KAILUA-KONA — Pulama Louis has faced worse odds than a coin flip during his high school career, so the two-time BIIF champion wrestler wasn’t too worried when the No. 1 seed in his 182-pound weight class at the HHSAA tournament came down to heads or tails.
Louis won the toss, and will be the Big Island’s lone top seed at the tourney, but being at the top of the bracket hasen’t changed his mindset as he seeks to become Kealakehe’s first gold-winner on the state stage since 2008.
“It’s just a number. No matter what seed I would have got, it wouldn’t have changed the way I wrestle,” Louis said. “I know there is a big target on my back now.”
A coin toss is not common practice in deciding state seeds. It just shows how close the gap between Louis and Kaiser’s Micah Arakawa was. The HHSAA committee looked at head to head; common tournament, higher placer in same bracket; last year’s state placing in weight class; last year’s state placing; common opponent, focus on losses; and then had a vote all before resorting to the coin.
“We were going back and forth — throwing out tournaments, throwing out records,” Kealakehe head coach and Pulama’s father Ivan Louis said. “It’s a great opportunity for him.”
Louis finished fifth last year wrestling at 195, but dropped down to a much more natural 182 this season. Most of that weight he carried as a junior was the side-effect of two knee surgeries. Louis had his ACL, MCL and meniscus repaired as a sophomore.
“Honestly, I didn’t really know how to feel about it,” Louis said of the surgeries. “But I felt like I had a very good shot to get back to 100 percent.”
It’s safe to say he did. Louis not only earned two BIIF titles in wrestling, but also was a first-team All-BIIF linebacker for the Waveriders and earned an honorable mention nod as a third baseman on the baseball team as a junior.
“It feels good,” Louis said with his patented grin.
The comeback trail was by no means easy. Even on his own team, Louis had to do battle to wrestle at 182. Teammate Keoni Miles entered the season as the reigning champ in the weight class, and coach Ivan Louis had three wrestle-offs scheduled to decide who would earn the spot. Pulama Louis won the first match-up, but Miles’ season ended up being cut short by injury.
With all that now behind him, Pulama Louis has one more long weekend of high school wrestling waiting on Oahu.
“I’ve been there. I know what is expected and what it will take,” he said. “A lot of it is confidence and being mentally there — focused. You can’t look past anybody. It’s the same thing as every other sport. Play every play the same.”
