Although Michael Tanoue is two years younger than his brother, Ryan, the siblings could pass as twins. Michael Tanoue adds to
family gold collection
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comNow, along with their nearly identical facial features, build and haircut, the Tanoue brothers have something else in common -- a state air riflery championship.
Michael Tanoue won the individual title at the Civilian Marksmanship Program/Hawaii High School Athletic Association boys air riflery championship yesterday at the Dole Cannery Ballroom, earning a gold medal to hang next to the one Ryan won in 2000.
"If you call it living in his shadow or whatever, it's been happening," Michael said. "So I'm kind glad I could win this."
Tanoue's total score of 541 led St. Louis to its fourth consecutive team championship. All four Crusader competitors finished in the top five in the individual standings to ensure that St. Louis would remain the only school to win a state team title since the tournament was established in 1999.
St. Louis finished with an aggregate score of 2,124. Waiakea came in second at 2,052.
Waiakea's Matthew Haraguchi was the individual runner-up with a score of 530. He was followed by St. Louis' Eric Okamoto (530), Blake Cuban (527) and Bryce Masunaga (526).
"They push each other," St. Louis coach Zig Look said. "It's hard to develop in a vacuum, friendly competition is healthy.
"The team bonding together and working together has made it very strong. We're strong throughout the whole team. It's not always the same guys on top, it's not always the same guys on the bottom."
Okamoto came out on top at the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship last week, and Tanoue thought the result would be the same when he completed his round yesterday.
But his scores of 189 in the prone position, 168 (standing) and 184 (kneeling) proved to be enough to claim the title.
"I thought Eric had beaten me. I didn't think I shot that well," Tanoue said. "I was surprised when I saw my score. The score I estimated was a little bit lower.
"I owe a lot of it to the team," he added. "They help push the scores higher by pushing our standards higher. Each of them contribute a lot to our team."
Michael Tanoue was a sophomore when Ryan won his state title and has watched his brother excel in college, winning the NCAA championship for Nevada last spring.
Although the brothers share similar physical attributes and riflery skills, Look said they are opposites away from the range.
"Michael's more rambunctious. He's a real extrovert," Look said. "They've trained to similar levels, they just got there in different ways. They have to focus on different things.
"If they share anything in common it's they have a great deal of commitment to the sport. But as people they're vastly different."
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