Kysen Terukina stifled defeated Elijah Kaawa of Saint Louis, 3-1, in the 132-pound state final on Feb. 22. Terukina became a four-time state (slam) champion.
Four-time state wrestling Kysen Terukina of Kamehameha made it official this week, signing with national powerhouse Iowa State.
“I signed on the 15th (Wednesday). I’ve visited three times, and after that, I decided that’s the place for me,” Terukina said. “My brother (Zayren) goes to school in Iowa and he went to their high school state tournament. Wrestling is like their main sport there. It’s bigger than anything they have. It’s good to transition to a place like that.”
Kevin Dresser is the Cyclones’ head coach. He was the 2019 National Wrestling Coaches' Association coach of the year.
“He’s like really super intense when he has to be. He’ll tell you what you need to work on, and he’s super nice. We’ve been talking for a long time,” Terukina said.
Years ago, the Terukina ohana spent many a day doing what a wrestling family does.
They would clear the living room and in that open space, lay down mats so that dad and the older boys could go at it. Shayden. Blaysen. Zayren. Day after day, honing their skills, fueling their competitive drive. The youngest was Kysen, who watched and learned.
Shayden went on to wrestle at Iowa State after four finals appearances and three state titles at Kamehameha. Blaysen captured an NAIA national title (133 weight class) for Menlo in early March after earning two state crowns — and four ILH titles — for the Warriors. Zayren won two state championships for Campbell and now wrestles at Warburg (Iowa), where he was 13-9 as a freshman last year.
Kysen Terukina did something his siblings never did by taking the slam for Kamehameha. He had one loss in his prep career. Now, he trains through the COVID-19 lockdown. In the mornings, seven days per week, it’s cardio time.
“I always try to hit a run, a four- or five-mile run before breakfast. I have routes where I know how far they are by my house. I feel better the rest of the day. More body weight stuff, doing 100 pull-ups, 100 pushups and I’ll do core workouts like crunches. I do six-inches. They burn,” he said.
After that, the brothers are put to task with non-motorized lawn mowers.
“My dad (Darryl) makes us work in the yard all day,” Terukina said. He says, ‘No better workout than that.’ ”
It’s been some time, he added, since the family cleared out the living room.
“That was 10 years ago. We finally grew out of that,” Terukina said.
Instead, they lay mats down outside. Shayden is now an assistant coach at Kamehameha, a strong 170 pounds, so he doesn’t go toe-to-toe with his younger brothers much. The other three, all college wrestlers now, benefit from the constant honing.
“Just this past Monday, we brought some mats from our club (Ewa Wrestling) and brought them home. After we work in the yard, we work on some moves on the mat. It just makes us better. Blaysen is about the same weight as me. Zayren is at 150. He wrestles at 141,” Terukina said.
The influence of their father, and now Shayden, is eternal.
“Shayden would roll around with me at Kamehameha practice. We haven’t gone full blown yet. We try not to test each other too much. It’s more for drilling,” Terukina said.
Best leg shot?
“I think I have that,” he said. “Zayren is the best at riding (on top). He’s the best at holding people down because he’s longer. Blaysen is just the fastest. He can get shots real quick. Shayden has the strong hips, so he can get a lot of duck-unders. He can throw you, too.”
Terukina, like his brothers, played judo as a youngster. It didn’t last long for him, though.
“It was confusing when I was young, so I stopped,” he said.
After winning the 132 weight class state crown earlier this year, he expects to wrestle at 125 at Iowa State.
“I have to. You want to be at the lightest weight you can. Those guys on the mainland, they’re big. I’m carrying 143 now. I’m more conscious about my body strength. I’ve got to be ready to wrestle college athletes,” Terukina said. “The more you eat unhealthy, the more you’ve got to run extra and you’ve got to starve yourself. I still eat it all, but I just run more.”
His mentality about the upcoming season, his freshman year, is to just be ready for anything.
“College season starts when I go up. They have preseason training. The official season is October to the end of March. NCAAs was supposed to be on Mar. 24,” said Terukina, who would have landed in Ames for summer classes in two months.
Whatever the future holds — there is some talk that there may be no college sports for the rest of 2020 — Terukina is a slam champ forever. He won the 113-pound division in 2017, then won the 120, 126 and 132 crowns. He was also selected No. 1 in the Pound4Pound rankings by Hawaii Prep World. He was quite aware of those rankings — and social media chatter — whether he was told about it or read them himself.
“Being the four-time (champion), I was super happy. It made me feel proud and complete. I knew I did what I had to do to win four times. (Family and friends) see the comments and keep me updated. They tell me congrats. When I have a big match, they send me a text to stay focused. Messages of motivation,” he said.
The legacy doesn’t end with the youngest Terukina son.
“My uncle Ben’s daughters wrestle for Campbell,” he noted.
The youngest brother takes pride in his high school accomplishments. Now and then, the siblings compare.
“They say that there were more better people in their brackets, not better than mine, but just more competition,” Terukina said. “But we’ll never know.”
Lockdown staples
Top 3 TV shows/movies
None.
Top 3 food/snacks
1. Mountain Dew.
2. Seared ahi. “My mom (Raina) just made that. It was so good. We ate it two nights in a row. I can make it, not as good as hers, but she taught me how.”
3. Sunflower seeds. “Only the Bigs brand.”
4. Takis.
Top 3 Video Games
1. Super Smash Bros. “Me and my brothers (Blaysen and Zayren) can play that all night and it could lead to a fight. Or we’ll get super salty if we lose.”
2. UFC.
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops. “Zombies. I play with my cousins and some of my friends from school. I only got a PS3, so I didn’t get Modern Warfare.”
The down time has been productive around their household.
“I learned how to put up a fence around my yard,” Terukina said. “That was probably the hardest thing we had to do.”
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