2010 February 11 « Wayne Joseph’s Blog

Two BIIF Wrestlers Going for Perfection

Honokaa's Geo Chavez-Pardini - undefeated in 3 yrs. of BIIF competition

It is said that “The most difficult part of attaining perfection is finding something to do for an encore.” And for Konawaena’s Alexandra Aoki and Honokaa’s Geo Chavez-Pardini that encore may come this Saturday at the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Wrestling Championships

Aoki, a senior, will see her BIIF wrestling career come to a close and with it a perfect league record during the past three years of wrestling competition.

Aoki goes into this Saturday’s BIIF championship at Keaau as the three time defending champion in the 103 pound weight class, a division she has dominated by never losing a match since dropping a pair during her freshman year.

“She (Aoki) is very coachable, respectful, a hard worker and a pleasure to be around,” Kona coach Wally Nakashima said.

Aoki made it into the final round of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state wrestling championships last year before dropping a close match to take the runner-up position. This year Aoki is determined to turn things around and bring home a state title.

“It’s not really about me winning all my matches in the BIIF,” Aoki said. “It’s more important that I have quality opponents to wrestle against during the season.”

: Mindy Lorance (left) and Megan Aina

Aina singled out Kealakehe’s Mindy Lorance and Kamehameha’s Megan Aina as the toughest competition that she had this season.

Eight years of judo and a brown belt has helped Aoki throughout her wrestling career.

“Judo and wrestling are very different in moves, but judo has helped teach me the discipline necessary in any sport,” she said.

Honokaa’s Geo Chavez-Pardini will be concluding his junior season in BIIF competition at the 160 class.

Chavez-Pardini won the 140 weight class as a freshman, the 152 class as a sophomore, and if everything goes as planned will emerge as the BIIF champion at 160.

During his three years of league matches Chavez-Pardini has the distinction of winning every single match, most of which came by pin.

“I’ve gone this far without a loss that it would be disappointing to lose at the BIIF championships,” Chavez-Pardini said. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am and I’m not going to let anything spoil that.”

During the season Chavez-Pardini has faced a variety of Big Island opponents and credits Hawaii Prep’s Keoni Colson as giving him the best competition.

“I wish I could wrestle Keoni (Colson) more often as it benefits me to compete against the best,” Chavez-Pardini said. “Keoni wrestles at 152, so I have a weight advantage, but he is a very good wrestler.”

Aoki and Chavez-Pardini are also talented in the classroom as both have accumulated GPA’s of 3.8 and have made the honor roll for their respective schools numerous times.

On Saturday wrestlers representing 11 BIIF schools will be competing in 25 weight divisions that will produce individual championship crowns for 14 boys and 11 girls.

Kealakehe comes into Keaau as the defending boys and girls team champions and this season will face an uphill battle in their attempt to repeat.

A complex system of points will be awarded during every match depending on how the match is won; pin, tech or major decision and another set of points will be given for first through fourth place finishes in each weight class. The school with the most total number of points accumulated will determine the boys and girls team titles.

“This weeks BIIF championships should be one of the better tournaments in recent years,” Kamehameha coach Marlon Miller said. “No one school is the clear favorite (for the team title) and although both Kealakehe and Honokaa are probably the odds on favorites every school this year has a talent pool of wrestlers that should produce some upsets in the rank and file.”

With Honokaa and Kealakehe being the front runners for the boys team crown Miller believes that Konawaena, Hawaii Prep and Kamehameha could play the role of spoiler.

Honokaa coach Dan Whetstone believes that the boys from HPA, Honokaa and Kealakehe have the talent to produce two to three BIIF champions and all three should be considered the top contenders for the team title.

Most coaches see Kamehameha as having the inside track to win the girls team title as the private school Warriors have wrestlers in all 11 weight classes.

“After Kamehameha I think we (Honokaa) have the next largest squad with eight girls with Kealakehe and Kona both having several outstanding wrestlers and may have enough girls to pull off an upset,” Whetstone said.

Hawaii Prep’s coach, Gary Jarvill, believes the Kamehameha girls have the best chance at winning the team title while the boy’s title is up for grabs.

“The boy’s championship will be much closer with Kealakehe having the biggest team and returning BIIF champions from last year,” Jarvill said. “Every team has at least one or two BIIF number one seeded wrestlers so it will be really close. Kealakehe has 12 of the 14 weight classes covered so it will be hard to displace them this weekend at BIIFs.”

The favorites to win individual BIIF titles for the boys are:

Honokaa: Geo Chavez-Pardini, 160, and Kalai Nihau, 171.

Kona: Sage Aoki, 108, Jimmy Romualdo and Kawika Scott, 189.

Kamehameha: Justin Hirae, 114, and Nalu Souza, 120.

Kealakehe: Dillon Cortes, 130, and Jordan Hao, 285.

HPA: Bronson Kobayashi, 145, Keoni Colson, 152, and Onipaa Stevens, 215.

Keaau: Cheyden Quiocho, 125.

Waiakea: Tyler Yonemori, 140.

Favorites for the girls are:

Kamehameha: Megan Aina, 98, Jenna Aina, 114, Rustee-Ann Johansen, 130, Pomai Pohina, 140, and Kaopua Sutton, 175.

Kona: Alexandra Aoki, 103, Danielle Hubbard, 108, and Tanalei Louis, 125.

Kealakehe: Jodi Ozaki, 120.