It was a family affair at the Civilian Marksmanship Program Air Riflery State Championships yesterday as Pearl City's LeLan Aranaydo captured the boys title at the Neal Blasidell Exhibition Hall.

Aranaydo claimed his first state championship in style, dominating in all three phases of the contest to out-point St. Anthony's Paul Berce, 546 to 535. Aranaydo led all shooters in the prone (191 points) and kneeling (186) positions, and shared the event's top score in the standing position (169) with Berce.

“;It feels so unreal, this is a great way to end my last year,”; Aranaydo said. “;I just felt it today. Everything just seemed to fall into the right places today.”;

The senior shared his big victory with his parents, longtime Pearl City head coach Lester Aranaydo and Chargers girls head coach Shareen.

“;This is a result of all the hard work and extra time he put in this year, I'm really proud of him,”; Lester said. “;It wasn't always easy. It's hard to coach your own child. Once we drew the line—that I am coach at practice and Dad at home—he really took off.”;

Making the day even more memorable for the Aranaydo family was the runner-up finish of the Pearl City boys team to perennial power Punahou, which claimed its fourth straight title after posting 2,038 points. The Chargers fell just six points shy of becoming the first OIA squad to win a state championship.

“;I always tell our shooters just to do the best they can,”; said Lester Aranaydo, who has led the Chargers to six of the past seven OIA championships. “;If they give their best effort and perform as well as they can, that's all I can ask for. Today we came really close to winning it all against a very good team, that's a pretty good consolation for me.”;

The ILH continued its dominance of the girls side of the event, as Punahou claimed the team title, its fourth. In the 10 years Hawaii has held a state championship in air riflery, either Sacred Hearts or Punahou has won every team crown.

Haunani Akana of Sacred Hearts won the girls individual championship by the slimmest of margins. The junior edged Punahou's Lauren Riford, 556 to 555, to give the Lancers their fourth individual champion.

“;I kind of didn't believe that I won at first,”; said Akana, also the ILH individual champion this year. “;There are so many people here that are capable of shooting better than me on any given day. I just tried to focus on lining my shots up straight, and keep myself from getting distracted.”;

Akana netted the field's best score in the standing position (177), and Riford won both the prone (193) and kneeling (190) portions of the tournament. Akana finished third in prone (190) and was second in the kneeling position with 189 points to pull through in her first year of varsity competition, falling just one point shy of matching the tournament record of 557 points set by Punahou's Vicci Yau in 2002.

“;Every time we have a big match she shoots well,”; said Sacred Hearts coach Alan Tokumura. “;The thing about Haunani is that she wants to be the best. She works really, really hard and goes that extra step to do what it takes.”;

The team championship sweep for Punahou is the second for Buffanblu coach Karen Finley, who first pulled off the sweep in 2005. The team titles are the seventh and eighth overall for Finley.