January 17 six-school-dual meet at ASIJ

6 School Dual Meet at ASIJ – January 17, 2015

 

6 Kanto Schools – St. Mary’s, CAJ, ASIJ, Kinnick, Yokota, and Zama – gathered for an international schools versus Dodds schools dual meet. St. Mary’s wrestled against Zama, Kinnick, and Yokota.

 

Team Results:

 

St. Mary’s 44 – Zama 15

Kinnick 36 – St. Mary’s 29

St. Mary’s 45 – Yokota 7

 

Match by Match:

 

St. Mary’s versus Zama

101lb Eshan Singhi won by foreit

108lb Chang Young Lee defeated Ryu Patterson (ZAM) by technical fall (10-0)

115lb Rio Lemkuil won by forfeit

122lb Ryo Osawa won by forfeit

129lb Tatsuo Tanaka won by forfeit

135lb Alberto Orsara defeated Curtis Blunt (ZAM) by pin

141lb Ryan Vasconcellos defeated Andy Ainsworth by pin

148lb Kazuho Kawashima won by forfeit

158lb Riku Osawa won by forfeit

168lb Sam Preston (ZAM) defeated Mitchell Krcelic by pin

180lb Kevin Groce (ZAM) defeated Nilay Hingarh by pin

215lb Trayland Rose (ZAM) won by forfeit

275lb Uncontested

 

Exhibition matches:

129lb Riku Tabata defeated Donathan Flores (ZAM) by technical fall (10-0)

St. Mary’s versus Kinnnick

101lb Lucas Wirth (KIN) defeated Eshan Singhi by pin

108lb Chang Young Lee defeated Matthew Abrenilla (KIN) by technical fall (20-6)

115lb Vincent Soiles (KIN) defeated Rio Lemkuil by pin

122lb Ryo Osawa defeated Jianni Labato (KIN) by pin

129lb Tatsuo Tanaka defeated John Jack (KIN) by pin

135lb George Calbert (KIN) defeated Alberto Orsara by technical fall (14-4)

141lb Ryan Vasconcellos defeated Darius Swenson (KIN) by pin

148lb Kazuho Kawashima deafeated Brady Yoder (KIN) by technical fall (24-5)

158lb Riku Osawa defeated Ian Olson (KIN) by pin

168lb Dre Paylor (KIN) defeated Mitchell Krcelic by pin

180lb Dwanye Lyon (KIN) defeated Nilay Hingarh by pin

215lb Nicholas Alverez (KIN) won by forfeit

275lb Chris Deibel (KIN) won by forfeit

 

Exhibition matches:

115lb Dai Matsumoto defeated Chon Dareing (KIN) by decision (8-7)

122lb Calvin Neil (KIN) defeated Jonathan Goff by technical fall (11-1)

168lb Triston Waterhouse (KIN) defeated Joonseo Bae by pin

St. Mary’s versus Yokota

101lb Eshan Singhi won by forfeit

108lb Chang Young Lee defeated Michael Hoffman (YOK) by technical fall (10-0)

115lb Rio Lemkuil won by forfeit

122lb Ryo Osawa won by forfeit

129lb Alberto Orsara defeated Emerson Gaume (YOK) by pin

135lb Tatsuo Tanaka won by forfeit

141lb Ryan Vasconcellos defeated Jordan Goodman (YOK) by technical fall (15-4)

148lb Kazuho Kawashima defeated Shomari Tindal (YOK) by technical fall (10-0)

158lb Riku Osawa defeated Nikil Johnson (YOK) by pin

168lb Mitchell Krcelic defeated Ty Dotson by decision (16-8)

180lb Sam Michaelson (YOK) defeated Nilay Hingarh by pin

215lb Uncontested

275lb Uncontested

 

Exhibition matches:

Ryo Sawa defeated Taka Takenouchi (YOK) by pin

158lb Alex Alexander (YOK) defeated Jihoon Seo by pin

168lb Joonseo Bae defeated Triston Laliberto (YOK) by pin

“A loss is a loss,” regretfully commented Coach Yabui, “but, this loss (against Kinnick) has a lot more story to it and a positive context behind what is simply says on paper.” The Titan wrestlers entered ASIJ on Saturday with plenty of adversities against them. Earlier in the week, 275lb Leon Araya caugh influenza and became ineligible to wrestle throught out the week including Saturday; which made 2 weight classes for the Titans open. 115lb senior and the Beast of the East champion, Lucas Shiraki was diagnosed with a mysterious infection on his finger 2 days prior to the competition and was not allowed to wrestle. Varsity 141lb, Itsuki Shibahara was out due to an illness. Titans replaced the 115lb senior with rising freshmen, Rio Lemkuil, and bumped up senior, Alberto Orsara, to 135lb and Ryan Vasconcellos to 141lb to make up for Itsuki’s weight class. Fast improving sophomore, Tatsuo Tanaka filled in the 129lb spot.

