A year ago, Jana Fukushima thought of bowling as a fun thing to do once in a great while.

Then her mother, Leinani, decided to sign up Jana and little brother Makoa at Naval Station. Her pastime turned into a sport, and Jana Fukushima is now a state champion.

The Mililani junior finished with a nine-game total of 1,487, edging Campbell’s Anuhea Morales-Snelson by 17 pins at the two-day Billy Tees/HHSAA Bowling State Championships at Hickam Bowling Center.

Christine Madrona of Pearl City (1,442), Seobeen Chang of ‘Iolani (1,439) and Jazmyn Lazo of Moanalua (1,410) rounded out the top five.

It was a test of endurance. On Thursday, the boys set ended late and the machine that oils the lanes broke down. The girls finished their six games past midnight.

“I wanted to go to sleep already,” Fukushima said of the two-hour delay. “I was exhausted, but I knew that everyone was tired and I needed to push.”

The lanes at Hickam are widely acknowledged to be drier than most other sites, which leads to more traction, and more action on the ball. However, it didn’t seem to affect Fukushima, whose team normally practices at Schofield.

“It was OK. I’d miss my spot and still get a good outcome. If I did that at Schofield, it wouldn’t be as good,” she said.

Mililani also captured the boys team championship for a second year in a row. The Trojans had a substantial 256-pin lead over ‘Iolani entering Friday’s final set. But it was Mid-Pacific, trailing by 297 pins, that roared back. The Owls combined for a tourney-high 951 pins in their final game.

Mililani finished with a team score of 7,575. MPI closed at 7,433.

“(Winning the championship) was definitely a goal for us, but it was a little surprising the way it played out. They were really steady,” Mililani coach Corey Zukeran said.

“Mid-Pacific wanted to beat us so bad,” said Trojans captain Akira Sanco, who finished second to MPI’s Kai Yamada. “Coach said in the last two frames, ‘If you want this, every shot counts.’ We all spared and got strikes.”

For Mililani, Sanco finished at 1,623, Jarin Kurashige (1,593) finished eighth, Michael Well was 15th (1,531), Casey Nakagawa took 23rd (1,506) and Keanu Ishihara placed 64th (1,322).

Yamada took the individual title among boys with a total of 1,628, five pins ahead of Sanco. Yamada finished second last year.

“My teammates brought the energy. We had our struggles, but we stuck together as a team and never gave up,” the junior said.

Bowling on their home turf, ‘Iolani (6,808) won the girls team title, holding off defending champion Campbell (6,743). Hawaii Baptist (6,457) took third, Mililani (6,121) finished fourth and Moanalua (6,050) rounded out the top five.

For the Raiders’ squad, after Chang in fourth, Ashlyn Okazaki finished sixth (1,399), Logan Akau 12th (1,368), Asia Amii 25th (1,324) and Marianne Takeuchi 41st (1,285).

“Teamwork is what we stressed and they came through with it,” Raiders coach Michelle Jung said. “Everybody being one team. They jelled really well and came together as a team. That made a big difference this year.”