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By the time he was in kindergarten, Mikah Labuanan was fully wired to compete.
It wasn’t about his environment alone. The kid just loved to compete.
“I don’t have a key memory of when I first started, but when I was younger, I would always wrestle my friends and it was always fun. I was 5, 6. That’s when my dad owned a gym. I just remember seeing pictures and some memories,” said Labuanan, who is a two-time state wrestling champion in his junior season at Kamehameha-Maui.
By the time he was 7, Labuanan was engrossed in wrestling and soccer practices, traveling off-island for youth wrestling tournaments.
“We went to Oahu for a state tournament. I think I got third place. I wrestled Keegan (Goeas). He just beat Xander (Erolin, Hanalani’s defending state champion) yesterday,” Labuanan said, referring to the Hawaiian Islands Officials two-day tournament at Leilehua. “Ever since then we kept traveling. The following year we went to Reno Worlds in Nevada. Me, my dad and my friend Frank (Bonacorsi). He’s a cowboy now. I remember it being a tough tournament. Everyone was tough there. I was 2-2. Me and Frank went up to the mountain and touched snow for the first time. There’s a picture of us wrestling in the snow.”
Second-grade national competition is a tough challenge for most keiki. Labuanan thrived, however, so Mike Labuanan kept the grind going. The dual love for wrestling and soccer would not end for years. It was two days of wrestling practice and three days of soccer practice until he was 13.
By sixth grade, Labuanan had what may have been his first peak performance.
“Western States. It’s the Utah tournament, used to be held in Idaho. It’s a folkstyle, freestyle and Greco (divisions). I got two outstanding wrestling awards, Greco and folkstyle,” said Labuanan, who is internally a lot more sour than he may appear. “I got robbed in freestyle. My dad wasn’t mad. I was mad. I beat him the year before.”
Even then, wrestling wasn’t yet a major priority.
“I didn’t start wrestling every day until my eighth-grade year. I was always winning. At a younger age it was super basic. We worked on transitions. That’s the biggest thing with my dad — what’s next? If you’re so many steps ahead they can’t catch you,” he said.
There was no catching Labuanan over the weekend. The state champion at 132 pounds last season is competing at 144 now. The step in weight hasn’t been an issue. He overwhelmed Kai Sekigawa in the Officials final, 25-11.
“The kid I wrestled, he tried a Granby (roll) on me two times,” Labuanan said. “But I covered him.”
In theory, a smaller population wouldn’t produce as many elite wrestlers as Maui County does. Yet, Diesel Del Rosario made the trip from Lanai to Oahu and won the 120 division at Officials, stunning two-time state champion Evan Kusumoto of Kamehameha in the process. Del Rosario’s power and explosiveness begged the question — how has he not won a state title yet? He grew up training during holiday weekends and school vacations with the Labuanan family, staying at their home. After the 2020-21 winter season was canceled, Del Rosario was ready to rumble in 2021-22 in the 120 weight class.
“Everyone’s lucky. His sophomore year, he had a concussion, first match at the state tournament,” Labuanan said “Last year, it was just a mental thing. He had to wrestle one of our friends (Kulika Corpuz of Mililani) and I know he should’ve beat him. But this year, nothing’s going to stop him.”
Slightly lighter than Labuanan, Del Rosario is an ideal competitor when Maui Sports Conditioning works out together.
“It comes down to your training partners. You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with,” Mikah Labuanan said. “I would usually practice with guys a year or two older than me, heavier. Happy Nitahara and Frank. Diesel Del Rosario. He would come over weekends, and stay the whole time during holidays. He used to always come over. Diesel, that’s my brother.”
Del Rosario gained a brother, too.
“Coach Mike, from the beginning, was always nice to me and making jokes, and he still does. I was excited to stay and practice at their house, because as a young kid, it was like making a new friend and family,” he said. “They always had good pointers and moves that I didn’t know would help me grow as a wrestler. We always work hard and have fun at the Labuanan house.”
