KAILUA-KONA — The Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) judo season wrapped up Saturday at Kealakehe High School, and perhaps nobody is happier than the Hilo boys and girls teams.
The Vikings took first in the Central Pacific Bank/BIIF Judo Championships in the boys and girls divisions — scoring a collective 96 (girls) and 94 points (boys), respectively.
“It feels awesome,” Hilo High head coach Kerwyn Tokeshi said. “The kids worked really hard for this. I knew it was possible, but I just challenged them to bring it at this last tournament. The last few tournaments, it was really close team-wise. I think in the last three tournaments, the top three teams were us, Waiakea and (Konawaena). It’s been close.”
Tokeshi said that as long as he can remember, Hilo has never won both the boys and girls team judo championships. This year was also a repeat championship for Hilo’s boys.
“I’m just super stoked for the double titles,” Tokeshi said. “We’ve never done it before. Waiakea has done it before, many times. For the past few years, either just the boys or girls have been champions. It felt good this year to put it all together.”
Last year, BIIF judokas made a major impact at the state championship, as two judokas — KSH’s Caden Pasa and Hilo’s Irie Sakai — won their weight classes and many others notched top-six finishes.
“All of the BIIF schools represent the Big Island well at states,” Tokeshi said. “It’s like any other sport, the competition on O‘ahu is at a higher level, but not to where our kids can’t compete.”
Hilo’s Ihilani Sakai won the girls’ 139 lbs. weight class. Last year, her older sister — Irie Saiki, who graduated in 2023 — was the state champion for the 139 class.
“It’s very, very likely,” said Tokeshi when asked about the likelihood of Ihilani following in Irie’s footsteps at the state championship. “I’ve never seen anything like that, but it would be awesome.”
Other Viking winners from last weekend included Iverson Babas in the boys 108 class, Kainalu Aurello in the boys 198 class, Tiana Freeman in the girl’s 220 class and Kainalu Keopuhiwa in the boys 285 division.
Konawaena girls, the west side’s top finisher from both divisions, finished second with 93 points. Leading the Wildcats was Franchesca Williams (172 class), who won her entire class. Anika Santo (109 class), Shakia Ortiz-Strauss (129 class), Kawan Villanueva (129 class), Ruby Dahl (139 class), Kaiale‘a Manzo (139 class), Mela Tokumura-Hanato-Wel (154 class) and Felecity Mariano (220 class) posted top-three finishes for Kona. The Wildcats’ plethora of consistent finishers in the top five earned them the No. 2 placement.
Waiakea boys finished second in the boys standings with 92 points, falling just shy of exceeding Hilo. The Warriors’ top finishers were winners Kyler Aguiar (114 class) and Matther Ohara (121 class). Other Waiakea podium placements included Tyhler Iida (108 class), Shayne Muragin-Flored (121 class), Siras Gaston (132 class), Noah Bento (161 class), Kainalu Childress-Powell (161 class), Hayzden Gaspar (198 class) and Keynen Tolentino (220 class) earning top-three finishes.
Full more individual results, please see the paper later this week.
With the island season now in the rearview, top judokas can now set their sites on the Odom Corporation Judo Championships on April 27 at the Stan Sheriff Center on Oahu.
