State champs Aranaydo, Akana on the mark
Advertiser Staff
State champions LeLan Aranaydo of Pearl City and Haunani Akana of Sacred Hearts topped the list of boys and girls all-state air riflery teams.
Aranaydo was chosen to the boys first team, along with Jayson Lum of Saint Louis, Chris Han of Punahou and Jordan Martino of Campbell.
Akana was chosen to the girls first team, along with Moanalua's Chelsie Hata and Punahou's Lauren Riford and Meilin-Jia Richards. The teams were chosen by a selection committee of coaches and sport administrators.
Alan Tokumura, who coaches both the Sacred Hearts and Saint Louis teams, said Akana is "one of those that doesn't really like to lose, and somehow, she always works harder when it comes to a tough situation like the state tournament.
"She really put it together," he added. "She was one point off the state record, which to me, I thought it was unbreakable. It was one of those scores no one came close until this year.
"Nothing fazed her."
Akana won October's state air riflery championships with a 556 aggregate, just short of the 557 record set by Punahou's Vicci Yau in 2002.
"We call her a pressure shooter," Tokumura said.
Riford finished second at the state championships with a 555 aggregate. Hata, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion, placed third at 538.
Jia-Richards, the 2007 state champion, placed fifth at the state championships and competed neck-and-neck with Akana during the entire Interscholastic League of Honolulu season. Riford and Jia-Richards led the Buffanblu to the girls state title, setting a team-record of 2,126.
"Meilin is a very, very good shooter," Tokumura said. "Throughout the whole season (they) were battling each other all the way through. It was going to be a toss up between who was going to take the championship."
Aranaydo made a final charge at the state tournament in his senior year after a runner-up finish at the OIA championships where he was off by one shot. Aranaydo, coached by his father Lester, won the state championships with a 546 aggregate.
"He's been to several shooting camps and he's a hard worker," Tokumura said. "He has a very good shot."
Lum finished third at the state championships at 528. Han finished fifth at 520 and led Punahou to its fourth straight state title.
Martino was 15th at the state championships.
Akana, Hata and Lum qualified for the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado in April. Akana will be competing in air rifle and smallbore riflery. Hata also qualified for smallbore and Lum qualified for air pistol. Top performers will be invited to train with the U.S. Olympic Development Team.
"He is not afraid to try anything," Tokumura said of Lum. "He works really, really hard. I'm not really surprised he's shooting as well as he is now."