With less than a month left in her high school wrestling career, Kapolei’s Allicia Mahoe is ready to move up.
Mahoe, the reigning OIA champion at 97 pounds, will compete at 107 at the OIA West Division championships on Saturday. Mahoe has never won a state title, but has a chance to do something that all but three state champions has ever done.
Mahoe will be trying to become the first wrestler in her school’s history to win four OIA West titles after reigning in the 97-pound class the last three years. She would be just the fourth girl ever to complete the streak, joining Angela Peralta of Campbell and Radford in 2016, Kuuipo Badayos of Mililani and Waianae in 2008 and Nanakuli’s Ashley Gasper in 2002. None of those three girls wrestled below 130 pounds.
The milestone won’t come easy for Mahoe, though, as Leilehua’s Shantelle Mangrobang also lives at 107 pounds and is the reigning champion there.
Other girls looking to repeat are Leilehua’s Kelani Corbett and Waianae’s Kaleinani Makuaole in different weight classes.
The East will hold its championships at the same time on Saturday at Farrington.
Kahuku’s Luana Kanongataa is expected to go for her fourth straight division crown, becoming only the second girl to do so since the gender was given its own tournament in 1998. The only other girl to win the East four straight years was fellow Kahuku wrestler Libby Petrie from 2009-12.
Another highlight of the East championships figures to be a rematch between Farrington’s Lavenia Fotu and Kahuku’s Tangiteina Niutupuivaha. Fotu, who will be wrestling in her home gym, beat Niutupuivaha at Officials.
The only thing that is completely assured, as far as history is concerned, is that Roosevelt will have a contender at 97 pounds. The school has won the weight class for the past six years with Anjelynn Baron, Menjam Tamang and Maia Phanthadara each taking it twice. The next longest streak for one school at one weight class belongs to Kahuku at 103 pounds from 2006-10, when Darian Auna, Andrina Ramos, Phoebe Arnett and Danica Auna ruled.
Here is a peek at tomorrow’s brackets:
Girls Varsity East 2019 BRACKETS- Seeding mtg
And here is a list of past champions:
Roosevelt has indeed controlled Eastern Division 97# for 6 [now 7 years] but Baron won only once, in 2017. Xiaolin Mai was champion in 2018. She was also OIA champion, an achievement credited to Mahoe in the article.