Waiakea Sweeps State Air Riflery Championships

For the first time since the inception of the air riflery into the state tournament rotation, the neighbor islands have swept both boys and girls team championships.

Waiakea High School earned both championships at the Civil Marksmanship Program / HHSAA Air Riflery Championships, held Tuesday at the Kamehameha-Hawai`i campus. It was the first ever team championship for Waiakea’s girls squad, while the boys took their third state championship and second in the last three years.

Five Waiakea male shooters participated in the competition. Justin Joe Gray, Abraham Sylvetster, Brentson Kinoshita, and Tyler Aburamen had the scores count toward the team victory. Cody Yamada also competed in the championships.

On the girls team, Karise Kuroda, Crystal Rances, Linsey Kimura, and Kellie Iwasaki, last year’s individual champion, had their scores count toward the team championship. Jamie Ikeda and Karyl-Lin Yamakawa also participated for the Warriors.

No Big Island shooter finished at the top of any individual category. Gavin Au of Leilehua won the individual boys championship, aided by a first place finish in the prone shooting competition. He also finished second in the standing shooting event. Noah Kwock of Punahou was the runner up, followed by Waiakea’s Sylvester.

The girls individual championship was taken by Punahou’s Brianna-Marie Hollister, who finished first in the prone shooting competition. Waiakea’s Kuroda finished second, followed by Mid-Pacific Institute’s Kristen Chin.