Kinnick's Ian Flynn sends ASIJ's Natalie Bonsi to the mat at 107 pounds. (Cynthia Abel/Special to Stripes)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – All season, coach Stan Hovell had pined for his boys and girls teams to come away with a title sweep in a major in-season wrestling tournament.

His Nile C. Kinnick teams swept all three titles on their home mats Saturday in the Kanto Plain and Mainland Japan boys tournaments and the combined girls tournament.

The Red Devils could not have picked a better time to achieve that, with the DODEA-Pacific Far East tournaments just around the corner.

Led by weight-class champions Ian Flynn (107 pounds), Joah de la Cruz (114), Joseph Mauldin (145), Justin Bodlovic (215) and Randal Pope (heavyweight), Kinnick outpointed St. Mary’s 86-73 for the Kanto team title.

The Red Devils edged out Matthew C. Perry 62-56 in the Mainland Japan tournament, getting weight-class titles from Luke Menard (133), Myles Purdy (215) and Jiro Reyes (heavyweight).

And in the girls tournament, the Red Devils outpointed Seisen 62-50, with Annika Farin (103), Aniella Garcia Lopez (117), Audrey Snyder (124), Holly Albright (138) and Jailah McDonald (145) coming away with weight-class titles.

“Awesome,” Hovell said. “It feels pretty good.”

The boys field was split in two, with the outlying DODEA-Japan schools in the Mainland Japan portion, and the Tokyo-area schools grouped in the Kanto portion.

All the teams were missing a handful of their top performers, Hovell said, given the pace of the last couple of weeks; all the teams competed two Saturdays earlier in the “Beast of the Far East” at St. Mary’s, along with regular-season weekday dual meets.

“Everybody’s lineup was hurt, injuries and illness,” Hovell said. “Hopefully, we can stay healthy for another week.”

Despite finishing second, Perry had a couple of athletes sparkle Saturday, with the brightest light being Braylon Stephens, who captured the 189-pound title in the Mainland Japan bracket. Joshua Rodriguez took second at 114 and Maia Minton was fourth for the girls at 124.

Sophomore Malcolm Lee of American School In Japan was victorious at 139 pounds in the Kanto finals and was voted the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

Yokota's Laine Lilly tries a hip toss on St. Mary's Luke Yamada at 172 pounds. (Cynthia Abel/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Holly Albright gains control of Seisen's Olivia Erdos at 145 pounds. (Cynthia Abel/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Ian Flynn tries to gain the upper hand on ASIJ's Natalie Bonsi at 107 pounds. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Annika Farin and Seisen's Maiko Yamaoka battle for control at 103 pounds. (Cynthia Abel/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Justin Bodlovic sends St.. Mary's Jimin Kim flying at 215 pounds. (Erick Chedd Ricardo/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Randal Pope takes charge of Zama's Sean Neloms at heavyweight. (Erick Chedd Ricardo/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Aniella Garcia Lopez gains the advantage on Yokota's Gavriella Duran at 117 pounds. (Lauren Casey/Special to Stripes)

Kinnick's Sam Tovar and ASIJ's Malcolm Lee face off at 139 pounds. Lee was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler. (Lauren Casey/Special to Stripes)

Cobras’ Phillips, Trojans’ Helton keep filling the nets

Though E.J. King lost both its games Friday and Saturday at Yokota, Jeremy Phillips reached a team milestone over the weekend.

The Cobras senior guard hit 13 three-point goals in their two games, a 75-70 loss Saturday following a 65-48 defeat Friday. All told, he scored 70 points. He now has 1,660 points this season.

The old school record was 1,622 points, set by Dyson Robinson in 2018, Cobras coach Travis Elliott said.

One of Phillips’ off-season club teammates, Ayden Helton, a Zama senior, also continues filling the nets from deep.

On Saturday, in a 67-63 home win over Matthew C. Perry, Helton hit five three-pointers and finished with 15 points, giving him 1,281 on the season. He hit two threes in Zama’s 59-51 win Friday over the Samurai.

“They’re like best friends and play together during the summer,” Trojans coach and Helton’s father Sentwali said.

Kadena completes regular-season hoops sweeps

Kadena’s boys and girls basketball teams completed a sweep of their four regular-season games against Kubasaki on Friday at Camp Foster on Okinawa

Kent Bissell scored 10 points and the Panthers rallied from a 10-7 first-quarter deficit to down the Dragons boys 54-37. On the girls side, Jayla Johnson had 21 points and Kadena came back from a 10-0 game-opening deficit to beat Kubasaki 48-39.

“They’re a tough team, always playing hard,” Panthers boys coach Antiwon Tucker said. “But it’s always important to control what we can at home.”