Guy Yokoe wasn’t all that impressed with the competition at the HHSAA air riflery championships.
Guy Yokoe wasn’t all that impressed with the competition at the HHSAA air riflery championships.
As usual, the competition could hardly say the same about Waiakea.
For the fifth time in six years, the Warriors brought home gold from states. Yokoe, a senior, did the honors Tuesday in Makawao, Maui, scoring a two-point victory in the boys competition.
“I guess I expected a little more from the Oahu shooters and the other good schools,” Yokoe said.
Since 2010, the only time Waiakea’s shooters have failed to deliver either a team or individual title was last year. Yokoe is the Warriors’ first boys champ since Justin Gray on 2013.
Is it time that Waiakea become known statewide as an air riflery school?
Yokoe’s not sure. His favorite sport is baseball, he plays for the Warriors and it occupies a lot of his time, even in the fall.
“The key for me is I try to do a lot of other stuff during the season besides practice air riflery,” Yokoe said. “I train for baseball so I’m not a one-trick pony.”
Yokoe said he was average Tuesday in the prone position and below average in standing. He was tied at that point with two other shooters, including teammate Dillon Gabriel, but he found his mark in kneeling and held off Mid-Pacific’s Colin Chun 537-535.
“Kneeling is what did it for me,” Yokoe said. “I try not to think about how other are doing while I’m shooting.”
The Waiakea air riflery family was left heartbroken Oct. 7 when former shooter Kevin Jay Ishikawa drowned. Just as the Warriors’ Tre Soultz and Amber Nagata did as they honored their friend after winning BIIFs, Yokoe said he was thinking of Ishikawa on Tuesday.
“He was one of my best friends,” he said. “I did it for him.”
Neither Nagata or Soultz carried the same aim as they did at at league championships.
Gabriel (526) wound up 12th as the Warriors finished runner-up in the team race behind Mid-Pacific, which won comfortably, placing four shooters in the top 11.
In the girls competition, Mekalya King (530) was ninth and Nagata (524) was 12th as the Warriors finished third for the third consecutive season. Pearl City won the title for the second time in three years, and Hawaii Baptist’s Michelle Chan posted the best score (552) of the day.
Waiakea’s Tiara Pacheco (510) was 22nd and Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Cobi Broad (505) was 25th.
Of all his capable shooters, coach Mel Kawahara wasn’t surprised that Yokoe was the one who pulled through.
“Guy is a hard worker who pushes himself,” Kawahara said. “He sets a very high standard and expects so much of himself
“He has been that way since his freshman year.”
On the boys side, Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Kahekili Donner (521) and St. Joseph’s Mark Nemeth (513) placed 14th and 20th, respectively. Nemeth’s 15 bulls-eye broke a tie with Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Preston-Lee Ching (513).
Shooting side-by-side with Gabriel and Yokoe, Waiakea’s Brandon Miyake (512) was 23rd, one spot above Soultz (511).
“Honestly, I was little nervous this year,” Yokoe said. “We just tried to talk story and keep each other up.”
A Waiakea boys shooter has won four of the past 12 state championships. Steven Nozaki and Regan Ancheta won back-to-back in 2004-05.
Other BIIF finishers
Boys: Logan Aruga, Kamehameha (30th, 506); Andrew Nakamura, Konawaena (42nd, 488)
Girls: Anne Nakamoto, Waiakea (30th, 493); Laryssa Takiue, Waiakea (37th, 489); Jeannette Tajiri, Waiakea (43rd, 477); Taylor Nishimura, Waiakea (5oth, 465); Ammina Galdones, Hilo (58th, 442).