PUHI — Despite the rain, just 11 points separated the highest scoring Menehune wahine from the lowest scoring shooter Thursday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation air riflery match against Island School. “The weather was great when the match got underway,”
PUHI — Despite the rain, just 11 points separated the highest scoring Menehune wahine from the lowest scoring shooter Thursday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation air riflery match against Island School.
“The weather was great when the match got underway,” said Sean Magoun of Island School. “But the clouds built up and it started raining during the standing position. The rain came down harder and we had to suspend shooting.”
The rain delayed the resumption of the match for more than 30 minutes while the weather band passed over the group huddled in quick tents.
Despite the disruption, both the Waimea boys and girls took the match over Island School, the boys going home 1121-989 while the girls walked off with an 1180-903 victory.
Just one point separated the boys’ leaders, Waimea’s Devon Hartsell nailing 231 points (85 prone, 77 kneeling, and 69 standing), and Island School’s Tanner Tavares, leading the Voyagers with 230 (79-78-73) points, and tying with Waimea’s Keane Caberto (81-81-68-230).
Island School’s No. 2 shooter, Micah Kimi, finished with 209 (85-63-61) points after besting Caberto in the prone position, but starting to falter in the standing and kneeling positions.
The difference started to grow as Waimea’s remaining shooters marked 200-point performances while the Voyagers slipped below the 200-mark.
Following the leaders, Waimea got 227 (82-71-74) points from Sean Delacruz followed by Ryan Lomongo (80-79-58-217) and John Anthony Prado (85-70-61-216).
“A lot of these student-athletes are involved in other activities,” said Waimea coach Major Victor Aguilar. “They could do a lot better if they came to practice, but with their schedules, many come to little, if any, practices.”
Other Menehune boys on the line included Andrew Evans (76-55-45-176), Christian Fostanes (82-72-48-202) and Dennison Mopas (78-71-41-190).
Following the Island School leaders, Stephen Foster marked a 198 (67-68-63) followed by David Caminos (78-57-57-192) and Eosin Chelius (62-46-52-160). Other Voyager boys on the firing line included Reece Valencia (70-50-22-142) and Michael Chung (66-50-32-148).
Waimea’s girls put in a solid performance despite the disruption.
Robyn Acob marked 241 (87-86-68) points, the highest score of the day at the Island School range to lead the Waimea girls, followed by Janine Prado (76-87-77-240), Khryshia Pascual (81-77-77-235), Melia Takakusagi (93-79-62-234) and Kayla Ishida (84-83-63-230). Takakusagi worked with a new weapon which threatened to run out of air, adding to the weather-related woes.
“We have eight new guns,” Aguilar said. “But we only have two on line to try them out.”
Takakusagi said having the new weapon, even with the threat of running out of air in a tankless situation, made a difference, especially in pumping air. The difference was demonstrated as Takakusagi marked the highest score at 93 in the prone position — just seven points off a perfect target.
Other Menehune girls on the line included Quianna Duarte (80-55-44-179), Tiffany Minia (84-83-63-208) and Chelsea Samatra (82-78-65-225).
Island School girls were led by Amanda Ngyuen (82-74-41-197), Ashley Silvestre (87-58-39-184), Deanna Sloger (76-50-57-183), Aliana Ho (83-52-35-170), and Lauren Oelke (75-56-38-169).
“We have a really big match coming up,” Aguilar said. “We travel to Kauai High School after the fall break, and our girls need to win to clinch the Kauai Interscholastic Federation title outright. If Kauai girls win, there will be a shootout for the girls.”
Waimea will meet Kauai at the Red Raider range on Wednesday, Oct. 15 starting at 3 p.m. while Island School travels to the Kapaa range against the Warriors.
