For the Moanalua boys and Sacred Hearts girls air riflery teams there apparently is no rebuilding, only reloading, despite what their coaches say.
Both teams proved it by winning titles at the Civilian Marksmanship Program Air Riflery State Championships on Tuesday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.
Pac-Five’s Donovan Shiraishi and Island Pacific’s Alyssa Okimoto claimed the individual titles.
Na Menehune boys coach Bruce Yonesaki and Lancers girls coach Carlton Lum said they didn’t have high expectations heading into the season.
“This one was really special, because last year we lost three seniors who were huge contributors to the team,” said Yonesaki, in his first year as head coach. “We came back and this was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but my kids, the parents, the athletic department, they were all committed to the program and because of that the kids were able to develop a lot quicker than what we would have expected.”
Lum said: “We were on a two-year rebuilding program starting last year. Last year, we almost got it done. This year, we were focused. We knew what we had to do and implemented what I thought would be the best path and we had great support of our school, and we did it.”
The Moanalua boys, who repeated as champions, won with a score of 2,095 (52 bull’s-eyes). Mid-Pacific was second with a 2,076 (40) and Pearl City finished third with a 2,057 (45).
The Sacred Hearts girls won with a score of 2,132 (57). Kalani was second with a 2,122 (47) and Waiakea placed third with a 2,118 (57).
It was the ninth girls team title for Sacred Hearts, but first since 2010. It also was Lum’s first as head coach.
Each competitor fired 20 shots in the prone, standing and kneeling positions. The top eight boys and girls shooters advanced to the finals, where they fired 10 shots in the standing position. The finals scores didn’t count toward the team standings.
Shiraishi, a sophomore who attends Hawaii Baptist, scored 633.4 points. Mid-Pacific’s Michael Tam was second with 628.7 and Kalaheo’s Justin Pascua, last year’s champion, placed third with 628.2.
Shiraishi, the ILH individual champion, entered the final round trailing Tam 545-540.
“I’m definitely not calculating in my head what Michael was shooting and what I was shooting,” said Shiraishi, who had three bull’s-eyes during the middle of the round. “I just calmed my nerves and shake it all off and get into a nice calm mind-set.”
On the girls’ side, Okimoto, a senior, won with a 635.5. Waiakea’s Shaye Nishimura was runner-up with a 632.2, winning the tie-breaker with Mid-Pacific’s Sophia Crisci.
“I shot what I’ve been shooting in practice, so I’m really proud of that,” said Okimoto, who finished fifth at the ILH individual championships. “Everyone here is really good, so I’m kind of happy that I got first.”
Na Menehune boys rebounded after losing in the first round of the OIA team championships.
Their scoring shooters Tuesday were Cole Fukumitsu (529, 13), Alexander Paul (525, 5), Alec Fong (519, 16) and Luke Young (522, 18).
“Losing in the OIAs definitely made us hungrier to win states,” said Fukumitsu, a junior. “We’ve done it before, so we knew we could do it again and that was just the mind-set we had.”
The scoring shooters for the Lancers girls Tuesday were Dorothy Sanidad (544, 19), Maile Fox (536, 13), Clarissa DeSmet (533, 13) and Quinn Lum (519, 12).
“It comes with a lot of sacrifice and hard work,” said Sanidad, a senior who won the ILH individual championship. “Giving up a lot of time you want to spend with friends and things, and putting in more time on the range, but in the end it really does pay off. I’ve been waiting all four of my high school years to win this trophy with the team and there’s nothing better than this. They are like my family pretty much.”