Humphreys' Ethan Wege gains the upper hand on St. Mary's Ryan Murase at 121 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — Three times, Ethan Wege had tried before to capture a Far East title. Three times he was denied.

So Wege told himself it was now or never before stepping on the mat in Tuesday’s Far East wrestling weight-class finals.

It wasn’t easy. The Humphreys senior 121-pounder had to survive a 14-11 decision over Kanto Plain champion Ryan Murase of St. Mary’s. But he finally stepped off the mat as a Far East champion.

“It’s been on my mind all season,” Wege said. “Second last year, fourth place the two years before that. Every year, I came up short. So, I said to myself, it’s my last time. I don’t have anything to lose. Just give it everything I have.”

With the victory, Wege became one of 11 new Far East champs, three rising to the top after finishing second last year.

Christian Academy Japan’s RiSu Choi (127) and Malcolm Lee of American School In Japan (139) were the sole repeat champions. Lee beat Daegu’s Cesar Trujillo by technical fall 11-0 in 2 minutes, 11 seconds, while Choi beat Nile C. Kinnick’s Ian Flynn by technical fall 11-0 in :56.

In the team standings, Kadena won its eighth Far East Division I title, while Yokota took its seventh Division II crown and ninth overall, and first since 2020 — a week before the coronavirus pandemic began wreaking havoc on the sports calendar.

Among those joining Wege in the redemption column was Ethan McDanel of Kinnick. He outlasted Gabriel Simpkins of Zama by technical fall 16-6 in 5:20 just days after losing in the Kanto Plain finals.

“I was just very excited to come back and take care of unfinished business,” McDanel said.

His Red Devil teammate, Justin Bodlovic, also gained redemption for a Far East finals loss in 2025. The Kinnick heavyweight pinned Seoul Foreign’s lone finalist, Kyuyeon Chung, in 4:04.

For the first couple of months after last season, “I didn’t even want to hear a whistle,” Bodlovic said. “But I told myself, if I don’t make it my last year, I’ll regret it. So I put in the work and here I am.”

Kinnick's Justin Bodlovic pins Seoul Foreign's Kyuyeon Chung at heavyweight. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kadena's Isaiah Kahl takes control over Kinnick's Brady Mauldin at 152 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Who's going down? Kinnick's Ethan McDanel and Zama's Gabriel Simpkins each try to toss the other at 145 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kubasaki's Josh Cope gains the edge on St. Mary's Carlo Cognetti at 133 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Yokota's Aiden Stedelin works the shoulders of St. Mary's Ryusei Kobayashi at 114 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

A touch of brotherly love helped one first-time champion, Josh Cope of Kubasaki, to the 133-pound title. Tim Cope, a two-time Far East champion, moved up to 139 pounds, letting his younger brother wrestle at his natural weight.

“He did that so I could have a better chance,” said the younger Cope after scoring a technical fall 14-4 in 4:55 over St. Mary’s Carlo Cognetti. “I just popped his arms and made his arms go to the ground instead of forward.”

Tyson Brodsky of Robert D. Edgren drew some inspiration from a former Eagles Far East champion, Anthony Mulhall, who transferred stateside after last season. Brodsky, a 160-pounder, scored a technical fall over Logan Seen of Osan, 10-0 in 1:26.

“I wanted to win like him,” said Brodsky of Mulhall, who won a Far East title as a sophomore. “I think it motivated me.”

While Muhlhall left the Pacific, Kadena’s Isaiah Kahl transferred in from Marietta, Calif., and captured Far East glory at 152 pounds. Kahl pinned Kinnick’s Brady Mauldin in 1:50 for the title.

“I’m very glad I came” to the Pacific, Kahl said. “All this work I put in in the offseason and in-season led me to this point.”

In an upset at the heavier weights, Anthony Romero of Zama dethroned defending Far East champion Jimin Kim of St. Mary’s, scoring a pin at 1:58. It was Kim who beat Bodlovic in last year’s 215 final.

“I kept moving. I never stopped moving,” Romero said.

Kadena’s Zacharias Perez pinned Yokota’s Jay Gutierrez at 1:33 to win the 107-pound title and help Kadena to its first individual-freestyle team title on coach Joey Wood’s watch. The Panthers won the 2024 dual-meet title.

Aiden Stedelin pinned St. Mary’s Ryusei Kobayashi in 2:43, winning the 114-pound class and boosting Yokota to its first Far East team title in six years and their first under coach Theo Kuntz.

“A lot of them are third-year wrestlers and they finally wanted it,” Kuntz said. “And I have some good first-year wrestlers with combat-sport experience as well.”

Other first-year champions were Tyler Reidenbach of CAJ at 189, pinning Yokota’s Laine Lilly in 3:48; and St. Mary’s Kentaro Yamaguchi, by technical fall 12-2 in 4:21 over Humphreys’ Andrew Schlecht at 172.

Far East wrestling continues Wednesday with the dual-meet tournament finals in D-I and D-II.