Between all their shooters and onlookers, seemingly half of the people in attendance Saturday at Waiakea’s gym were wearing T-shirts representing the home team.
Between all their shooters and onlookers, seemingly half of the people in attendance Saturday at Waiakea’s gym were wearing T-shirts representing the home team.
In BIIF air riflery, the Warriors have organization and an ohana that easily helps them lap the rest of the field, and they annually develop into a state powerhouse , individually and team-wise.
St. Joseph’s Mark Nemeth admits the scene can get intimidating, but there are definitely bonuses to taking aim in relative anonymity.
Nemeth can just do his thing.
“My goal is to take states,” he said after posting a score of 253 in a preseason meet that was second behind only Hilo’s Damien Robledo (257).
“After a while, you realize that you can make friends with other people (here), and you only have to please yourself.
“It’s less pressure.”
Cardinals coach Mel Inaba pointed out that Nemeth can do much better, and he has. He was third at BIIFs last season (Waiakea’s Trey Soultz was the champion) and he took 20th at states (which was won by Waiakea’s Guy Yokoe). Both Warriors graduated.
While the boys leaderboard Saturday still had five Waiakea shooters in the top 10, it’s not often that Warriors coach Mel Kawahara doesn’t see one of his shooters occupy one of the top two spots.
“There are a lot of people that are getting better,” Kawahara said. “Competition is good, I’ve always said that. Now we have to pick it up.”
Nemeth said he has improved through “half experience” and “half not worrying about others.”
For Waiakea, there are always plenty of competitors to worry about.
Bradon Miyake, a returning state shooter, took third Saturday with a 248, Devon Morimoto (243) was fourth, and Skylar Soultz (239), Mackenzy Corpuz (231) and Logan Balingit (225) were also in the top 10.
Robledo spearheaded a strong showing for the Vikings. Robert Molina (238) was sixth and Isaiah Galdones was (225) was ninth.
While the Waiakea boys are a work-in-progress, their girls counterparts are led by a group of experienced upperclassmen.
“I don’t have to worry about them,” Kawahara said.
Defending BIIF champion Amber Nagata graduated, but Mekayla King (261-second on Saturday), Tiara Pacheco (258-third), Anne Nakamoto (250-fourth), Laryssa Takiue (246-sixth) and Jeanette Tajiri (244-seventh) all shot at states in 2015. But it was Shaye Nishimura who showed the best preseason aim, with a 262.
“Shaye got so much better last year,” Kawahara said. “It was just an unfortunate thing that her score kept her from states.”
Caitlyn Ito (242) was eighth and Jhordyn Muranaka-Ozeki (239) was 10th.
The only non-Waiakea shooters in the top 10 on Saturday were Kamehameha’s McKenna Hewitt (246-fifth) and Tiari Fa’agata (240-ninth).
Kamehameha coach Tracy Aruga has built a pipeline by introducing the sport at the intermediate school level, and he’s seen his roster grow by roughly 30 percent in his second season. He limited the preseason meet to his first-year shooters. Hewitt is a freshman, as is Nicholas Souza (231), who was eighth on the boys side.
“I think we’re revamping the program in ways that are totally different from the past,” Aruga said. “This season, with no seniors, we’re starting to build and hopefully we’ll gain a competitive edge next year.”
The season starts Saturday at Konawaena.