Kubasaki's Raegan Cayce pins Kadena's Emily Perez-Golden. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — A mixture of excitement blended with a healthy dash of nerves.
That’s how most, if not all, of the competitors said they were feeling as they approached this week’s DODEA-Pacific Far East High School Wrestling tournament for girls at Kadena High School.
“I’m excited to see what the mainland (Japan) and Korea schools have brought here,” said Kadena senior 112-pounder Juli Thompson, renowned for her pink coif as well as her wrestling ability. “I’m more excited than nervous. It’s going to be good competition.”
DODEA-Pacific joins DODEA-Europe in putting a full-fledged state-championship tournament on the mat for just girls, after decades in which girls participated in Far East tournaments against boys — most times not faring so well.
But now, girls have a tournament to call their own. Like the boys tournaments, this two-day event features individual-freestyle and dual-meet formats, the former on Wednesday and the latter on Thursday.
“A lot of them are excited to be part of the first one, to go out and wrestle against other girls,” said Kadena coach and tournament organizer Joey Wood.
While the large schools feature pretty much full lineups among 13 weight classes, it’s the Division II schools that have been struggling, coaches said.
“Do D-II schools have good wrestlers? Absolutely,” Yokota coach Theo Kuntz said, adding that once the Far East girls tournament gets going, “I think even by next year, there will be an increase” in the number of girls. “I think some girls are just waiting to see how this goes.”
In the hours preceding Wednesday’s weigh-ins, girls athletes from all entered schools spent time going through practice paces and getting to know one another, especially girls from Kanto Plain schools who have not seen wrestlers from Okinawa and South Korea this season.
“I know we haven’t wrestled those (Kanto) schools, so it’s a little nerve-wracking,” Kubasaki senior 124-pounder Jaylene Sanchez said.
Some spent time looking over the brackets to see who they might face, and when.
Kubasaki 138-pound senior Raegan Cayce, who transferred from Italy, wrestled her freshman year at Kinnick and knows many of its holdovers. She’s slotted to meet American School In Japan senior Serena Koslow in the semifinals.
“That’s my match,” Cayce said of a possible showdown with Koslow. “I’m definitely nervous, but working on channeling it and putting it in its place. Nervousness is important. It shows that you care.”
Kinnick's Audrey Snyder gains the advantage on ASIJ's Serena Koslow at 138 pounds. (Cynthia Abel/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Likewise, Koslow says she’s hoping for some magic in her final season; her three older brothers all won Far East weight-class titles for St. Mary’s in the 2010s.
“I can’t control the outcome, but I can try my best in every match,” Koslow said. “I have a fair chance now to show my ability, show what I’ve been working on and do my best.”
Another senior, 155-pound Jasmine Kinney of Kadena, says she’s hoping to top off her career in similar manner.
“I’ve been wanting to do a Far East for years,” said Kinney, who’s worked out with the Panthers since the eighth grade. She said she’s not nervous about what her opponents bring. “Just another girl,” she said.
Some wrestlers were already feeling the weight of their classmates’ hopes. “I’m nervous about expectations; people have told me I’m going to win for sure,” said Matthew C. Perry junior 118-pounder Maia Minton; she took third in the Rumble on the Rock at the same venue last month.
Perry's Maia Minton won three bouts by pin, but lost to a Japanese wrestler and had to settle for third at 118 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
“I’m just going to focus on what I can do. Do what I know.”
Kinnick senior 124-pounder Audrey Snyder is the only girl to have beaten Koslow in the regular season. She and her teammates dyed their hair extensions red to match their school colors.
“The boys bleached their hair, but we wanted to make this our own,” Snyder said. “Now a lot of us have red hair.”
Her senior teammate, 130-pounder Julia Blackwell, said like Kinney, she’s not worried about unseen opposition. “I know how hard I’ve practiced and my mindset is that I’ve worked harder than anybody else,” said Blackwell, who’s gone unbeaten in two seasons.
But as with all tournaments, it’s a matter of what happens when they get on the mat, Wood said.
“We’re pretty confident going in,” Wood said of his Panthers, “but Far East is Far East. Anything can happen.”
