In a meet in which every shot mattered, Mid-Pacific Institute's Jordan Muratsuchi and Punahou squeezed out victories in boys' competition yesterday in the Civilian Marksmanship Program state air riflery championships at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.

For the first time in the eight-year history of the tournament, a tiebreaker determined the individual champion. Muratsuchi and Punahou's Scott Hong finished with 529 scores. The tiebreaker is the best score from each shooter's last 10 shots from the final shooting position, which is kneeling.

"It's a real big surprise," said Muratsuchi, a junior. "I didn't think I'd win."

Because there is no running-scoring, as in a football game, neither knew he was that close in the scoring. The boys' competition was so tight that only nine points separated the top 10 finishers.

Hong, a senior, might have come up shy in the individual, but his team came out ahead, scoring 2,072 points to runner-up Waiakea's 2,070.

"It was good," Hong said. "We have some juniors in their first year."

Meanwhile, Pearl City's Jolana Gollero capped a perfect season by winning the girls' title with a 527. She was the O'ahu Interscholastic Association West and league champion.

Sacred Hearts saw all four of its shooters place in the top 14 to win the girls' team title with 2,061 points to runner-up Punahou's 2,029.

Gollero, a senior, was the highest returning finisher from last year when she placed fifth. She should've known yesterday was her day when she was assigned point (the target) No. 13. She said she chose that number for her meets during the OIA season and just happened to get it for the state meet. Not bad considering there were 60 targets.

"It was just fate that it went that way," Pearl City coach Lester Aranaydo said.

"I just wanted to improve from last year," Gollero said of winning.

She is the first individual champion from an OIA school since Wai'anae's Jackie Cordero in 1999.

Meanwhile, the Lancers recaptured their crown they won in 2004 with an all-junior team.

"It was good to get it back," said Mai Oseto, the highest-finishing Lancer, taking fourth with a 522.

Samantha Niver, who was sixth last year, placed seventh (517) with Jenna Wojcik taking ninth (514) and Danielle Pontes finishing 14th (508).

After being coached by Saint Louis coaches over the years, the Lancers hired their own in Alan Tokumura, a long-time assistant at Punahou. The girls admitted reluctance to the change at the outset, but they eventually realized it was a good move.

"It was a change for the better," Niver said.

The Punahou boys' scoring was top heavy. Three of its four shooters placed in the top six. Adding to Hong's 529 were Davin Lee's third-place finish with 527 and Nathaniel Char's sixth-place finish with 523. Nigel Kojimoto was 23rd at 493.

Waiakea had five shooters win individual medals for placing in the top 15, but only the top four counted toward team scoring.

TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

GIRLS

TEAM

1. Sacred Hearts Academy (Danielle Pontes, Mai Oseto, Samantha Niver, Jenna Wojcik), 2,061

2. Punahou, 2,029

3. Waiakea, 1,978

4. Pearl City, 1,983

5. Saint Francis, 1,972

6. Leilehua, 1,958

7. Kalani, 1,924

8. Kaua'i, 1,902

9. Baldwin, 1,853

10. Roosevelt, 1,801

INDIVIDUAL

TOP 15 AWARDED MEDALS

1. Jolana Gollero, Pearl City, 527

2. Lindsey Miho, Punahou, 524

3. Kristina Acosta, Kaimuki, 522

4. Mai Oseto, Sacred Hearts, 522

5. Toni Tanabe, Saint Francis, 520

6. Cheryl Malanog, Leilehua, 520

7. Samantha Niver, Sacred Hearts, 517

8. Rachel Yamashita, Punahou, 515

9. Jenna Wojcik, 514

10. Jessica Pajo, Waiakea, 513

11. Stephanie Chu, Hilo, 510

12. Nagiko Hara, Punahou, 509

13. Lyndsay Pascual, Baldwin, 508.

14. Danielle Pontes, Sacred Hearts, 508.

15. Tracie Takaki, Pearl City, 504.

BOYS

TEAM

1. Punahou (Nigel Kojimoto, Nathaniel Char, Scott Hong, Davin Lee), 2,072

2. Waiakea, 2,070

3. Saint Louis, 1,999

4. Pearl City, 1,984

5. Roosevelt, 1,880.

6. Kaua'i, 1,881

7. Leilehua, 1,834

8. Maui, 1,814

INDIVIDUAL

TOP 15 AWARDED MEDALS

1. Jordan Muratsuchi, Mid-Pacific, 529

2. Scott Hong, Punahou, 529

3. Davin Lee, Punahou, 527

4. Christopher Lam, Saint Louis, 526

5., Michio Koide, Saint Louis, 524

6. Nathaniel Char, Punahou, 523

7. Lelan Aranaydo, Pearl City, 521

8. John Rosales, Leilehua, 521

9. Reyn Takahashi, Waiakea, 521

10. Scott Nozaki, Waiakea, 520

11. Dustin Davis, Maui, 516

12. Colby Yoshida, Waiakea, 515

13. Anthony Sylvester, Waiakea, 514

14. Chanyce Hanato-Wells, Konawaena, 514

15. Brian Tada, Waiakea, 509.

Note: Ties broken by scores of last 10 shots from the kneeling position.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.