The focus on wrestling is Labuanan’s alone. Older sister Destiny is a volleyball player, coached by their mother, Ahlayn (Sam Fong) Labuanan. Younger brother Micah was a tournament champion in youth wrestling, but has turned his attention to hoops in the past two years.
“He’s super shifty and fast. He’s gotten so much better,” Mikah said. “He likes basketball more.”
In all, the Labuanan ohana has found a way to thrive with only 24 hours in a day and three children seeking greatness.
“Wrestling takes so much time. If you don’t put your all into it, you won’t be the best. You need someone there. It’s not like basketball, where you can go shoot by yourself. My mom was always there for my sister (Destiny),” Labuanan said. “Our parents are the best. They give you life.”
As if wrestling — and a 3.7 grade-point average — wasn’t enough, Mikah Labuanan is an elite bodyboarder. It’s a source of amazing SWAG (stuff we all get) from sponsors, but also an excellent way to recalibrate.
“I loved soccer. Juggling that with wrestling was super hard. Making the decision last year to sacrifice soccer. I have more passion for wrestling and, now, bodyboarding. They all take so much time,” he said. “If I don’t split the time, it gets stressful for me. I haven’t competed in bodyboarding much. I did two contests on Kauai. Finding time to be in the water and have fun, a stress relief, and it’s social seeing my friends catching waves.”
In the end, wrestling fits the wiring in his brain, and tests his athleticism without mercy.
“Whoever works harder wins. Whoever puts in more time. Soccer you have to rely on 10 other people putting in the work,” he said. “If I lose in wrestling, it’s on me.”
It’s not all conditioning and competing. The science is always a difference maker.
“At a young age I had doubles and outside singles in neutral, when I was age 6 to 12. On the top, I had a three-quarter nelson and I would win with it. You go underneath and pull their head down. My main move. I had a lot of moves, but those were my main three,” he said. “My neutral hasn’t really changed. I have variations of different shots. When I go on top, I used to go two on one, a lot of tilts, the three-quarter nelson doesn’t work anymore. You give up a lot of position.”
In season and off season, Labuanan goes head to head with KS-Maui coach Giancarlo Crivelli.
“I first saw him wrestle at his house in his garage November of 2020. He was in eighth grade and I had just moved to Maui the month prior. Coach Mike got my number and was cool enough to reach out and invite me over to wrestle,” said Crivelli, a former college wrestler. “When I first met him I could see the raw talent and potential he possessed. He was already a great athlete with great reflexes, strength, speed, I knew he had all the makings to be a serial winner.”
The constant battles at practice are irreplaceable. Crivelli hasn’t forgotten what he witnessed in February of 2022 at Labuanan’s first state tournament. Labuanan reached the 126 weight class final to battle Baldwin’s Tobey Ravida.
“He had just taken his first loss to the same kid a week prior at the MIL finals. it didn’t matter. I knew from the second he walked off from that match at the MILs he was going to win states and avenge his loss. I saw the way he moves, the way he wrestled, his attitude, his aggression. I just knew it in my gut and remember saying to myself, give us a week we got this kid,” Crivelli recalled. “A week later Mikah dominates his way through the tournament and wrestles a beautiful match to win his first state title and avenge his only loss of the season.”
Labuanan prevailed over Ravida by decision, 7-4, for the 126 weight class title. Last February, Labuanan edged Jaren Kimura of Mililani, 5-4, in the 132 weight class state final. The potential for a grand slam is alive and well.
Crivelli draws quite a comparison for Labuanan.
“Mikah reminds me a lot of Olympic gold medalist Gable Stevenson. The way he carries himself on and off the mat, the way he trains, the way he wrestles the athletic capacity, it’s all very similar in my eyes. However, Mikah is his own wrestler and I watch him improve, train and develop his wrestling IQ and position each and every day. He won’t look the same when you see him wrestle next,” he said.
