Kailua senior Lauren Kadooka and Kalaheo sophomore Justin Pascua remained steady under an extra layer of pressure to post breakthrough wins for their programs.
With a final round added to this year’s Civilian Marksmanship Program/HHSAA Air Riflery State Championships, Kadooka and Pascua maintained their composure and their leads to capture the individual titles Tuesday at the Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.
Punahou won its sixth girls team championship and Moanalua captured the OIA’s first boys title.
“It was a little bit more stressful because you had all those people behind you cheering, but it was fun,” Pascua said after winning Kalaheo’s first riflery title. “I just wanted to refocus so I didn’t mess up or anything. I just kept the scores out of my head and made like I was restarting my standing position.”
After the three positions were completed, the top eight scorers advanced to the final round, with each firing 10 shots from the standing position.
Kadooka led all scorers in qualifying with a score of 551 (196 prone, 175 standing, 180 kneeling). She entered the final round with a 10-point lead on Mid-Pacific’s Mahina Smith and Punahou’s Camille Baptist and posted an 89 in the final round for a total of 640 and claimed Kailua’s first title.
“I was putting more pressure on myself, but it was good,” said Kadooka, who took up the sport as a sophomore and finished 19th last year. “I just told myself, ‘Just do your best and whatever happens happens.’ ”
Waiakea’s Mekayla King’s 95.7 was the highest score in the final and she jumped from seventh to second place at 629.7.
Punahou won its first girls championship since 2011 with a total of 2,137. Mid-Pacific followed at 2,106 and Kamehameha-Hawaii finished at 2,094.
The Buffanblu advanced three shooters to the final and Baptist (625.3), the team’s lone senior, placed fourth, Joli Hamada (620.1) seventh and Heidi Kwock (617.7) eighth. Mackenzie Martines finished 12th at 527.
“It’s always rewarding to see them do well at the big matches,” Buffanblu coach Karen Finley said after leading Punahou to a 13th state title, seven with the boys and six with the girls.
“Of course nerves always get in the way, but this has been a good team — they worked well together and support each other.”
Pascua, who placed seventh last year as a freshman, ended qualifying with 549 points (192 prone, 170 standing, 187 kneeling), five ahead of Saint Louis’ John Hasebe, entering the boys final with a five-point lead. He stretched the margin to 14 with a score of 92, the highest in the final, for a total of 641.
Nicholas Kimata of Hawaii Baptist Academy climbed from fourth to second with 90 points in the final for a total of 627.
Moanalua captured its first team championship with a total of 2,091, followed by Pearl City at 2,008.
Ian Lung’s three-round score of 533 led Moanalua to the team title and he finished fifth in the individual standings. Cole Fukumitsu (523) placed 12th and Mackenzie Tokuda (520) 16th and Justin Enoki (515) 21st.
“We’ve been at it so long that I’m super happy for them,” Moanalua coach Jeffrey Fujimoto said. “It shows them that all their efforts and hard work and dedication in whatever it is is going to pay off for them.”
