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Gillcoat sets sights on gold

Lahainaluna senior goes for fourth MIL title this weekend, aims for elusive state crown

Kawehi Gillcoat of Lahainaluna High School defeats Molokai’s Ashton Greenleaf by fall at last week’s Maui Interscholastic League dual meet. The MIL championships are Saturday at King Kekaulike. JASON HAYASE photo

Kawehi Gillcoat owns three state championship rings from his days with the Lahainaluna High School football team.

However, that is not the sport he identifies most with for the West Maui school that is closing in on its 190th birthday.

The senior 138-pounder is going for his fourth straight Maui Interscholastic League wrestling championship this weekend.

“I was doing football because it’s really fun, and it was something to do to keep me in shape for wrestling,” said Gillcoat, who started wrestling with Lahainaluna assistant coach Kim Ball for the Napili Surfriders as a 5-year-old kindergartner.

Gillcoat is first and foremost a wrestler — he is a three-time state medalist, but none of those is gold. He finished sixth at 113 at state as a freshman, fifth at 120 as a sophomore and was the state runner-up last season at 138.

Lahainaluna wrestling coaches Sheldon Tateyama (from left) and Zane Monteleone, and wrestler Kawehi Gillcoat remove a boulder from the stream that provides water to homes in Honokohau Valley while Mundy Gillcoat looks on Sept. 16. The stream was blocked with rocks, sediment and debris from the flash flood caused by Tropical Storm Olivia. MOMI BALL photo

“A state title would mean everything,” said Gillcoat, who is 15-0 this season. “That state (wrestling) championship is everything to me. Winning the football ones felt good, but wrestling is what I do, you know? The football ones felt good, but this one would be the best feeling in the world.”

That quest starts its stretch run on Saturday at the MIL championships at King Kekaulike Gym. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. and finals begin at 5:30 p.m.

“Kawehi grew up in the whole Maui Style program with Coach Kim, out in Napili.” Lahainaluna head coach Todd Hayase said. “So, he’s been around, he and his family, they’ve been around wrestling all his life. He’s a great athlete, he could do multiple sports easily. … He’s just very focused, and he’s just very driven.

“He can battle against anybody in the state, so we’re not worried about that part.”

Gillcoat and his family live off the grid in Honokohau Valley — Tropical Storm Olivia in September cut off the family’s water source when more than 12 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period, ravaging the nearby river and its path.

“I like it,” Gillcoat said of his home since the 4th grade. “All my friends are far away from me, but it’s cool. It’s a different lifestyle, there’s a lot of animals, a lot of outdoor stuff you can do.”

“We have a generator and a water heater run with propane,” he said. “We get water from the a’wai, like a mini stream that runs through. We just pump water from that. It’s different, there’s no running water. You’ve got to do it yourself, pump it yourself. When the electricity goes out you have to go down and turn on the generator. It’s pretty fun. … I like it.”

Gillcoat was never more a part of the Lahainaluna community than on Sept. 16, when a work party of approximately 30 volunteers from the wrestling teams and Ball’s church came to re-route and clear out the debris from the stream that provides water to the Gillcoat family.

“We cleaned up all the ditches and tried to get the water flowing,” Hayase said. “He’s very lucky — he’s got great parents, he’s got great family. His parents are just No. 1 supporters, to drive out to the valley, come back out, pick him up from practice, drive back to the valley — they do that every day.”

The screen saver on Gillcoat’s computer is a picture of the referee raising Noah Wusstig’s hand after the Moanalua wrestler beat Gillcoat 14-7 for the 138 state title last season.

Gillcoat dreams of being a firefighter, but before that a college wrestler.

He says he toughens up at home “sometimes when I wrestle my goats or something, when I try to push my goat down or my sheep. They fight back.”

Last year, Lahainaluna’s Kainalu Estrella won the 132 state crown after two runner-up finishes. Estrella now wrestles for Utah Valley University, and the two former training partners still talk often.

“That was always my goal, from the beginning, being a four-time MIL champ coming in as a freshman,” Gillcoat said. “So, like, Kainalu was always a great partner for me. He was the best in the state, so it was like practicing with a state champ every day at practice.”

Estrella sent Gillcoat a message last month.

“I miss him a lot, we would have some good (battles) in the wrestling room,” Gillcoat said. “He would beat me up and we would have some good matches. … He text me, like, ’51 days until you’re a state champ.’ He’s a good guy.”

Now, Kainalu’s younger sister Nanea Estrella, a junior who is a two-time state champion, is one of Gillcoat’s practice partners.

“For a girl — I’m not saying anything bad about girls — she’s a tough one,” Gillcoat said. “She wrestles like a boy. I mean that as a compliment. … She’s tough, she’s the real deal.”

Gillcoat and Nanea Estrella will lead the Lunas in their team title quests this weekend. The Lahainaluna boys won their 12th MIL team title in 13 years last season, while Baldwin girls won the league crown, snapping the Lunas’ streak of eight straight. The Bears went on to the win the state girls crown.

In boys, Lahainaluna has nine No. 1 seeds this week, while Baldwin has four. In the girls team chase, the Lunas have seven top seeds and the Bears have six.

“You know, seedings go right out the door at this point,” Hayase said. “It will be a battle.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

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