Four years ago, Robyn Teruya gave wrestling a shot at the suggestion of her football coach at Roosevelt.

Last season, Moanalua's Rachael Ostovich took up another sport on the mat, joining the wrestling team after cheerleading season.

The seemingly circuitous route hasn't kept both seniors from finding success. Both won their weight classes at Saturday's O'ahu Interscholastic Association championships and are seeded in this week's Chevron/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Championships at the Neal Blaisdell Arena.

The qualifying round starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. Semifinals and the latter consolation rounds start on Saturday at 10 a.m. Girls championship and consolation final matches begin at 3 p.m., with the boys to follow.

"It took me four years to get first place," Teruya said of her OIA title. "I was happy, tears were coming out of my eyes.

"I can't explain it, it's just happiness," she added. "I couldn't do it without my team, coaches."

At the OIA championships, Teruya defeated Kalani's Morgan Yamaguchi in the 130-pound final. Teruya is seeded second at the state championships.

"She's gotten better every single year, a lot more focused. She wants it more because it's her senior year," Roosevelt coach Sean Sakaida said. "Her determination, she seems more determined to win, do the extra running, practice harder, stuff like that. She knows her time is ticking in the sport."

After her freshman year on Roosevelt's junior varsity football team, one of her coaches suggested wrestling because she liked contact sports. She qualified for states as a freshman and was eliminated in the consolation round. She was fourth as a sophomore and was sixth last year, losing to Ostovich in the 130 fifth-place match.

"My freshman year, I wasn't in the best shape, but the varsity helped me through it," said Teruya, who played two years of JV football as an outside linebacker. "They literally pushed me to do the things I never thought I'd do."

Teruya and sophomore Marisa Fukunaga are two of three girls on Roosevelt's team. They wrestle against the boys team and coaching staff during practices because there's not enough girls to train with. The boys don't give them an easier time on the mat, and practicing against the boys has helped them improve.

"They put us in different positions and we learn to work from there," Fukunaga said. "Since they're a lot stronger, it makes (competing against) girls in the tournament a little bit easier."

Fukunaga, who has eight years of judo experience, became interested in wrestling when her older brother competed in the sport. She had a big win in the 108 class at the Hawai'i Wrestling Officials Scholarship Tournament in December. She was runner-up at the OIA East championships and placed third at the OIA championships, qualifying her for states. She was sixth at 108 at states last year.

Despite the obvious differences between cheerleading and wrestling, Moanalua's Ostovich said both require mental focus. Ostovich, the OIA 125-pound champion and a first team All-State cheerleader at the base position, helped Moanalua finish third in the large division of the state cheerleading championships.

"Both are mentally competitive," said Ostovich, who is seeded first at 125 at states. "Your mind has to be on it, focused ... you have to be headstrong in both. It's kind of like they both go hand-in-hand mentally. It helps you focus on things that are hard to achieve, but helps you believe you can."

Ostovich's mother, who was a cheerleader, got her involved in cheerleading in the fifth grade. Her older brother and sister both wrestled at Moanalua and the family is into mixed martial arts. Despite interest in wrestling, Ostovich couldn't do both because both sports were in the winter season. Cheerleading became a fall sport in her junior year, and she took up wrestling last year.

"She's a tough girl on the mat," Moanalua coach Eddy Gudoy said. "She's relentless when she needs to be. She knows what's going on."

Ostovich's siblings and father taught her the basics and fundamentals prior to last season. She also took up judo last year and finished third at states at 139.

"I couldn't have done it without Jesus," Ostovich said. "All the glory goes to Him. Win or lose, glory goes to God."