St. Mary's Hugo Miyamoto uses a leg lift to tilt Kinnick's Joah de la Cruz at 114 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP ZAMA, Japan – If it wasn’t an injury, it was an illness. And another. And another. Some wrestlers sidelined for weeks at a time.

Something always seemed to be holding back St. Mary’s … until this week, when the Titans finally were able to put a healthy lineup on the mat and ended the Far East tournament in title mode Wednesday.

St. Mary’s outlasted Nile C. Kinnick 29-28 in the Division I dual-meet final. After a season in which they didn’t capture a single regular-season tournament title, the Titans saved the best for last.

“It took us too long,” said Shu Yabui, the Titans’ longtime coach and former three-time Far East champion for the international school, which won its 20th Division I title, second all-time to Kubasaki (29).

“We had injuries and illnesses. Three of our varsity were sidelined. But we knew we had the talent and work ethic. I’m just very relieved. I’m very proud of these guys,” Yabui said.

On the Division II side, Christian Academy Japan made it a title sweep, edging 2023 champion Matthew C. Perry 32-29 in the small-schools dual-meet final.

Both the D-I and D-II finals came down to the last bout. Kinnick’s Justin Bodlovic (215) needed to pin Far East individual champion Jimin Kim of St. Mary’s to give the Red Devils the title, but he only managed to win by a 5-2 decision.

“Stay off my back and don’t get teched,” Kim said of his strategy entering what was a defensive struggle, playing it cautiously against Bodlovic before eventually losing the narrow decision. “Thanks also to my teammates; they’ve always been with me 100 percent.”

Kinnick's Justin Bodlovic needed to win by pin or technical fall over St. Mary's Jimin Kim to give the Red Devils a victory in the D-I dual-meet final. Bodlovic won, but only by decision. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

St. Mary's Luke Yamada gains the upper hand on Kinnick's Ian Soto-Guerra at 172 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kinnick's Samuel Tovar takes control of St. Mary's Max Long at 139 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kinnick's Jack Snyder and St. Mary's Ty Rivera de Leon fight for control at 133 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Kinnick's Gavin Caddali tries to wrench St. Mary's Ryan Murase onto his back at 121 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAJ's Tyler Reidenbach has Perry's Edward Ludwig in trouble at 172 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAJ's Xavier Van Dam takes control of Perry's Jayden Valverde at 160 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAJ's James Wong and Perry's Henry Flores tumble to the mat at 145 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Perry's Kail Kitko takes charge of CAJ's SeWon Kim at 139 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Bodlovic lost Tuesday to Kim in similar fashion, in the 215-pound individual freestyle weight-class final. He called Wednesday’s defeat “really disappointing.”

“I feel like I let my team down, that I couldn’t finish the job,” Bodlovic said.

Had Bodlovic beaten Kim by pin, the Red Devils would have won 30-29; had he won by technical fall, the score would have been 29-29, but Kinnick would have won by virtue of having more bout victories.

The two rivals, each juniors, say they’re already looking forward to next season and perhaps a rivalry’s renewal.

“I can’t wait,” Bodlovic said. “I want to improve in the offseason and show what hard work can do.”

The Red Devils got a pin from Gavin Caddali (121), technical falls from Jack Snyder (133), Sam Tovar (139) and Joseph Mauldin (145) and a decision from Joah de la Cruz (114).

The Knights won their D-II dual final despite entering it with a handicap, filling only 10 of 13 weight classes due to injuries.

It came down to the 172-pound bout, in which CAJ’s Tyler Reidenbach pinned Perry’s Edward Ludwig, giving the Knights an insurmountable lead, 32-14; they gave away the last three weight classes by walkover.

“The wrestlers really worked hard,” said Knights coach and former CAJ wrestler Morris Yaegashi. “It was a long tournament. But they showed up every day and wrestled really hard. Everybody stepped up.”

The awareness that the Knights were short-handed pushed them to “perform at their very best,” Yaegashi said.

The victory came over a Samurai team thought to be in total rebuild mode with a third head coach in three seasons, Brandy Navarro. The Samurai got pins from Aaron Ealey (152) and Henry Flores (145) and a technical fall from Kail Kitko (139) to stay in contention to the end.

“Truly unfathomable,” Perry assistant coach Gunner Hardy said. “Seventy percent of the team was injured and I asked them if they wanted to wrestle; they said they were willing to do it. Not one kid quit. Truly the hearts and minds of wrestlers.”