Down 4-1 after one period, the two-time state wrestling champion from Lahainaluna High School found himself in a predicament he hadn't seen in his weight class in more than a year.

"I can't remember the last time Travis was down by three points to a guy in his weight class,'' Lunas coach Todd Hayase said to The Maui News. "He is more focused than ever. I think that championship match just shows his character.''

The last two periods certainly did — Okano scored eight consecutive points against Mililani's Chad Diamond and won 9-6 in the 130-pound final Saturday at the 32nd annual Maui Invitational Tournament.

"I wasn't stressing out,'' Okano said. "I just had to catch up, just wrestle hard; that is all I can do.''

Okano was named the outstanding wrestler at 140 pounds and below in the meet, which drew 30 teams to the Lahaina Civic Center. The Lunas finished fourth in the boys team standings.

Kaiser won the boys title with 222 points. Estacada (Ore.) was second with 196.5.

Hayase said the Lunas were without "eight or nine'' potential starters who sat out the meet because they are still rounding into shape after playing on the school's state runner-up football team until two weeks ago. Hayase said that he hopes at least half of his football players will be ready to go at next weekend's meet on Oahu.

Among the Lunas who sat out was defending 152-pound state champion Lake Casco.

Four other Maui Interscholastic League wrestlers won titles Saturday — Moloka'i's Colton Manley at 160 and St. Anthony's Keith Flores at 171 among the boys, and Ka'ahumanu Rozet of Kamehameha-Maui at 108 and Kailee Andrade of Baldwin at 175 among the girls.

Flores was named outstanding wrestler at 145 and above.

Okano started the second period of his title match quickly, scoring a takedown to move within 4-3, and when Diamond was whistled for an unsportsmanlike move to Okano's face, the match was tied.

The score was still 4-4 when the third period began. Okano went ahead with reversal 20 seconds into the period and upped the lead to 9-4 on a near fall at the 1:20 mark. Okano gave up an escape point and a stalling point near the final buzzer.

"I have never faced that guy before,'' Okano said of Diamond, the state's third-place finisher last year in the same 125-pound bracket that Okano won. "It was something new.''

Manley, a junior, joined his brother Clinton — now a freshman at the Air Force Academy — as an MIT champion of this event. Colton Manley will try to win the family's first state championship gold medal in February after his brother finished second in the state the last three seasons.

"I talked to my brother a couple of hours ago,'' Colton Manley said. "He just told me to watch out for the big guys. The first two matches were tough, but not as tough as I thought it would be. The last two were really tough. I was worried in the last match a lot of times.''

Manley defeated Kaiser's Brain Freeman 6-3 in the final.

Flores, who is also just about a month off of the football field, held a 5-3 lead with time clicking down before giving up a penalty point to Pearl City's Christian Pavo at the final buzzer.

"It feels good, it is the first time I have ever won it,'' the junior said. "I'm far behind right now. I have got to get more conditioned, get into positions I have never been in.''

Rozet, the third-place finisher in the recent MIL cross country championships, said that this weekend gives her confidence after she missed most of last wrestling season with a dislocated elbow.

"It was pretty exciting coming into this tournament with 30 teams, two teams from Oregon,'' she said. "I expected a lot and I had some rubs today, but I felt confident. Every tournament I enter, my goal is to win. Running really helps with wrestling because it gives me the confidence to know I can do it.''

Andrade added an MIT gold medal after taking silver last year.

"It is awesome to win this meet,'' she said. "It is a good start to the season. I was second in state last year and I want to place first this year. This tournament tells me I need to keep getting better.''

Keiko Akamine of 'Iolani — the 103 champion — was named outstanding wrestler of the girls meet for 120 pounds and below, and Kahuku's Anela Santiago (130) was named the outstanding girls at 125 and above. 'Iolani won the girls team title with 132 points. Kapolei was second with 73.

Kaiser coach Mike Kim said that winning a tournament of this caliber stamps his program as a possible state title contenders among the boys.

"It says a lot to win a meet like this,'' Kim said. "We have had a good preseason so far, but it is only the beginning. This is an indicator, but some of the top teams in the state aren't here though, so it is not a tell-all. It is a pretty good indication of where we stand right now. We're definitely in the (state-contender) mix, but we will see later on where we are in the mix."