Iolani Alumni

Taylor Takata ‘00, the top-ranked fighter at 66kg (~145 lbs), will compete for a spot on Team USA at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The US Olympic Trials are set to begin on June 13th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In order to participate in the Olympic Games, countries must first qualify their weight division by having an athlete place in the top 6 overall based on the results from major tournaments over the course of three years. With a 5th place finish at the 2008 Pan-American Championships, Takata helped the U.S. qualify the 66kg weight class and will now need to finish first at the US Olympic Trials to earn his spot on Team USA.

[Photo: USA Judo]

Co-Athletic Director Carl Schroers will make his return to coaching next season as the new head coach of the Iolani Wrestling program - a position that opened earlier this year when former head coach Yoshi Honda resigned.

As I’m sure many remember, Schroers headed the program in the 80s and 90s, during which time he built Iolani Wrestling into one of the most dominant programs in the state, rivaled only by St. Louis Football. From 1981-2000, Schroers led the Raiders to 17 ILH and 11 state titles including 7 straight from 1988-94. (Todd Los Banos won in 1990 while Schroers was on sabbatical).

Iolani captured its last boys state title in 2003 (Girls - 2005). Punahou won in 2007 and 2008.

Wendell Look, current head coach of the Iolani Football team, will act as Associate Athletic Director during the winter season while Schroers heads the wrestling program.

At the 2008 Hawaii State Wrestling Championships this past weekend, the Iolani Girls Wrestling team captured two individual titles at the 103 lb and 220 lb weight classes and finished in second place overall.

Keiko Akamine (103 lb) won her second consecutive state title with a 4-2 victory over unseeded Macy Yonamine of Kamehameha-Kapalama. Akamine will return next season to challenge for her third state title at 103 lbs.

Olivia Fatongia (220 lb) earned her first state title with a pin early in the second period against Radford’s Brayanne Moe. See an interview after her win »

Other top finishers: Megan Morisada - 2nd (114 lbs), Caitlin Mizoshiri - 3rd (98 lbs), Alice Chow - 5th (125 lbs)

The boys team finished in 9th. Their highest finishers were Niklas Streng - 3rd (215 lbs), Brysson Morita - 5th (112 lbs) and Ian Akamine - 6th (130 lbs).

Kickboxing may not be an ILH sport and probably never will be, but if it were, the Raiders would definitely have the upperhand. Unbeknownst to many in the Iolani Community, incoming freshman Sage Yoshida ‘11 is one of the top kickboxers in his age division in the state of Hawaii and is said to have an extremely bright future in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA).

Having won his most recent kickboxing matchup at Kickin It 2007 on April 20th, Sage has also competed in several mixed martial arts and jiu-jitsu events, coming out on top in each one of them. On June 22nd, he defeated an older but lighter fighter in dominant fashion to win 125lb title at the Got Skills Champships which featured a mixture of kickboxing, takedowns and grappling and was named the “Fighter of the Night” for his performance. The following day on June 23rd, Sage won the 12-14 Gi and No-Gi titles at the Hawaiian Open of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Results).

Sage trains and fights out of the HMC Academy where his father Kevin is an instructor. He is also a member of the Iolani Wrestling Team.

UPDATE: Carla Watase lost 3-2 in the finals to Samantha Batoon (Farrington) in the 108 lb division.

On the outside, Carla Watase appears to be your stereotypical Iolani girl. Smart, soft-spoken, humble… And with dark hair and an unassuming stature, you probably couldn’t even pick her out of a crowded hallway…

On the wrestling mat, Watase is a far from “typical”. She is the 4-time defending ILH champion and the 3-time defending state champion who sports an overall record of 136-2 and is the #1 seed going into the 2007 State Wrestling Tournament where she hopes to pick up her 4th consecutive state title. Accomplishing that feat would place the 108-lb senior in elite company. To date, Caylene Valdez of Moanlua is the one female wrestler to win 4 state titles when she did it from 2000-03.

The 2007 State Wrestling Tournament runs today and tomorrow (March 2 & 3) at Blaisdell Arena.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

Read the Honolulu Advertiser article, “Watase seeks perfect ending” »
Read the Star Bulletin article, “No quit in Watase” »