As he stepped onto the the mat at the Neal Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu on Saturday night, Jona Dudoit knew he was chasing a feat that had eluded the Moloka‘i High School boys wrestling team for two decades.

When Dudoit finished his 126-pound final in the HHSAA/Texaco State Wrestling Championships with a 4-3 win over Irving Bicoy of Pearl City, he had his arm raised in triumph by the referee, shook hands with Bicoy and the Pearl City coaches and then ran to jump in the arms of his brother and coach Fatty Dudoit.

Jona Dudoit is the ninth of 10 Dudoit children from the Friendly Isle and almost all of them were in the seats at the Blaisdell to watch Jona Dudoit, a 19-year-old senior for the Farmers, claim the eighth state wrestling title in school history. It was the first state boys wrestling title for Moloka‘i since Matthew Tanielu won at 275 pounds in 2005.

“It’s amazing, man. It’s what I’ve been working for all this past four years,” Jona Dudoit said after he capped his high school career that started with a sixth-place finish at state as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore and third as a junior, all at 120 pounds, before he moved up one weight class this year.

The Maui Interscholastic League captured two other state titles on Saturday —Lahainaluna senior Siana Boaz-Vasquez won the girls 140-pound crown and Baldwin senior Niko Takitani won the boys 165-pound title.

Boaz-Vasquez dominated her weight class as the top seed, outscoring four opponents 40-7, including an 18-5 win over Leila Esera of Kahuku in the final. The roll through the state tournament put second- and third-place finishes in the last two state tournaments in the rearview mirror for Boaz-Vasquez.

“It feels so good. I’m so grateful to be out here this season,” Boaz-Vasquez said. “I’ve actually had a lot of setbacks throughout these past two state tournaments, but I definitely came back 10 times stronger this year with a better mindset. I’m grateful I got the opportunity to be out here.”

Dudoit hopes that children on Moloka‘i will pursue the demanding sport after his breakthrough state crown.

“I just hope that this motivates all these young kids that are coming up on Moloka‘i to just chase their dreams and become a state champ,” Dudoit said.

Moloka‘i assistant coach Kawika Ka‘ahanui was in Dudoit’s corner along with Fatty Dudoit for the state championship match.

“It’s an incredibly big deal,” Ka‘ahanui said of the latest Farmers’ state championship. “Having someone place at such a high caliber of wrestling, I think it’s going to really help encourage some of the younger guys to start coming out.”

Ka‘ahanui has been a coach with the Moloka‘i program since 2009, just a year after he graduated from the school after finishing fifth at 275 pounds at states in 2008. 

Ka‘ahanui said that breaking the state title drought is a big step for the program, which has had state champion boys including Tanielu, Justin Luafalemana (215 pounds in 2002), Benny Venenciano (125 in 1989; 119 in 1988) and Billy Venenciano (119 in 1987).

Moloka‘i girls Cendall Manley (168 pounds in 2016) and Leya-Justina Luafalemana (175 in 2009) have also won state wrestling titles. 

Charisse McIlhenny and Cendall Murphy — both daughters of Moloka‘i head coach Randy Manley — are the head coach and assistant coach, respectively, of the Liberty University women’s wrestling team in Lynchburg, Va. Randy Manley met wife Louise Manley at Liberty before the elder Manleys both graduated from the school in 1987.

Now the Manley family is helping to recruit Dudoit to the men’s team at the school, according to Ka‘ahanui. Dudoit is still considering several schools.

“There’s Liberty University up in Virginia that really wants him,” Ka‘ahanui said. “And hopefully that’s something he can consider.”

Dudoit is ready to follow the Moloka‘i wrestling family to college after he followed his large family on the island to a rare state title for the school.

Greeting his family in the stands after winning was one of the best feelings of his life, Jona Dudoit said: “It was crazy, just all kinds of hugging. They were just congratulating me and stuff.”

Lahainaluna is also a family affair with a strong group of assistant coaches under the husband-wife combination of co-head coaches Ivy and Christian Balagso, both former standouts in the program themselves. It was all a big part of the plan for Boaz-Vasquez, who is now considering wrestling in college, something that was not the case before last week.

The MIL’s top team finishers were Lahainaluna amongst girls — the Lunas finished third with 122 points, behind state champion Moanalua (203 points) and runner-up Kamehameha Kapālama (166.5). Baldwin was the top finisher among MIL boys teams, taking 12th with 55.5 points, well behind boys state champion Kamehameha Kapālama (147).

Boaz-Vasquez, who led the Lunas girls to their top-three finish, is back in Lahaina after losing her family home in the deadly wildfire that killed at least 102 people on Aug. 8, 2023. The Boaz-Vasquez family spent a year living in Kīhei and in several hotels before returning to Lahaina over a year ago.

“Having coaches, not just Ivy and Christian, but just my whole, entire community and like all the other help I get from around my hometown really, really did push me,” Boaz-Vasquez said. “I wouldn’t be where I am right now without them, honestly. And for that, I’m just really grateful. Having such an exciting bond with my community, like my people … they just pushed me to be 1% better every day.”

One of the most dramatic matches of the six-hour finals session was Takitani’s 5-2 win for Baldwin in overtime in his final victory over Kamehameha Kapālama’s Hunter Paclib was. Takitani tied the match 2-2 when Paclib was called for stalling with 2 seconds left in the match. 

“I was just trying to put the pressure on and I eventually got a stalling point,” Takitani said. “Honestly, I wasn’t that aware that it was that close, but I had a feeling it was going to go into overtime anyway, so I was ready for it.”

Takitani won the match with a 3-point takedown 21 seconds into the first overtime. It was a hard-fought match that was not decided until several minutes of debate were held between tournament officials after the final points had originally been awarded to Takitani. The discussion held up the call on the mat, making Takitani the 44th state wrestling champion for Baldwin.

“He was pretty tough, but I was tougher,” Takitani said.

“Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.