Kelli-Rose Hooser of the Island School was hard at work practicing for the upcoming KIF Air Riflery competition that begins on Thursday, Sept. 18 when Kaua‘i High School travels to the Hanapepe Armory for a shootout with the Waimea High
Kelli-Rose Hooser of the Island School was hard at work practicing for the upcoming KIF Air Riflery competition that begins on Thursday, Sept. 18 when Kaua‘i High School travels to the Hanapepe Armory for a shootout with the Waimea High School Menehune.
Sean Magoun, the athletic director for Island School, has pride in his returning shooters who performed well in last year’s competition.
Kelli-Rose follows in her brother Dylan’s shadow, Dylan having the distinction of posting the highest match points for two years in a row.
Dylan achieved that honor by surpassing the 260-point mark.
Kelli-Rose, a 10th grader who will be returning for her second year of competition, finished with a 218-point high in 2002, third to fellow 10th grader Athena Yee who posted a 225-point high.
Magoun pointed out that this year’s competition scoring will be based on the National Standard Three-Position Air Rifle rules, and as such, will have some changes when the shooters begin competition.
Significant in these changes is the allowance for coaches to work with their shooters during the sight-in procedure, a practice which will be new to competition this year.
Additional changes call for target pick-up and scoring between positions as shooters have 15 minutes to shoot in each position followed by a 5-minute changeover period which allows for target collection.
Uniform target heights for each position will be enforced more strictly this year, Magoun said. Penalties for not following the guidelines will result in shooters being assessed points.
One of these include trying to squeeze off an extra “bull” on announcement of “cease fire.” The penalty for this infraction total more than if the shooter had attained a bull’s eye.
Another new addition to the rules is the allowance of CO2 weapons that enable the disabled to compete, Magoun noted.
However, Kaua‘i’s schools have not made any move to acquire any of the CO2 weapons while Magoun said, some O‘ahu schools are already using them.
Coach Mike Woltmon of the Island School team added that in addition to the overall competition, this year the shooters will be able to compete for a chance to shoot at the Olympic Training Center when the Big Island, O‘ahu, and Kaua‘i will host the Junior Olympic Regional Championship matches qualifying shooters to be one of the four-person team that represents the state at the national competition at the Olympic Training Center.
All three islands will host their tournaments on Nov. 8 with a time to be announced later. Kaua‘i’s competition site will be at Island School.
Magoun added that in addition to the four-person team, there will also be positions for high point shooters.
While ready for competition, Island School will have to wait until next week for their first taste of competitive shooting as their match against Kapa‘a was called due to the Warrior advisor not being available this week.
KIF 2003 AIR RIFLERY SCHEDULE
All matches begin at 3 p.m.
Sept. 18: Waimea High vs. Kaua‘i High @ Waimea High
Island School vs. Kapa‘a High @ Island School
Sept. 25: Kapa‘a High vs. Waimea High@Kapa‘a High
Kaua‘i High vs. Island School @ Kaua‘i High
Oct. 2: Kaua‘i High vs. Kapa‘a High@Kaua‘i High
Island School vs. Waimea High @ Island School
Oct. 9: Kaua‘i High vs. Waimea High @ Kaua‘i High
Kapa‘a High vs. Island School @ Kapa‘a High
Oct. 16: Waimea High vs. Kapa‘a High @ Waimea High
Island School vs. Kaua‘i High @ Island School
Oct. 23: Kapa‘a High vs. Kaua‘i High @ Kapa‘a High
Waimea High vs. Island School @ Waimea High
Nov. 4: HHSAA Girls and Boys Air Riflery Tournament ILH
@ Blaisdell Center, Honolulu
