E.J. King's Jesus Puello locks in a head-and-arm hold on Kadena's Richard Gantz in the heavyweight final, won by Puello. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

TOKYO – Kaiser Armour captured the title in his weight class a year ago. But on Saturday, he came up one step short of repeating his “Beast of the Far East” wrestling tournament feat.

But rather than lament finishing second at 189 pounds, Armour said he plans to take the lessons learned from defeat to make him better the rest of the season, particularly getting ready for next month’s Far East tournament.

“It’s going to make me grow significantly,” said Armour, a senior who lost 10-8 at 189 pounds to the wrestler he beat for the “Beast” title in 2024, Roman Leyko of host St. Mary’s, early in Saturday’s event. Armour went unbeaten in four bouts after that to finish second.

Armour said the key takeaways are what he needs to work on in practice. “Ground control and some moves on the ground,” he said. “Endurance. Work on some more takedowns and get better regarding the basics.”

He and wrestlers from 16 total schools went at it for 10 hours Saturday in the 32nd anniversary edition of “Beast,” which several coaches and wrestlers called a dress rehearsal for Far East, scheduled Feb. 3-5 at Camp Zama, Japan.

“It’s nice to be somewhere that thoroughly challenges me,” Armour said.

He wasn’t alone, ranging from wrestlers eliminated in the early rounds or ones who captured their weight classes.

“Now, I know what my competition will be like at Far East,” said junior 152-pounder Blake Stevens of Humphreys. “Going up against better guys, I know now what I need to work on.”

Stevens was knocked out of the medal chase in two bouts. By contrast, Justin Bodlovic of Nile C. Kinnick took the top spot at 215 pounds and said winning the weight class was a confidence builder.

“I gained a little more confidence, wrestling people I haven’t seen before,” said Bodlovic, who won by technical fall over St. Mary’s Jimin Kim. “It proved to me that if you work hard enough and get worked hard during practice, you can do anything.”

Kadena's Zacharias Perez takes control of Edgren's Aiden Mulhall in the 107-pound final, won by Perez. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kadena’s Brooke Brewer takes charge of Kinnick’s Holly Allbright. Brewer won the “Beast” 145-pound title and stayed unbeaten on the season. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kinnick's Joseph Mauldin, thrown to the mat by two-time Far East champion Josiah Drummer of Kadena, was one of three "Beast" champions from last year to be dethroned. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kinnick's Julia Blackwell, left, with the upper hand on Perry's Maia Minton, won the 124-pound girls title. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Among the folks invoking the “dress rehearsal” phrase was Shu Yabui. The St. Mary’s coach won three Far East titles in the early 2000s, has participated in “Beast” as a wrestler and coach and on Saturday took his turn as tournament director.

“This is something I’d like to host every year,” Yabui said, noting that for the first time, the tournament attracted both of Korea’s Division II schools, Osan and Daegu.

“It’s a dress rehearsal for Far East if everybody shows up and everybody showed up today,” Yabui said of the 16 schools that entered.

In the boys individual weight-class chase, only one wrestler repeated as a “Beast” champion, American School In Japan’s Cadell Lee, while three 2024 champions were dethroned, including Armour, Kinnick’s Joseph Mauldin and Kubasaki’s Tim Cope.

The tournament also featured a standalone girls division for the first time, with enough entrants to fill nine weight classes.

Kadena won the boys team title, outpointing St. Mary’s 53-47, while the top three in the girls standings were separated by one point. Seisen and Kadena each had 46 points, with the Phoenix winning based on weight classes won. Kinnick was third with 45 points.

Girls wrestling, the fastest growing sport in the United States, was given the go-ahead by DODEA-Pacific to launch as a pilot program. Initially featuring just Kadena and Kubasaki on Okinawa, Kinnick has also joined the effort with eight female wrestlers.

Both “Beast” and last month’s 10th Rumble on the Rock on Okinawa featured girls divisions, and some girls on Saturday referred to “Beast” as their equivalent of a Far East tournament.

“This is sort of like our Far East, as it’s the closest opportunity we have,” Kinnick junior 124-pound champion Julia Blackwell said.

ASIJ captured a sweep of individual Outstanding Wrestler awards, with Lee earning the boys honor and Mustangs junior Serena Koslow, the 131-pound champion, taking the girls award.

“It’s super amazing that we were able to get so many girls here,” Koslow said. Her three older brothers wrestled and won Far East weight titles for St. Mary’s and Serena said she hopes to join that number before she graduates.

“I’m excited for next year,” she said.

Far East will not feature a girls division this season. But DODEA-Pacific athletics coordinator Tom McKinney, who was in attendance Saturday, said girls wrestling is on DODEA’s radar in coming years.

“We just have to figure out how to make it work,” McKinney said of four critical areas that have to be addressed: billeting, officials, facilities and contracting.