An older gents walked as much as Zayren Terukina on the 2019 NHSCA Excessive Faculty Nationals in Virginia and requested him if he knew about this or that faculty in Iowa.

It was a fast dialog and on the finish of it, the person handed Terukina a pamphlet in regards to the faculty.

“I checked out it after which threw it into my bag and didn’t suppose something of it,” Terukina laughed.

It seems every week later after taking part in Flo Nationals, Terukina and his good good friend from again residence in Ewa Seaside, Hawaii, Corey Cabanban, had been on their strategy to Ames, the place Cabanban was speaking an official go to with the Iowa State wrestling program.

As Cabanban and Terukina deliberate their journey to Ames, Terukina remembered the pamphlet and he remembered what the varsity’s identify was – Wartburg School.

On a whim, the two-time Hawaii state champion pulled out his cellphone and made a textual content.

“I contacted (Wartburg) coach (Eric) Keller and he stated come as much as Waverly,” Terukina stated. “Each Corey and I got here up and took a go to. It was the one faculty I visited. I assume God was pointing me in the correct route.”

The possibility go to and fast recruitment has paid off dividends for the defending Division III nationwide champions. After a few so-so seasons, Terukina turned a nook final winter, ultimately shedding, 3-2, to Mount Union’s Jordin James within the 141-pound nationwide finals.

Terukina hasn’t missed a beat early within the 2022-23 season and at the moment is ranked #1 at 141.

“Coach Keller sealed the deal once I obtained right here,” Terukina stated about his preliminary go to to Wartburg. “Keller has such an enthusiasm that attracts you in and it’s like that in the entire neighborhood. It will’ve been fairly laborious to not come to Wartburg after I talked to teach Keller and noticed the amenities.”

So simply who was that outdated man who handed Terukina the pamphlet? 

Eric’s father Wealthy Keller. 

“That story is 100% true,” Keller stated. “My dad loves to observe wrestling and he’ll simply go to tournaments and watch, and apparently hand out pamphlets about Wartburg wrestling.

“That encounter actually simply opened the door. In the long run it was Zayren who reached out and made the go to.”

Terukina is just not the primary native Hawaiian to wrestle for the Knights, and simply how Wartburg’s pipeline to The Aloha State began has an important story, too.

The primary Hawaiian to wrestle for Wartburg was Andrew Johnson, who again in 2009 went trying to find a college to wrestle at.

“Andrew…he’s a dentist now,” Keller says. “He was a Lutheran child who liked to wrestle and he Googled – Lutheran schools which might be good at wrestling – and Wartburg got here up. He discovered us with a Google search.”

Johnson led to UFC fighter Dan Ige studying in regards to the Division III faculty and Ige was buddies with a child named Puna Soriano and satisfied him to come back to Waverly with him. Soriano went onto develop into a Division III All-American for Wartburg and like Ige now could be concerned in MMA.

“The wrestling neighborhood is small in Hawaii so it’s quite a lot of phrase of mouth,” Keller stated.

Getting again to Terukina, he’s a part of Hawaiian wrestling royalty.

His dad, Daryl, was a two-time Hawaii state champ successful in 1983 and 1984, and Daryl’s brother, Ben, received three Hawaii state titles (84-85-86).

Zayren (17, 18) and older brothers Shayden (08, 11, 12) and Blaysen (15, 16) mixed to win seven extra highschool state titles after which youthful brother, Kysen, now at Iowa State, received 4.

In all, the Terukinas of Ewa Seaside have received 16 state titles.

“Rising up, I didn’t know my dad wrestled,” Zayren stated. “I didn’t begin wrestling in all probability till I used to be within the fifth grade, however since we had been infants, my dad (nonetheless a licensed lifeguard) skilled us to be athletes.

“We’d run on the seaside, swim within the ocean…quite a lot of seaside exercises…and he informed us the whole lot you do right here incorporates into wrestling and can develop you faster.”

Whereas Terukina’s journey to Waverly appeared destined, his transition to turning into top-of-the-line pound-for-pound wrestlers in Division III was not as seamless.

Whereas he received greater than he misplaced his first two seasons, Terukina was not an everyday within the Knights’ lineup.

Ultimately, a troublesome dialog wanted to happen.

“I bear in mind my freshmen and sophomore years I used to be simply going by the motions and I sat in that sofa (pointing to a sofa in Keller’s workplace) and talked to teach,” Terukina stated. “You already know, coaches all the time know when one thing is just not proper, and he knew I wasn’t on the correct path.

“He and I had a severe speak and from then on I purchased in and did the whole lot proper. After I did that I jumped to ranges I couldn’t think about and my wrestling improved dramatically.”

Keller stated that dialog and what transpired has develop into a strong teaching software he makes use of.

“I shot him straight,” Keller stated. “We talked about all of the issues he stated he wished and why he wasn’t seeing himself there. Then we began speaking in regards to the street blocks that had been in the best way.”

Keller finishes by including that Terukina had one final request of him after that dialog, asking him to carry him accountable.

Simply what number of occasions within the final two years has Keller needed to pull Terukina apart and remind him of the mission he’s on?

“Zero,” exclaims Keller. “That’s the finest a part of that story.”