LAHAINA — Travis Okano says it comes from working on a pig farm as a child with his grandfather.
Todd Hayase says it has been with Okano as long as he can remember.
Leigh Tonai says he has seen it at the last two state tournaments.
‘‘It’’ is the drive, the toughness, the determination — or all three and whatever else — that has put Okano, a Lahainaluna High School senior, on the verge of his third straight state wrestling title.
Okano is the top seed at 130 pounds for the Chevron State Championships that begin this morning at the Blaisdell Arena. He won at 119 as a sophomore and 125 last year, and has a 75-5 record over the last three years, which includes a current 35-match winning streak and a perfect 26-0 mark this season.
‘‘I don’t know, I guess it is history for Lahainaluna,’’ Okano said before practice Tuesday. ‘‘I just want to win this state title, win it for my school and work hard. That is pretty much all that is going through my mind right now, just win this state title and work hard.’’
Tonai, who won three state titles for Baldwin from 1973 to 1975, has watched Okano from the Blaisdell stands for the last two years. He will be there again Saturday night, likely watching as Okano tries to join Tonai and Saia Lotulelei of Maui High as the only three-time state champions from the MIL. Lotulelei won the 215 title in 1999 before winning as a heavyweight in 2000 and 2001.
Tonai, the current CEO of Hawaiian Island Creations, said that the third title he won — at 112, after winning at 98 and 105 the previous two years — was the hardest.
‘‘I was undefeated my sophomore year and no one expected me to win, it just happened,’’ he said. ‘‘I only lost once my junior year at a higher weight class to another state champ from the Big Island. My senior year I lost to Clayton Baybayan from Lahainaluna, a very tough competitor, in a dual meet. He was my toughest foe during those three years and I had to wrestle him three times that year.’’
Tonai summed up in one word what winning his third state title felt like: ‘‘Relief.’’
‘‘Tough, strong,’’ were the words Tonai used to describe the characteristics he has seen from Okano at the last two state meets.
‘‘Even if wrestling is an individual sport, I am sure Travis does not want to let his teammates, family and coaches down,’’ Tonai said. ‘‘He feels like he is representing the entire island. Once the whistle blows, there is no else he can rely on besides himself. Even after high school I would sometimes dream about losing a match.’’
Hayase said that no one he has coached outworks Okano.
‘‘Travis works extremely hard,’’ Hayase said. ‘‘He sets very high goals for himself and Travis does everything possible to reach those goals. He is so headstrong it is incredible. I don’t know anyone else who works as hard as he does year-round — from his summer camps, to junior nationals, to all these little camps that he goes to all year. It really is incredible. He definitely has a college future in the sport. I am expecting him to and I am looking forward to seeing Travis perform at the college level. I truly believe he can compete at the Division I level.’’
Okano said hard work has been part of his life from the beginning.
‘‘My family, I mean, we’ve got to work hard for what we get,’’ he said. ‘‘We haven’t come from a rich family or nothing like that, so everything we ever got we always work hard for. Always, if I wanted a pair of shoes, I had to work hard for it to get the money.
‘‘We had an old pig farm in Olowalu, that was ours. My auntie owns it now, but I used to go up there when I was little. I used to carry slop buckets with my grandpa, the barrels, and all of that. I think in actuality that kind of helped me with everything. to give me a good work ethic and all of that.’’
Okano used to wake up at 6 a.m. on the farm with his grandfather, Lawrence Cabanilla, ‘‘because it was fun. I used to ride the pigs and stuff.’’
Now, Okano is on the verge of becoming the first member of his family to go to college — and no doubt it will be on a wrestling scholarship. He has Oregon State at the top of his list, but Adams State in Colorado and San Francisco State are also possibilities.
Okano hopes that winning a third individual title would help Lahainaluna to the first team championship ever for a Neighbor Island school. The Lunas are taking 10 MIL champions to the state tournament — including Lake Casco, the state champion at 152 last year and this year’s top seed at 160 — as well as four runners-up. Four Lunas are seeded second in the state, three are seeded third and one fourth.
‘‘Definitely we want to win the team title,’’ Okano said. ‘‘I tell everybody in practice they’ve got to dream big and they have got their goals. They’ve got to dream big and go get their goals. This is what everybody wants and this is what everybody has been working for. The team said it was their goal to win it and I agree with them. I give everybody props for the effort they have been putting out in the practice room.’’
The Lunas appear to be in a battle with defending champion Punahou, which also qualified 14 wrestlers, six of whom won Interscholastic League of Honolulu titles last weekend.
‘‘Punahou is not worrying about us, a lot of people say, but they have to come through us even though we are underdogs,’’ Okano said. ‘‘We are ready. Everybody is hungry. We are going to go out there and get it.’’
Okano gave up playing football after his sophomore season to concentrate on wrestling even though his father, Randall Okano, was the Lahainaluna running backs coach.
Now after-school time includes wrestling practice, where Okano excels throughout the year. He began the sport as a 3rd-grader for the Lahaina Roughnecks club and has continued to improve. Okano credits former teammate Michael Villoria and Lunas assistant coach Conrad Bolor for helping his development.
Okano faces teammates 15-20 pounds heavier than himself in practice, including Ryley Mayo, the MIL champion at 145. Mayo and Okano were roommates in Fargo, N.D., for national tournaments each of the last two summers.
‘‘We go back to 1st grade at Princess Nahienaena (Elementary),’’ Mayo said. ‘‘His will to push, he is really strong, he just wants to push himself to his limits. He is really dedicated.’’
Okano admits there is pressure going for a third state crown, but he seemed anything but worried on Tuesday.
‘‘I am not going to go out there and take anybody lightly and think I am just going to win because I have been riding on wins this whole season,’’ he said. ‘‘I am going to go out there and just work hard and just wrestle.’’
Okano, who wants to major in kinesiology in college and become a personal trainer, is proud of being the first member of Randall and Melissa Okano’s family to have college on the horizon.
‘‘College is a big goal for me to go and get an education,’’ Okano said. ‘‘To be the first in my family, I can’t even put it into words.’’
Tonai, a former All-Ivy League performer for Yale, said he had a simple message for Okano.
‘‘Travis, good luck,’’ Tonai said. ‘‘I don’t think there is anyone more deserving to win than yourself, so go out there and get it.’’
• Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com