All the miles by ground and air have been a journey of a lifetime for this dad.
“Mikah and I have always played around at home, but the first time wrestling with his friend on the mat, I could see the joy and excitement on his face. We continued to invite his friends to come over and wrestle, and eventually started a little wrestling club,” Mike Labuanan said.
The price of travel is never easy for most families, but those early years of national competition were enlightening.
“I believe that traveling to all those mainland tournaments motivated him to want to be the best that he could be. Mikah could hang with the best of them, but didn’t have the same opportunities that the other kids had. He had about 20 matches and his opponents had 100-plus matches in a year. This motivated him to work harder so that the next time we went back, he would be on another level,” Coach Labuanan said.
To this day, father and son hit the weight room together.
“I will definitely miss him when he leaves for college in (less than) two years,” he said.
Del Rosario happened to be in the right place at the right time. It is the reverse of collateral damage for him. It is collateral blessing.
“What makes Mikah such a good friend is that he is always in my corner. He always has my back and I know that I can count on him to get me motivated,” Del Rosario said. “To this day, Mikah gives me wrestling pointers. Mikah treats me and all of his friends and teammates as family. It is always a good time with him because he is a trustworthy and supportive person.”
MIKAH LABUANAN’S FAVORITES
Top 3 movies/shows
1. “Arrow”
2. “Yu Yu Hakusho”
3. “Soul”
“I get pretty motivated watching the three shows. A lot of it is never giving up. Life purpose.”
Top 3 food/snacks/drinks
1. Chicken katsu curry (Ramen-Ya)
2. Teri beef
3. Sweet tart ropes
Top 3 homemade foods
1. Dad’s fried rice
2. Mom’s loco moco
3. Mom’s shoyu chicken
“My mom (Ahlayn) makes it kind of often, maybe every two weeks. I can make the fried rice, but not the loco moco or shoyu chicken.”
Top 3 music artists
1. Brent Faiyaz
2. Key Glock
3. Drake
Favorite class: P.E.
“Freshman year it was pretty fun. Sophomore year, we did a lot of swimming. Five different styles and a certain amount of laps. Sometimes, he made us dance for a whole period.”
Favorite teacher: Kumu Ka‘apuni (Aiwohi)
“Whenever I see him on campus, we always talk story. I feel like I know him on a more personal level than my other teachers.”
Favorite athlete
Connor McGregor
“I like how he thinks. He does a lot of controversial stuff, but I like his mindset.”
Funniest teammate
Blake Abernathy
“He’s just so random. He says the funniest things.”
Smartest teammate
Kalaheo Sakamoto
“You would never know he’s that smart. He acts dumb and goofy, but he’s actually pretty smart.”
Favorite motto/ scripture
“It’s me versus the guy in the mirror.”
“I don’t think it’ll ever end.”
Time machine
“I wouldn’t want to travel back in time. I feel like everything happens for a reason. To dwell on the past just holds you back. I wouldn’t want to use it.”
Hidden talent
Bodyboarding, soccer
“I like to bodyboard whenever there’s a swell and there’s no practice. I ride for different teams, Science Bodyboards and Viper Surfing Fins, Gyra and Foam Company. Only the Foam Company is based on Maui. I got a couple boards, shirts, fins, leashes. The boards are expensive, like $340.”
Bucket list
“The top of my list is becoming a four-time state champ and a national champ. I would like to retire my parents. And surf all over the world. On Maui, our north has waves in winter time and south has waves in summer.”
Youth sports
“I did wrestling and soccer when I was 5. I still kind of play soccer, but since last year, I slowed down to focus on wrestling. I kind of miss it, but I know my future’s in wrestling. I was part of the Olympic development program. Last year I was on the Hawaii national team (U16). I don’t even play anymore.”
Shoutouts
“Shout out my friends, my coaches and my family. There’s just too many names.”
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