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Ferreira, Ravida and Miguel bring medals back to the Valley Isle

Wrestlers bring Mainland experience into MIL season

Maui’s Liana Ferreira (right) competes in a match on her way to winning the 101-pound 18U girls division at the FreakShow of Amateur Wrestling Tournament in Las Vegas earlier this month. Courtesy of Ferreira family

PUKALANI — Liana Ferreira always carries an assortment of drinks, jelly sandwiches, and grapes to every wrestling competition, which is part of her routine that keeps her mentally and physically ready for any match.

Even over the Oct. 15-17 weekend in Las Vegas, Nev., Ferreira of Nakamura Wrestling Club, didn’t break her morning ritual while on the way to winning the 101-pound 18U girls division at the FreakShow of Amateur Wrestling Tournament.

“I always have my mom braid my hair early in the morning and when I get to my competition, I eat the same food,” the Baldwin High School senior said on Tuesday evening from her Upcountry practice. “I always have to fix my shoelaces, my socks, and my knee pad and my straps, and then I just slap my legs and I’m ready to go.”

Ferreira was joined by other youth athletes from Maui at the FreakShow event who earned several top-five placements while representing Nakamura Wrestling, 808 Wrestling, and 4MG Wrestling, including gold medalist Jahlia Miguel and silver medalist Tobey Ravida.

“It was great because it was my third year going and it was my senior year and I really wanted to win it after two years of competing — I was underweight in my weight class and I got destroyed,” Ferreira said. “But this year, I was bigger than everybody and just used my technique and it worked.”

Ferreira

The last time Maui Interscholastic League fans saw Ferreira compete in Hawaii was when she placed third in the state at 97 pounds as a freshman in 2019 and second as a sophomore in 2020, so her goal is to finish her final season with a win while also landing a college that best fits her.

Competing at out-of-state tournaments about twice a year has helped Ferreira to prepare for contests against wrestlers in Hawaii, she said, because “they’re tough as well and it helps with my mentality.”

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, she added that she’s been staying motivated by watching a lot of wrestling, including her friends’ matches who have been competing on the Mainland.

“It just inspires me because I just want to be great like them,” she said.

After wrestling back-to-back matches at FreakShow, competing in both the 113-pound 18U and 18U Elite boys brackets, Ravida of Nakamura Wrestling earned a silver medal in the elite division.

Miguel

Ravida got knocked out during the quarter finals of the 18U bracket, but stayed focused to come back for a top finish in the other.

He totaled 12 matches by the end, which is double the number of rounds that a wrestler typically endures for a single competition.

“This is what I train for. I just kept pushing,” Ravida said Tuesday. “My coaches have prepared me to be mentally tough. Even when times got a little bit hard, I just had to be mentally strong and I had to think to myself that it’s just me versus me, and I had to keep persevering and have fun.”

The 113-pound 2020 Hawaii state champion has used that same mentality throughout the pandemic, staying ready and keeping up with his fitness for when MIL action resumes.

“I’ve been training with coach Grant Nakamura. We train two to three times a week and I’ve been doing some running on the side, too, and working out,” said Ravida, who said that some of his goals for his senior year are to become a three-time MIL champ and two-time state champion. “I Just want to make the best of this season because I didn’t have one a year ago, so I’m trying to give it my all this year.”

Tobey Ravida of Nakamura Wrestling shows off his silver medal from the elite division in the FreakShow of Amateur Wrestling Tournament earlier this month in Las Vegas. GRANT NAKAMURA photo

He also has been eyeing university athletic programs in Colorado, Virginia, Oregon, and Wyoming.

“I’ve been thinking about competing in college since I was a freshman,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to compete at the highest level and get better for myself, and make my name known and get it out there for Hawaii — you don’t hear about a lot of Hawaii wrestlers competing on the Mainland at the highest level.”

Miguel of 4MG also brought a medal home to the Valley Isle last week after winning the 15U 145-pound girls bracket at the FreakShow tournament.

Since she had temporarily lived and trained in Las Vegas with an all-girls wrestling academy called Legends of Gold for about five months, the environment, adrenaline, and competition was nothing Miguel wasn’t already prepared to endure.

“I felt calm going into FreakShow and I knew that, like, I would have good matches there because that’s where all the girls from all over California, Utah, and all over, go to compete at FreakShow because they want to be called — ‘Queen of the Freak,’ “ she said. “I’m happy that I got first, but I know that I could have put more effort into my matches, and like, done better than what I did, but in the end I’m still happy that I got the outcome that I wanted.”

After practice in Wailuku on Monday night, the Baldwin freshman said she has big goals for her high school career, including becoming a four-time state champion from Maui — Lahainaluna’s Nanea Estrella and Lalelei Mataafa are the only two, girl or boy, in the MIL to complete that feat.

“I feel like I’ll do well if I keep my short-term and my long-term goals the same and just work my way up,” Miguel said. “I know I can, just with the way I’ve seen myself improve over the past few tournaments. … I feel like I’m strong and dedicated, and it motivates me to work even harder because I know that I can be a four-time state champ as a Bear.”

Throughout her successes as a young wrestler and now as she waits for her first high school match, Miguel acknowledges her coaches and family members who have been “very supportive and there for me 100 percent of the time through any decision.”

Her dad Warren Miguel, also the 4MG Wrestling coach, “pushes me and motivates me to do better,” she said.

Sister and former MIL wrestler, Jahnea, is also back as an assistant at the club, offering guidance on how to cut weight, handle nerves, or overcome tough losses. Additional support is provided by her other sisters, too, who “want me to improve and do better” as well as by her mom, who makes her special meals, Jahlia Miguel said.

“If it wasn’t for my parents or my family, I wouldn’t be where I am now, because of all their support,” she added. “That’s what keeps me going and exceeding in wrestling, and what keeps me wanting to do it even more.”

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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