OIA Champion Cougars Say Goodbye To Nine Seniors

Wednesday - March 04, 2009
By Jack Danilewicz
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To hear Kaiser boys wrestling coach Mike Kim tell it, winning the OIA title last month was easy compared to saying goodbye to the members of his current senior class.

All told, nine Cougars recently completed their eligibility - in style, no less - including an impressive showing at the recent State Wrestling Championships.

“It’s a special group,” said Kim, who just completed his 15th season at Kaiser. “A lot of them have been with me for a long time - when they were in the Police Activities League. I’m just so proud of how they did over the years, especially this year.”


Indeed, in addition to winning a third straight OIA team title, the Cougars took second in the state behind Punahou, which won a third straight state title in a row. Kaiser also boasted individual state champions in seniors Jason Spiker (108-pound weight class) and Michael Nakagawa (120) while, within their own OIA format, the squad claimed six titles in 14 weight classes - eight different Cougars played for an individual title - en route to winning their league title Feb. 14.

Spiker’s title was among the more visible at the state tournament, as he wrapped up a career that saw him lose only one match in his last two years and only five overall as a Cougar, according to Kim. He went 37-0 this season.

“Coming so close last year left him hungry, and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to get in his way this year,” Kim said of Spiker, whose only loss in 2008 came at the semifinals of the state tourney. “He did everything possible to prepare himself for this year. He won all but three of his matches by take-down, and only one of his matches lasted an entire match.

“Michael is one of the most technically sound wrestlers on the team,” he added of Nakagawa.“He brings a ton of experience and knowledge. He had a burning desire to finish with a state title.”

The Cougars also boasted state runners-up in Kekoa Kim (189), Byron Apo (135), Blake Ling (130) and Douglas Paahao (215). All are seniors.

“Douglas was relatively unknown, but by the time we got to the OIA (championships), he was starting to raise some eyebrows,” Kim said of Paahao. “Kekoa is one of the hardest workers in the room. Byron brought a lot of mental toughness to our team. Blake was our team leader, our most emotional leader.”


Also placing in the top six at the state tournament for Kaiser were Ryan Nakagawa (114, 5th) and Cory Hironaka (140, 6th), while Lee also praised the efforts of senior Pasi Toetuu (285), who battled back from a football injury to come on strong at the very end of the season, and up-and-coming junior Jesse Kauhola (145), next year’s team leader-in-waiting.

“Pasi is a real emotional leader, and we have high expectations for Jesse next year,” Kim said.

At the OIA championships on Valentine’s Day, despite a commanding 216-140.5 lead entering the final matches that day, Kaiser’s wrestlers stayed the course to close out their third consecutive OIA team title. The Cougars had eight wrestlers in first-place matches that day, with six emerging victorious. Winning their divisions were: Spiker, Ling, Apo, Paahao, and Ryan and Michael Nakagawa.

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