Kubasaki's Tim Cope tilts CAJ's Timon Fambro with a gut wrench at 133 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP ZAMA, Japan – On a day in which multiple Far East weight-class champions shined and others were dethroned, American School In Japan snapped a 30-year Far East wrestling Division I title drought.
Senior Cadell Lee was one of four wrestlers who repeated as Far East champions, winning at 127 pounds, and Mustangs teammates Isreal Rodriguez (172), Micah Eickbush (160) and Lee’s brother, Malcolm (139) joined him on the victory stand as ASIJ won the D-I title by a point.
It was a close chase Tuesday in the D-I individual freestyle team standings. The Mustangs scored 63 points, St. Mary’s 62, Kadena 56, defending champion Kubasaki 53 and Nile C. Kinnick 51, a 12-point spread among the top five teams.
“I feel so complete,” said Eickbush, a senior who had just moved to Tokyo from Chicago over the summer. “I came here in August, I was new to freestyle (wrestling). At the end of the day, this is what matters.”
It was the Mustangs’ first D-I wrestling title since capturing the 1995 dual-meet team championship.
There was no such lengthy drought in the Division II team standings – Christian Academy Japan had two individual titlists, RiSu Choi (121) and Xavier Van Dam (160) and repeated as team champion. The Knights won their third Far East title overall, while ASIJ took its fifth.
In an unusual scoring note, Mustangs coach Adam Carlson – who used to wrestle for CAJ – credited one of his ASIJ female wrestlers, senior Natalie Bonsi, for scoring the one point that pushed ASIJ past St. Mary’s. She finished sixth, worth one team point. Though some schools in the Pacific have established separate girls teams, wrestlers are not separated by gender at this year’s Far East tournament.
“I told them we had won by one point. That was Natalie’s point,” Carlson said.
Bonsi, for her part, won just one bout in the tournament, by pin in the second round, and said it was the team she had in mind, not herself.
“When I had my first match here, it was like a reality check,” Bonsi said. “And I realized how much harder I would have to work. I kept focusing on the next match and the hard work paid off. Keeping in mind the bigger picture.”
Humphreys' Amare Morgan gains control of Kadena's Landon Adams at heavyweight. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kubasaki's Max Lundberg gains a brief advantage on CAJ's Xavier Van Dam at 160 pounds. Van Dam rallied from a 6-0 deficit to win the weight class. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
ASIJ's Malcolm Lee uses a gut wrench to tilt Kinnick's Samuel Tovar at 139 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Edgren's Anthony Mulhall uses a leg lift to tilt Kadena's Cedric Ferguson at 114 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kubasaki's Ray Bragdon gets the upper hand on Kadena's Zach Perez at 107 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Among other repeat champions was junior Tim Cope (133) of Kubasaki, who won his second straight Far East title by technical fall over CAJ’s Timon Fambro. “All the work I put in this year is showing up, and I hope I can keep it up for my senior year,” Cope said.
St. Mary’s Roman Leyko (189) and Nathaniel Twohig (152), both seniors, each won their third straight Far East championships.
“It’s the first one that meant the most of all, because that’s the one that got me started,” said Twohig, who pinned Kinnick’s Ethan McDanel in 1:46.
“His is better than mine,” said Shu Yabui, Twohig’s coach at St. Mary’s, who won three straight Far East titles in 2001-03.
Leyko pinned ASIJ’s Oskar Vermiere in 2:12, and said he only wished he could come back for one more year.
“I’d love it; if I could, I would,” Leyko said. “It feels amazing. I can’t believe it.”
Leyko and Twohig were joined as Titans champions by first-timer Jimin Kim at 215.
In capturing the 145-pound title, Eickbush dethroned two-time reigning Far East champion Josiah Drummer of Kadena – one of two defending champions to lose in the final.
The other was Max Lundberg of Kubasaki, who lost by decision 8-6 to CAJ’s Xavier Van Dam. Lundberg had beaten Van Dam by pin in 2:37 in last year’s final and led Tuesday 6-0 before Van Dam rallied.
“I’ve been waiting for this rematch since last year,” Van Dam said. “I’m glad I got the win.”
First-time DODEA Far East champions included Ray Bragdon of Kubasaki, who won by technical fall 10-0 over Zach Perez of Kadena at 107 pounds. It was a defensive struggle before Bragdon pulled away in the end.
“I played it defensively while still applying pressure and not taking any risks,” Bragdon said.
Nursing a painful left knee, Humphreys heavyweight Amare Morgan shrugged off the discomfort and beat Kadena’s Landon Adams by pin.
“It’s hurting a lot,” Morgan said, describing the pain as a 7 on a scale of 10. He added he was looking ahead to the dual-meet portion of the tournament which began later Tuesday.
“I knew if we wanted a shot to win the dual, if we wanted a higher seed and win the banner, I had to win that bout,” Morgan said.
Anthony Mulhall of Robert D. Edgren had arguably the toughest of the finals, outlasting Kadena’s Cedric Ferguson 14-12 at 114 pounds.
“I remember all of the practices they put me through,” Mulhall said. “I wanted that championship. It was a tough battle. He’s (Ferguson) a respectable wrestler.”
