Sharpshooters from Hawai'i take aim at St. Louis School range
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
The sharpest group of shooters from Hawai'i in at least a decade is shredding bull's-eyes in collegiate riflery this season, and most of them are coming home for a match this weekend.
University of Nevada photo
They include a freshman whose coach thinks he could win the NCAA air rifle championship on his first try and a senior getting her first trip home in a year, courtesy of her college team.
St. Louis grad Ryan Tanoue has the talent to win the NCAA air riflery championship as a freshman, according to his coach at Nevada.
Air rifle teams from the universities of Nevada (with three shooters from Hawai'i) and San Francisco (five Hawai'i shooters) will participate in the Pacific Rocky Mountain Collegiate Shooting League Hawaiian Invitational Air Rifle match. The University of Mississippi may also enter.
Competition starts at 11 a.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. Monday on the St. Louis School range, behind the football field.
Ryan Tanoue of Kaimuki won the national Junior Olympics air rifle championship last June, a few weeks after his graduation from St. Louis School. Fred Harvey, his coach at Nevada, said yesterday that he thinks Tanoue "could win it all" at the NCAA championships next month.
"Only one college shooter is even close to Ryan," Harvey said. (That is Alaska-Fairbanks junior Matt Emmons). "Ryan's greatest asset is his ability to concentrate. He can really focus. And pressure just makes him better."
He led scorers at last weekend's NRA Sectional in Reno.
Tanoue and siblings Travis and Jayde Look "are the mainstays" of the Nevada team, Harvey said. "They are all remarkable kids and wonderful students and I'm delighted with them."
Sophomore Travis Look (St. Louis '99), the Nevada team captain, is extremely disciplined, and senior Jayde Look (Hawai'i Baptist '97) "is an extraordinary shooter when the pressure is on," Harvey said.
Jayde Look transferred to Nevada after two years at the University of Hawai'i because "I needed to experience a place away from home. You don't really experience college unless you go away from home and Reno is as different from Hawai'i as you can get."
Receiving financial aid for being on the rifle team was a bonus.
This weekend will be her first trip home since Nevada came here for the same match last February.
The Looks live in Kaimuki; their father is Zig Look, coach of the Crusader Rifle and Pistol Club (host of this weekend's match) and the teams at St. Louis and Sacred Hearts schools for the past eight years.
San Francisco's leading shooters in last week's sectional included Aaron Miwa (Punahou '00) of Wai'alae Iki, Telianne Ho (Sacred Hearts '01) of 'Aina Haina and Aaron Yoshino (Punahou '99) of Manoa.
Sacred Hearts graduates Chatess Baguio and Cindy Choi also are on the team.
MORE RIFLERY
• Ohio State
Freshman Ryan Kohatsu (Waiakea '01) of Hilo "will be one of the top shooters in the country by his senior year," coach Patrick Cherry says. He was fifth in last weekend's three-team NRA Sectional in Columbus.
• Duquesne (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Freshman Keith Leopardi (St. Louis '01) led Duquesne scoring in two recent matches. Senior Jennifer Ma (Sacred Hearts) is not competing this year because of the demands of her pharmacy major.
