KEAAU – Kamehameha senior shooter Kylie Iwamoto knows how to read a room.
When the stakes are raised, as queasy as she may get, Iwamoto has a way of meeting the moment. The latest example came Nov. 27 at the BIIF air riflery championships, the first all-school meet of the season.
“When I got into the gym I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re actually shooting against other teams for the first time this season,”’ Iwamoto said. “It was a lot of pressure on me.”
All the better, because Iwamoto went out and repeated as BIIF champion, outfiring all the boys, including teammate and BIIF champion Colby Terlep, in the process.
“I was kind of nervous, but it was the good kind of nervous because I missed the feeling of competing and having other teams be there,” she said. “It made me focus more, it made me think, ‘OK, now you have to be for real.”’
Terlep, a senior, knows how to work a room, especially when said room is set off to the side at Koaia Gym on Kamehameha’s campus.
“I only play sports in here,” he said Friday outside the room the Warriors use for sports such as air riflery and wrestling.
Wrestling practice starts soon enough and Terlep may compete at 132 pounds this season, but that’s a story for another day. First comes Tuesday’s HHSAA air riflery championships at the biggest room of them all for the sport in this state, Honolulu’s Blaisdell Center.
Considering the prolific season Terlep’s enjoyed and all of the BIIF’s success at the event the past 10-plus years, he has to be considered one of the favorites. As a freshman in 2018, he watched as teammate Devez Aniol became the third state boys champ from the Big Island in a span of six years.
“My goal is beat Devez’s state record, but that’s a lofty goal,” he said. (Aniol’s 645.7 is the highest since a format change in 2016 added a final round to follow two rounds of shooting).
Terlep shot a 622.4 in comfortably winning BIIFs – Hilo High’s Nikolas Galdones (605.3) was second and Waiakea Raiven Chinen (602.8) third – with an admittedly so-so score by his standards. He posted the highest score in all six regular-season meets, averaging 276.7 for a single round.
“I started the season off strong and it was unexpected, but I just wanted to do that over and over,” he said. At BIIFs, “I was not used to shooting with people, that was an adjustment.”
As a sophomore, he initially adjusted well enough at the state shoot, finishing the first of three positions, prone, in second place with a near-perfect 199.
However, confusion over what an official told him regarding a rules violation led Terlep to believe that his score would be wiped out.
“After that, I was pretty much done,” said Terlep, who wound up 23rd.
Iwamoto finished 13th in 2019 as High High’s Gianna Yokoe, then a junior, became the second Big Island girl to win a state title.
However, prior finishes rarely offer much of forecast as far as Iwamoto’s scores are concerned. As sophomore, she had six higher-ranked teammates during the regular season but was the top shot at BIIFs. This season, there were three shooters – teammates Briani Iyo and Calleigh-Rose Lee and Waiakea’s Waiakea’s Carys Urasaki – who shot much higher during the season, but Iwamoto was best when it counted at the BIIF finals, albeit barely. Her 625.6 edged Keaau’s Dakota Muranaka (624.5), and Waiakea’s Hailey Chang (620.4) was solid as well to win bronze.
“I surprised myself a lot,” Iwamoto said. “I had a setback during the season and I didn’t practice for two weeks, and I didn’t know I’d be ready.”
“Before the championship, Coach Kelly (Galdones) told me the greatest opponent I would be going up against would be myself,” she said, “so I would just have to focus on myself.
“This team is one big family. We’re comfortable with one another. A lot of laughs and fun times.”
Iyo entered the BIIF shoot as the top seed and wound up sixth, but Galdones pointed out that Yokoe struck gold at the state championship after a similar finish at BIIFs.
“I told Briani, sixth is a pretty good spot to be,” he said.
He’s also hopeful, Iyo, Lee, Iwamoto and Tia Tanimoto can compete for a team title. Terlep, Rion Chong, Caysen Jay Guillermo and Kanalu Pakani will represent the Warriors’ boys.
The BIIF gets nine slots at the state shoot. Based on regular season seeds, also going are: boys, Chinen, St. Joseph’s Cesar Rivera, Hilo High’s Kingston Sarme Shin, Galdones and Hilo’s Kobe Shimabukuro, with alternates Nathan Sewake of Waiakea and Treston Paio of Kamehameha; girls, Urasaki, Waiakea’s Jessie Shimizu, Chang, Muranaka and Waiakea’s Alanna Sun, with alternates Amy Gushiken of Kamehameha and Serena Camarillo of Waiakea.
Whether he shoots a state mark or not, Terlep will return to his favorite room and get ready for wrestling practice.
“In air riflery, you calm yourself down and keep yourself focused,” he said. ” Wrestling, it’s hype yourself up and keep yourself alive.
“It’s a nice break.”
