Wrestler Auna Gets Taste Of Olympic Fever In Manila

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Danica Auna

When Kahuku High graduate Danica Auna went to Manila on a family visit this month, she didn’t know she’d end up playing in the Philippine Olympic Festival. But after inquiring about joining its national team someday, the Hauula girl was promptly invited to wrestle in a pair of free-style exhibition matches against current National Team members Noemi Tener and Maribel Jambora, the latter a bronze medalist at the Southeast Asian Games.

“It was scary - I thought my heart was going to fall out of my chest,” said Auna, a two-time prep All-American and Hawaii state wrestling champion in the 125-pound weight class. “I wasn’t really training for it, so the pressure was on. I wasn’t in top shape, and I’d been cleaning house at my uncle’s until two in the morning the night before.”

Back on the mat, Auna quickly asserted herself with stellar wins over both opponents. If she has her way, she soon could fill a spot on the Philippine National Team after catching the eye of assistant coach Karlo Silverio L. Sevilla. She’s now trying to secure dual citizenship, which would allow her to attend BYU-Hawaii while competing internationally.

Her mother was born in the Philippines, and the family had been planning a trip for a long time. Then her dad read about the Philippine National Team on the Internet, and the family’s curiosity about her opportunities increased considerably.

“Since I’m Filipino, I thought it would be cool to represent them,” Auna said. “I would be able to compete at a higher skill level, and I’d also like to go to the Olympics (in 2012). It’s a long-range goal, but this would bring me a step closer.”

Wrestling may be all-consuming for Auna now, but only six years ago, while in seventh grade, she was a self-described “girly girl.”

“I used to see girls wrestling and think it was weird,” she recalled. “I liked to dress up and wear lip gloss. I was with my mom once watching my brother, and she said they had wrestling for girls. I went up to (Kahuku coach) Reggie (Torres) and told him I wanted to try it.” Torres put her on the intermediate team and allowed her and Amanda Soliai to practice with the high school kids every day, she said. As a freshman, she quickly was assigned to the varsity squad, but it wasn’t easy.

“I got beaten and torn apart in preseason. I came home crying, but when the regular season started, I began to win matches.”

An eventual three-time OIA individual champion, she made the state finals as a freshman. She again wrestled for the state title as a sophomore, but lost in the 108-pound weight class.

“Those two losses were a turning point for me,” said Auna, who came back to win state titles in 2007 and 2008. “Every year since, I’ve tried to work harder.”

That means waking up at 5:30, hopping on her bike for the 45-minute ride from Hauula to Kahuku High, where she lifts weight for two hours before biking home. A 4-mile run follows. Then there’s the intense house cleaning that occupies much of her time. In fact, at the time of her MidWeek interview, Auna was vacuuming the house.

“I’m a clean freak,” she laughed. “I don’t like to be sticky and sweaty. I like to do girl stuff, but I really love wrestling. I’m a different person on the mat when I’m wrestling and focused on doing my best. I leave everything behind and just focus on wrestling.”

Accessing the “zone state,” as it’s termed in the sporting world, comes easy to her. Her routine is to listen to “hyped-up” songs on her iPod and visualize the entire match.

While at BYUH this fall, Auna will help coach the Kahuku wrestling team. “I like giving back to my coaches and giving back to the community,” she said.