HIGH SCHOOL AIR RIFLERY
Buffanblu sweep ILH championships
Led by defending state air riflery champion Heather Horn, Punahou pulled off a one-two sweep at yesterday's Interscholastic League of Honolulu individual championships at Saint Louis.
Horn, a senior, finished with a 535 aggregate to take top honors. Teammate Simone Riford finished second at 529 and Sacred Hearts' Carolyn Horiye was third at 526.
On the boys side, Punahou senior Robert Siko won with a 524 aggregate. Teammate Scott Hong and Saint Louis' Scott Perez totaled 509 apiece, but Hong finished second by virtue of the tiebreaker.
"I don't think anybody was that surprised either one of them won," Buffanblu coach Karen Finley said.
"There were two other girls in contention for first place, but Heather had a better day today."
Individual scores were comprised of totals from two rounds of shooting at the prone, standing and kneeling positions.
Horn and Riford have both led the Buffanblu the entire season and Finley said the competition between the two keeps them focused.
"It's a bit of friendly competition between the two of them," said Finley, who is in her 11th year as the head coach at Punahou. "It keeps both of them on their toes."
Horn, Riford and Siko have a shot at winning the state air riflery championships on Nov. 1 at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. The top 10 boys and girls yesterday qualified for states.
"They come to practice and work toward that goal," Finley said of her three shooters. "Both she and Simone have a good chance at coming out at the No. 1 spot. They just have to stay focused. They have been trading off at the No. 1 spot all season."
Finley hasn't seen the scores from the other leagues but said Siko has been consistent all season.
"I told them to stay focused on shooting one shot at a time and focus on their execution as opposed to thinking about the score," Finley added.
"The main difference about today was that it's individual as opposed to team, so they have to rely on themselves. The coaches can't be there on the lines giving them advice. You remind them to check everything before they get started."