An older gentlemen walked up to Zayren Terukina at the 2019 NHSCA High School Nationals in Virginia and asked him if he knew about this or that college in Iowa.

It was a quick conversation and at the end of it, the man handed Terukina a pamphlet about the college.

“I looked at it and then threw it into my bag and didn’t think anything of it,” Terukina laughed.

It turns out a week later after participating in Flo Nationals, Terukina and his good friend from back home in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Corey Cabanban, were on their way to Ames, where Cabanban was talking an official visit with the Iowa State wrestling program.

As Cabanban and Terukina planned their trip to Ames, Terukina remembered the pamphlet and he remembered what the school’s name was – Wartburg College.

On a whim, the two-time Hawaii state champion pulled out his phone and made a text.

“I contacted (Wartburg) coach (Eric) Keller and he said come up to Waverly,” Terukina said. “Both Corey and I came up and took a visit. It was the only school I visited. I guess God was pointing me in the right direction.”

The chance visit and quick recruitment has paid off dividends for the defending Division III national champions. After a couple of so-so seasons, Terukina turned a corner last winter, eventually losing, 3-2, to Mount Union’s Jordin James in the 141-pound national finals.

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

“Coach Keller sealed the deal when I got here,” Terukina said about his initial visit to Wartburg. “Keller has such an enthusiasm that draws you in and it is like that in the whole community. It would’ve been pretty hard not to come to Wartburg after I talked to coach Keller and saw the facilities.”

So just who was that old guy who handed Terukina the pamphlet? 

Eric’s father Rich Keller. 

“That story is 100 percent true,” Keller said. “My dad loves to watch wrestling and he will just go to tournaments and watch, and apparently hand out pamphlets about Wartburg wrestling.

“That encounter literally just opened the door. In the end it was Zayren who reached out and made the visit.”

Terukina is not the first native Hawaiian to wrestle for the Knights, and just how Wartburg’s pipeline to The Aloha State started has a great story, too.

The first Hawaiian to wrestle for Wartburg was Andrew Johnson, who back in 2009 went searching for a school to wrestle at.

“Andrew…he is a dentist now,” Keller says. “He was a Lutheran kid who loved to wrestle and he Googled – Lutheran colleges that are good at wrestling – and Wartburg came up. He found us with a Google search.”

Johnson led to UFC fighter Dan Ige learning about the Division III school and Ige was buddies with a kid named Puna Soriano and convinced him to come to Waverly with him. Soriano went onto become a Division III All-American for Wartburg and like Ige now is involved in MMA.

“The wrestling community is small in Hawaii so it is a lot of word of mouth,” Keller said.

Getting back to Terukina, he is part of Hawaiian wrestling royalty.

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

Zayren (17, 18) and older brothers Shayden (08, 11, 12) and Blaysen (15, 16) combined to win seven more high school state titles and then younger brother, Kysen, now at Iowa State, won four.

In all, the Terukinas of Ewa Beach have won 16 state titles.

“Growing up, I didn’t know my dad wrestled,” Zayren said. “I didn’t start wrestling probably until I was in the fifth grade, but since we were babies, my dad (still a certified lifeguard) trained us to be athletes.

“We’d run on the beach, swim in the ocean…a lot of beach workouts…and he told us everything you do here incorporates into wrestling and will develop you quicker.”

While Terukina’s journey to Waverly seemed destined, his transition to becoming one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in Division III was not as seamless.

While he won more than he lost his first two seasons, Terukina was not a regular in the Knights’ lineup.

Eventually, a tough conversation needed to occur.

“I remember my freshmen and sophomore years I was just going through the motions and I sat in that couch (pointing to a couch in Keller’s office) and talked to coach,” Terukina said. “You know, coaches always know when something is not right, and he knew I wasn’t on the right path.

“He and I had a serious talk and from then on I bought in and did everything right. When I did that I jumped to levels I couldn’t imagine and my wrestling improved dramatically.”

Keller said that conversation and what transpired has become a powerful coaching tool he uses.

“I shot him straight,” Keller said. “We talked about all the things he said he wanted and why he wasn’t seeing himself there. Then we started talking about the road blocks that were in the way.”

Keller finishes by adding that Terukina had one last request of him after that conversation, asking him to hold him accountable.

Just how many times in the last two years has Keller had to pull Terukina aside and remind him of the mission he is on?

“Zero,” exclaims Keller. “That is the best part of that story.”