Jahwon Akui, a freshman at St. Rita of
Cascia High School, recently traveled to Reno, Nevada to compete
in the Reno Wrestling World Championships in the 15 year-old and
under category. The tournament was an open competition, and St.
Rita Coach Dan Manzella helped Akui with the registration
process. Wrestling in the 157 lb. weight class, Akui battled
through a field of 88 opponents, wrestling seven matches in three
days of competition, finally emerging the champion in his age
group and class.
Akui comes to St. Rita from Roosevelt Middle
School, and has been involved in club wrestling with the Maywood
Gladiators for several years. A former Gladiator teammate,
Clayton Kendall of De La Salle High School, also traveled to Reno
for the competition.
Football is also one of Akui’s sports, and
he started on the sophomore team as a running back. Balancing the
two wasn’t easy, but determination saw Jahwon through this year.
Also helpful was the fact that he had senior Steve Zimmerman, 2008
State Champion, as a practice partner. Akui was able to learn
from the veteran’s experience.
When asked about his experience in Reno,
Akui said, “It was an awesome time. The atmosphere of the
tournament was great, and Reno was a cool city. It felt really
good to win, to see the hard work pay off.”
The win was even more special due to the
fact that Akui was unable to compete in state championship matches
this year due to a certification technicality. He plans to
continue wrestling at St. Rita, and says, “With a little luck and
a lot of hard work, I hope to become a 3-time State Champion.”
Photo: St. Rita Freshman Jahwon Akui
celebrates a win at the Sectional qualifiers held at Rita in
February.
