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There was drama, and then an extra layer of pressure, but Gianna Yokoe refused to buckle.
The Hilo junior led for two rounds, fell to third place after the kneeling-position set, and then rallied in the championship round to edge Sara Toma of Kalani 631.9-630.5 to capture the girls title at the Civilian Marksmanship Program/HHSAA State Air Riflery Championships at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall on Tuesday afternoon.
The championship round did not exist in Hawaii’s state event until recent years. The 10-shot finale pits the top eight shooters, creating plenty of crowd noise, enough to rattle any competition.
The championship round is shot in standing position.
“Standing is one of my better positions,” said Yokoe, who thrived on the extra voltage. “I kind of liked the noise. My brother (Guy) won (a state title) in 2016. It seems unreal.”
>> Photo Gallery: 2019 HHSAA Air Riflery Championships
The boys team championship was up for grabs between defending champion Mid-Pacific and ’16 and ’17 champ Moanalua. MPI took the title in ’15.
The two teams finished in a first-place tie with 2,135 points, and the first tiebreaker — inner 10s (bull’s-eye) — was a whopping count of 17 each. The second tiebreaker, the last 10 shots of the kneeling position round, went Moanalua’s way, 716-704. Chase Nakata (551), Alec Fong (535), Adam Fong (528) and Alexander Paul (521) earned the title for Moanalua.
“It’s never gone this far before. I’m happiest for our two seniors, Alexander Paul and Alec Fong,” Moanalua coach Bruce Yonesaki said. “When you have programs — Mid-Pacific is a great program — the teams are so evenly matched, on any given day, either team could have come out with it. We’re just fortunate this year, we’re very fortunate that we were able to come out on top. They’ve been established much longer than we have.”
MPI did have at least one major highlight, as Michael Tan captured the boys individual title. Tan led at the end of three rounds by four points, and then held on in the championship round to edge Cade Aihara 639.8-637.1.
Sacred Hearts emerged as the girls team champion with a score of 2,118 points, 12 ahead of runner-up Pearl City. Morgan Harrison (542), Quinn Lum (531), Sun “Judy” He (529) and Anna Sakai (516) brought the trophy back to SHA, which is also the ILH champion. The Lancers had 20 bull’s-eyes out of 20 shots in prone position.
“I feel very happy,” SHA coach Carlton Lum said. “I think we did well enough to win. Could’ve done better, but the main thing, this group has been with me for four years. They way they worked together as a team is tremendous. It’s an eight-month sport.”
The seven seniors on the team came into the program as freshmen.
“I thought I had a good bunch. At that age, when they’re young, you just have to develop. It’s just a matter of evolution, getting better and better,” Lum said. “They’re very independent. I have a lot of confidence in this group. They were on a mission. I just got out of the way. I guess you’d call me our gatekeeper.”
Rounding out the top eight: Pearl City (2,106), Kamehameha-Hawaii (2,096), Kalani (2,089), Moanalua (2,016), Waimea (2,004), Kamehameha-Maui (2,002) and Maui (1,949).
In the boys team standings, after Moanalua and MPI, Pac-Five/Hawaii Baptist was third (2,131), followed by Pearl City (2,098), Waiakea (2,080), Baldwin (2,038), Kauai (1,943) and Maui (1,918).
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