The two juniors were fourth-place finishers in their respective leagues, decided underdogs against tough competition at the state level.

Now, Karch Cho-Tupua of Mid-Pacific and Francis Dela Cruz of Waiakea are state champions. Cho-Tupua finished with 629.7 points to place first in the boys division of the Hawaii Army National Guard/HHSAA Sporter Air Riflery State Championships on Tuesday afternoon.

Dela Cruz finished with 640.3 points, posting her best performance of the season to capture the girls individual championship. She had the highest outright point total of the day.

“It was right after standing (and prone positions). That’s when I was like, I might actually do something. After kneeling, wow, I’m actually doing really good,” Dela Cruz said. “Finals, I’m so glad I got to shoot next to Danica (Fujimoto of Kamehameha-Hawaii). She’s the sweetest person ever. I’m really glad I got the opportunity to shoot in the finals at states.”

Pearl City won the girls team championship. Kaiser won the boys team title for a second year in a row.

One plus for the Waiakea Warriors, who finished second in the girls team competition, is that they arrived in Honolulu on Sunday. Most teams fly in the morning of the event.

After the prone stance round, OIA runner-up Jenna Liang (196) had a one-point lead over MIL champion Dylan Arisumi of Maui, Dela Cruz of Waiakea and Haley Jeong of Kailua. Jeong placed ninth at the OIA championships.

ILH champion Ereyn Iwamoto was close behind with 194 points, tied for fifth with teammate Natasha Strongosky, going into the standing stance round.

By the end of the three positional rounds, however, it was Dela Cruz ahead of the pack. She scored 175 standing and 183 kneeling for a 553 total entering the finals. Her friend and rival from Kamehameha-Hawaii, Fujimoto, was just three points behind at 550, and Iwamoto was third at 541.

Iwamoto thrived in the finals with three bull’s-eyes, but Dela Cruz did not relent. She posted two 10-pointers, including one on the ninth shot to all but seal her title. Iwamoto scored 90.5 points in the final round, and Di Ya Li of Hanalani tallied 90.2.

Dela Cruz finished the day 5.8 points ahead of Fujimoto (634.5), Iwamoto (633.5) and Li (628.2). Jamie Tabata of Punahou (626.1) rounded out the top five.

The finals are a totally different vibe. After each set of individual shots by the finalists, judges hold up cards with the score. Rinse and repeat for all 10 sets, 10 shots by each shooter. Between the cheering and the pressure, it’s almost made for TV.

“For me, I kind of like to embrace it. It’s OK if you freak out. I definitely was awhile ago,” Dela Cruz said. “I have a lot of adrenaline. Either I care way too much, or ehh, it’s OK. The extra adrenaline, it’s there for a reason. You earned it. In the finals, if you’re doing OK and you see everyone else is shooting better, it’s OK. It’s your race. It’s your shots. If you feel you need to put your gun down, put it down. If you want to adjust yourself, if you want to win, be comfortable.”

Dela Cruz won the BIIF individual title last year as a sophomore, then placed fourth this year. She has learned many lessons along the way. She was 30th at states last year.

“I learned to just take your time. You have to find what’s working and stick with it,” she said.

For Cho-Tupua, discipline has been everything.

“I have to say I followed my procedure a lot better. I felt more calm this year, definitely,” he said.

Cho-Tupua struggled at the state championships a year ago. On that day, he was up early, 5:30 a.m., and didn’t eat breakfast or lunch. This time, the 6-foot-1 shooter had two eggs (over easy), two Eggo waffles with a light sprinkling of syrup. He also had milk and a banana.

“We mapped it out this time,” said his father, Bill Tupua.

Cho-Tupua was not discouraged after his first try at states.

“I didn’t do very good, but I made a lot of improvements throughout this season and last season. I worked on my procedure and toughed it out,” he said.

This year, Cho-Tupua finished fourth in the ILH behind league champion Dylan Fo of Hanalani, Makai‘o Nihipali of Island Pacific and Felipe-Antonio Montano of Pac-Five.

Cho-Tupua — he’s the tallest of the eight finalists — also plays volleyball for MPI.

Heading into the finals, Cho-Tupua of Mid-Pacific had a tally of 546 points, ahead of OIA champion Rowen Balagtas of Kaiser (540) and Sean Fitch of Pac-Five (537). Cho-Tupua placed fourth at the ILH championships. Fitch was 13th at the ILH championships.

Cho-Tupua was steady in the finals, a set of 10 shots from a standing position.

“I was definitely super nervous, but I had been practicing for it. We go through a practice match, which is a full match and a finals. So I kind of knew what to expect,” he said.

He ran a string of mostly 8-point scores until he shot a 6.

“I was stressing,” Cho-Tupua said. “I was trying to drown out when they were calling out the scores. It’s kind of hard having to hear my score first and the people after me have a higher score.”

Meanwhile, Fo, who began the finals 13 points behind in fifth place, caught fire. Fo and Montano nailed a few bull’s-eyes at 10 points apiece as the audience at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall roared.

On his ninth shot in the finals, Cho-Tupua shot a 4-pointer, turned to his Owls teammates nervously and unconsciously tapped his leg several times.

“I was thinking, dang, that might have cost me the win, you know? I tried to worry about my last shot,” he said.

He scored a 9 on his final shot. Fo and Montano cooled off just slightly, and Cho-Tupua wound up with a score of 83.7 in the finals, and an overall total of 629.7 points. That was enough to hold off Balagtas, who scored 87 in the finals and closed with a total of 627. Fo had 88.7 points in the final round and finished third overall at 621.7. Montano had 87 in the final and closed fourth at 621.

The addition of the final round in recent years — no league in Hawaii has a finals in its championship — made for a dramatic final round. It is a format adopted from the college level.