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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Punahou's sharpshooters sweep state championships

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Punahou senior Lauren Riford takes aim during her standing round. Riford finished second, a point behind Sacred Hearts' Haunani Akana.

JON BELLO | Special to The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

LeLan Aranaydo

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Haunani Akana

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The past was a constant presence for the Punahou boys and girls air riflery teams, which swept the 10th Civilian Marksmanship Program Air Riflery State Championships yesterday at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.

The boys won their fourth straight state title and the girls captured their first since 2005, and fourth overall, with a state record score.

"I just wanted to live up to what (former Buffanblu shooters) had done," Punahou senior Bert Weeks said.

Individually, Pearl City's LeLan Aranaydo won the boys title with a grand aggregate score of 546, and Sacred Hearts junior Haunani Akana won the girls title with 556.

The Buffanblu boys scored 2038 points, followed by Pearl City (2032) and Waiakea (2031). Four Buffanblu shooters — Chris Han (fifth place, 520), Weeks (11th, 507), Jon Chen (12th, 507) and Alex Char (14th, 504) — finished in the top 14.

"This team had no superstars," coach Karen Finley said. "Everyone had to do their part. They took turn being No. 1."

The shooters compete in three positions: prone, kneeling and standing, for a maximum score of 600 points. Four predetermined shooters make up the team score.

Chen said the competition among the Buffanblu was just as strong as what they faced from other teams, but that pushed them harder. He said team members wanted to make previous Buffanblu proud of them.

"My freshman year I was horrible, so being able to come up to the level of the (former) guys is quite a feat," Weeks added.

Punahou's girls scored 2126, breaking the record of 2111 set in 2003 by Sacred Hearts. Sacred Hearts was second (2096) and Waiakea (2015) third.

All four scoring shooters finished in the top seven for Punahou: Lauren Riford (second, 555), Meilin Jia-Richards (fifth, 528), Jessica Shimazu (sixth, 523) and Kristen Lee (seventh, 520).

"It's pretty good. I'm still kind of sad because I lost to Haunani by a point for the individual," said Riford, who was munching on a powdered-sugar donut after the competition because they are not allowed sugar or caffeine before they shoot. "But I'd rather win the team championship than the individual one."

Riford's older sister, Simone, was on the last Punahou girls team to win, and won the individual title in 2005.

"She was proud of me last year and we came in second so she'll be really happy," Lauren said. "And I'm kind of ecstatic because I beat her score that she won the state with."

Finley, who also coaches the girls team, mentioned that the girls shot a higher team average than the boys, but "the competition is steeper."

"It was very close in the (Interscholastic League of Honolulu)," Finley said. "Sacred Hearts beat us by one point for the team title.

"If we had to choose one, we'd prefer the state. Of course we'd like to have both."

Individually, Aranaydo said he cherished the title because of the senior-laden Chargers team.

"It meant everything," he said. "Especially because everyone is about good luck and making sure we were ready."

Aranaydo has been competing since his freshman year, and finished eighth last year.

"It feels good to finally win one," he said.

Sacred Hearts' Akana had to deal with nerves — and an empty Exhibition Hall — yesterday morning, when she arrived hours early to the event because her mother, Wehilani Muller, had to drop her off at 6:15 before she went to work. The competition didn't start until 8:30.

"Then people started arriving, and then I got nervous," Akana said. "It feels good to win. It was nerve-racking because I was one of the first people here. When I won, it was overwhelming."

STATE AIR RIFLERY RESULTS

At Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.

BOYS

TEAM

1, Punahou 2038. 2, Pearl City 2032. 3, Waiakea 2031. 4, Kalani 1947. 5, Leilehua 1932. 6, Kaua'i 1846. 7, Baldwin 1820. 8, Moanalua 1751.

INDIVIDUAL

1, LeLan Aranaydo (PC) 546. 2, Paul Berce (SA) 535. 3, Jayson Lum (SL) 528. 4, Pedring Soriano (PC) 527. 5, Chris Han (Pun) 520. 6, Oren Hironaka (Waik) 520. 7, Avery Fujie (Waik) 519. 8, Cameron Yasukawa (Waik) 515. 9, Andrew Nishihara (Lei) 510. 10, Warren Ramiscal (PC) 509. 11, Bert Weeks (Pun) 507. 12, Jon Chen (Pun) 507. 13, Aaron Sewake (Waik) 506. 14, Alex Char (Pun) 504. 15, Jordan Martino (Camp) 501. 16, Peter Mathre (Kaln) 501. 17, Dee Soliman (SL) 501. 18, Cody Sugai (Kona) 501. 19, Daryl Sanbei (Lei) 494. 20, Chad Asato (AOP) 493. 21, Grant Takara (Kaln) 492. 22, Steven Sylvester (Waik) 492. 23, Andrew Dolder (Roos) 491. 24, Dustin Davis (Maui) 491. 25, Riki Urasaki (Waik) 490. 26, Andrew Yamada (PC) 490. 27, Ericksen Kohatsu (Waik) 490. 28, Eldon Sano (Kaln) 488. 29, Bryson-Andrew Higa (Maui) 488. 30, Derrick Shigemura (PC) 487.

GIRLS

TEAM

1, Punahou 2126. 2, Sacred Hearts 2096. 3, Waiakea 2015. 4, Kalani 1993. 5, Pearl City 1990. 6, Moanalua 1826. 7, Maui 1792. 8, Waimea 1711.

INDIVIDUAL

1, Haunani Akana (SHA) 556. 2, Lauren Riford (Pun) 555. 3, Chelsie Hata (Moa) 538. 4, Caitlin Mori (SHA) 529. 5, Meilin Jia-Richards (Pun) 528. 6, Jessica Shimazu (Pun) 523. 7, Kristen Lee (Pun) 520. 8, Norah Nguyen (PC) 516. 9, Uy Di Nancy Le (Kaln) 515. 10, Kiley Umeda (Hilo) 515. 11, Amy Fisk (Mary) 514. 12, Carissa Pajo (Waik) 511. 13, Dionn Tsue (Waik) 510. 14, Derlyn Rhoades (SHA) 508. 15, Maxinne Ramos (SHA) 506. 16, Ashley Rosenfeld (SHA) 505. 17, Chelsey Ueki (Bald) 504. 18, Woori Bae (Pun) 504. 19, Jasmyne Tanabe (PC) 504. 20, Anna Rong (Kaln) 502. 21, Lauren Inaba (KSH) 500. 22, Coryn Miyashiro (Waik) 498. 23, Misha Takane (Waik) 496. 24, Allisyn Vega (PC) 495. 25, Korie Higa (Mary) 494. 26, Kristy Inouye (Kaln) 492. 27, Cecelia Markham (PC) 491. 28, Jamie Lyn Koyanagi (Bald) 491. 29, Natalie Poy (KSH) 489. 30, Kelli Shintani (Roos) 486.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.