 

The outcome of the matches such as “pin” or “technicall fall” could have a different meaning when it comes to a dual meet. In an individual tournament, a wrestler simply needs to pin the opponent, win by a 10 point difference (technical fall), or have more points at the end of 6 minutes to win. However, in a dual meet, because “how” the wrestler wins determines the team points awarded, there are cases in which a coach may decide to continue the match even after the wrestler has won the match by technical fall to go for the pin which scores higher team points. This is what happened to Chang Young Lee, Ryan Vasconcellos, Kazuho Kawashima, and captain, Riku Osawa. “The two things a coach does not want to do in a dual meet is to bump wrestlers up a weight class and ask wrestlers to continue wrestling for the pin. I had to do both; multiple times. And, continuing for the pin is also very risky,” refers Coach Yabui to his decision to continue wrestling his wrestlers on Saturday, “but, there was no other choice; it was the only way that would give us a chance to win.” Asking your wrestler to go back on the mat and continue wrestling even after he has technically won the match is a difficult decision to make; not only because it’s hard on the wrestlers, but also because if the opponent scores a point or pins the wrestler, the decision can backfire. Trying to pin someone who’s only objective is not getting pinned is a highly challenging task. On paper, it may say Chang Young and Kazuho won by technical fall and Ryan and Riku won by pin; but in reality, they all probably went through one of the toughest and most physically and mentally draining match of their career. There were tons of sweat and blood (literally) on the mat as the four stars for the Titans went out bravely to go for the pin. This is why, for example, Chang Young won 20-6 and Kazuho won 24-5; in a regular wrestling match, such difference in score will never happen because the match would end at a 10 point difference. Ryan and Riku too scored and scored and scored in attempt to pin their opponents. To make an anology, in a soccer match, it would be like playing for 90 minutes and winning 10 to 0, but you still have to keep playing another 90 minutes to score 10 more points while the other team can win if they scored just 1 point.

 

Despite such efforts, the Titans fell roughly one win short in defeating the Devils who had a full line up as always. However, the team had plenty of positive outlooks. Firstly, they came that close with the defending Far East dual meet champion team wiht two open weights, two wrestlers bumping up, and two JV wrestlers filling in spots. Secondly, Chang Young Lee, Ryo Osawa, Kazuho Kawashima, and Riku Osawa showed absolute dominance over their opponents. Ryo did not even give a chance for his opponent to score and simply took his opponent down and pinned him in a couple of minutes against the same opponent he won 18-7 a week ago. Chang Young and Kazuho scored over 20 points in 1 match. Riku also socred 17 points and pinned his opponent. He also showed fantastis hand fighting and faking; so well, he did not have to take a single shot to score as the opponent kept falling to his knees with Riku’s effective hand fighting. Thirdly, there was a lot of improvment by the first/second year wrestlers. Rio Lemkuil assumed varsity position as a freshmen and he wrestled well. In fact he was leading his opponent (the finalist at the Beast of the East) 9 to 6 in the second period; until he made a rookie mistake and got pinned. Tatsuo Tanaka, wrestled smart and pinned his opponent with a whipover – a move the team just started to work on. Mitchell Krcelic made huge improvements against the Kinnick opponent. He had 1 win and 2 losses, but in his matches he lost, there were plenty of opportunity where he could have won. His arm throw is looking better as well and he should be executing this move more frequently with confidence. Rookie, Nilay Hingarh is wrestling a tough weight class for a rookie. But, he consistently tried his 2-on-1 (or the Russian arm) and underhooks he has been practicing. He still lacks an attack off these set ups. He also needs to work on his defense on the bottom. Eshan Singhi was able to wrestle his opponent from Kinnick a little longer. Eshan is a completely different wrestler in the practice room and in a match. In practice, he is aggresive and shoots. In a match, he freezes. He has enough speed and technique to be wrestling so much better in this weight class. He needs to start taking shots.

 

In the exhibition matches, Riku Tabata and Ryo Sawa worked on moves they have been working on. Riku went straight to an ankle lace from a double leg to quickly finish off the match with a technical fall. Ryo tried double legs and arm bars to pull off a win from an opponent who was about 8 pounds heavier. Dai Matsumoto was able to earn a valuable win; scoring a 1 point push out with just several seconds left in the match to break the 7-7 tie and win the match. Dai did not give up and took shots atthe edge of the mat; a very smart thing to do. Jihoon Seo, Jonathan Goff, and Joonseo Bae (all rookies) wrestled hard, but lacked the technique and endurance to wrestle a good match. No wrestler should miss practice, but it is especially important for rookies as they don’t know anything about the sport and their bodies are way out of shape to compete in the sport of wrestling. The sport of wrestling is simple: if you practice, you get better; if you don’t, you don’t get better while your opponents get better. The same rule applies to life.

 

Now, the Titans will be wrestling for the league runner-up title. They will be hosting CAJ and ASIJ at home on January 27.