our first dual meet to Goodhue (MN) 30 – 33. We actually had the dual meet all but sown up when our 152 pounder was called for an illegal slam and the Goodhue wrestler was not able to continue.

We won our next two duals, first against Chapparal (CO) and then against Creighton Prep (NE). That left three teams with 2-1 records in our pool and we won based on tie-breaker criteria.

Though it would’ve been nice to finish our Clash experience 3-3, the tournament committee was complimentary of our 2-4 showing. They reminded us that other than the nationally ranked teams, getting two wins in a team’s first Clash is not an easy thing to do.

Congratulations to the wrestlers for a nice performance at one of the premier pre-season tournaments!

Match Results
Punahou 30  Goodhue (MN) 33 (details)
Punahou 45  Chapparal (CO) 18 (details)
Punahou 39  Creighton Prep (NE) 34 (details)

Welcome to Minnesota

The wrestlers from the Punahou School team in Hawaii received a "warm" welcome when they arrived in Minnesota. However, Glenbard North, Punahou’s first-round opponent, wasn’t willing to roll out the welcome mat.

Glenbard North, ranked No. 9 in the nation, beat up the Punahou School — literally. Glenbard’s physical style led to a 68-0 blanking of Punahou.

Still, as expected, Punahou lost with class. Coach Matt Oney coached his first match exactly the same as his last.

"While I don’t like the result, this is what we came here for," Oney said. "That’s as physical of a team as we’ll see. My kids were able to see that you can wrestle that physical and keep your technique. They were flawless; they’re a great team. And we came here to see that type of team."

It’s unfortunate, but Punahou suffered the only skin casualty of the morning session. One of Punahou’s wrestlers did not make it through skin checks and was not allowed to wrestle.

Oney said the news rocked his team.

"They were pretty shaken up. He’s one of our starters and an emotional leader," Oney said. "To come this far and not get to wrestle is really tough."

The last match of the dual against Glenbard may have been the best one.

The final match came at 145 pounds and pitted nationally-ranked Vince Ramos of Glenbard against state champion and national judo champion Daniel Chow of Punahou.

Both were impressive, but Ramos was able to hold on for an 8-5 victory.

"I’m glad Glenbard had a kid that good at Daniel’s weight, because it was good for him to see a wrestler of that caliber," Oney said. "It was a great match, but I know Daniel’s not satisfied. And that’s a good thing. He’ll learn a lot from this one."

Punahou went 0-3 on the first day, but its final two duals were much closer. Punahou lost 47-16 to Blue Springs, Mo., then 38-28 to Carl Harrison of Georgia.

See the full article at The Clash | Top teams win, as expected