Colby Terlep remembers the lessons of 2019 well.

Today, the Kamehameha-Hawaii senior is the boys air riflery state champion. Terlep shot an 89 in the championship round to finish with a total of 632 points, more than 12 points ahead of Punahou’s Chasen Matsuoka (619.8) on Tuesday at the Civilian Marksmanship Program/HHSAA Air Riflery State Championships at Blaisdell Center’s exhibition hall.

Moanalua’s Olivia Akina led the preliminary round and scored a 93.1 in the championship round (standing) to finish with 632.1 points, more than five points ahead of Kuumana Bailey (626.4) of Kamehameha-Maui and Kylie Iwamoto (626.4) of Kamehameha-Hawaii.

Mid-Pacific won the boys team title, outpointing Moanalua. The Owls finished with 2,057 points, a 24-point lead over runner-up Moanalua.

Moanalua led the girls team standings with 2,118 points, ahead of runner-up Mid-Pacific (2,081).

The 2020 state championships were canceled, but Terlep remembers his first try in 2019. He finished 21st overall — quite good for a first-time varsity shooter — but he learned some valuable lessons.

“I shot at states my sophomore year, so this was my second time. I just came into this competition a bit more prepared. I knew what to expect. I had some fumbles my sophomore year, so I made sure I didn’t repeat those,” Terlep said.

One of those youthful errors was a “double shot” on one target.

“I mis-shot on a few of them. Not the greatest,” he said.

His 89 in Tuesday’s championship round, the score for a single standing target, was the best in the field. Standing position is normally the lowest-scoring stance.

“I was just really nervous. Like, I don’t want to mess it up now, but I had to let it go and shoot,” Terlep said. “I did pretty good. I shot about my average score.

Experience has become his friend.

“Every year you practice, it gets better and better, but the more you shoot, the seniors have the most experience in competition, so their mindset is not a mess,” he added.

Meanwhile, Moanalua’s mantra was on full display.

“Coach (Bruce Yonesaki) always says, ‘Don’t try harder. Focus better’,” new girls state champion Akina said.

Shooting well from the standing position is not a weak spot at Moanalua.

“That’s the first position we learn,” Akina said. “You need a lot of discipline to keep steady.”

Moanalua, spurred by OIA champion Lexi Tokuda (625.8), Love Akina (531) and Kendelle Hung-Ino (506), won the girls team championship. At OIAs, it was Tokuda who placed first and Love Akina, Olivia’s twin sister, who was second. Olivia Akina took third then. The four Menehune have honed their skills together since freshman year.

“It all comes down to team trust,” Hung-Ino said. “We’ve all gotten close as a family.”

The girls team title is the first for Moanalua. Coach Yonesaki and Barbara Lane coached the girls team together. The boys program has won three state titles, two under Yonesaki.

Mid-Pacific’s boys title is the fourth in school history. The previous three were in 2013, ’15 and ’18. Senior co-captains Ethan Harrison and Nathan Loo were on the JV team then. Jordan Lampitelli (522), Harrison (519), Colby Fujino (514) and Loo (502) were the only boys team with four 500 scorers. They are coached by Jon Narimatsu.

“Because of the way COVID was for the past two years, being able to do it in senior year kind of means a lot,” Harrison said.

“All throughout the season, all of the guys have put in a lot of work,” Loo added. “Coming here and winning the championship is great.”