The Interscholastic League of Honolulu continued its dominance of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Civilian Marksmanship Program air riflery championships yesterday.

Punahou and Sacred Hearts defended their state team titles with the Lancers placing four girls in the top six to win their second straight team title with a score 2,080 — 11 better than Punahou — at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.

The Punahou boys, with two shooters in the top five, won their third straight with a score of 2,034 — 22 better than Waiakea.

Either Sacred Hearts or Punahou has won the girls team championships since the tournament began in 1999. Saint Louis and Punahou have won all the boys titles with the exception of Waiakea in 2004.

Saint Louis' Christopher Lam (522 aggregate score) and Punahou's Meilin Jia-Richards (538) were the individual champions.

"Pretty much every match we shot for the ILH season was practice for this," said Sacred Hearts' Samantha Niver, who finished sixth with a 520 score.

Alan Tokumura, who coaches both Sacred Hearts and Saint Louis, wasn't surprised at the performance of his girls. The top four shooters counted for the team score. Mai Oseto was the Lancers' top shooter, finishing second at 531 and Danielle Pontes was third at 527.

"They worked hard so I kind of knew what they should be doing," Tokumura said. "I guess placing that many girls that high, (I) was really pleased with their results."

With the boys shooting first in the morning, the girls relaxed for several hours before it was their turn. Competitors had 30 minutes each to shoot in the prone and kneeling positions and 40 minutes for the standing. The target was 33 feet away from the shooter and the maximum score was 600.

"We all just slept, we had to relax," said Sacred Hearts' Maxinne Ramos, who was fifth with a 523.

"Basically all the preparation we've done has been before today so all we could do today was wait and shoot our best," Niver added.

Tokumura said things came together for Lam after he won the ILH individual title.

"By winning that, he realized that he can win the state championship," Tokumura said. "Right after that, he really worked hard trying to shoot the best score he can."

Lam said winning the title feels the same as the completion of any other match. However, there was some pressure without any teammates beside him. He was the only Saint Louis shooter to qualify for states.

"For the last two state championships, I've always had my team with me so that we could shoot as a team," Lam said. "This year was a bit new to me, but I still turned out on top."

Davin Lee finished second with a 520 and Nigel Kojimoto (518) was fifth to lead the Buffanblu boys.

"Coming in, we knew we had a chance at it and it was possible for us," Kojimoto said. "It wasn't anything like a given for sure. I'm just glad we were able to pull it off."

Punahou coach Karen Finley said there was some pressure to duplicate the results from the previous years.

"Every year is a little different because you always have people who graduate so the team isn't exactly the same," she said.

Jia-Richards said she tried to keep a clear mind while shooting. "I tried not to think about my overall scores and shooting one shot at a time."

Hawai'i and Georgia are the only states with air riflery championships. Hawai'i had its greatest number of participants this year with 972 competitors at 42 schools.

CIVILIAN MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAM STATE AIR RIFLERY CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall

BOYS

Team Results
1, Punahou 2034 points. 2, Waiakea 2012. 3, Pearl City 2010. 4, Roosevelt 1915. 5, Kapolei 1903. 6, Mid-Pacific 1892. 7, Kalani 1878. 8, Kaua'i 1877. 9, Maui 1814.

Individual Results
1, Christopher Lam (SL) 522 points. 2, Davin Lee (Pun) 520. 3, Jason Cabot (Kaua'i) 519. 4, Davis Nakashima (Kona) 518. 5, Nigel Kojimoto (Pun) 518. 6, Anthony Sylvester (Waiak) 518. 7, David Lebowitz (PC) 515. 8, LeLan Aranaydo (PC) 514. 9, Colby Yoshida (Waiak) 514. 10, Bryson-Andrew Higa (Maui) 511. 11, Jordan Muratsuchi (MPI) 511. 12, Chris Han (Pun) 507. 13, Dustin Davis (Maui) 507. 14, Andrew Nishihara (Lei) 506. 15, Aaron Halemano (Kalani) 498. 16, Chris Sciotto (Mary) 498. 17, Kevin Chong (MPI) 497. 18, Warren Ramiscal (PC) 496. 19, Aaron Sewake (Waiak) 495. 20, Jordan Honold (Kapo) 491. 21, Cameron Yasukawa (Waiak) 489. 22, Bert Weeks (Pun) 489. 23, Cosmo Hirai (Roos) 488. 24, Andrew Yamada (PC) 485. 25, Riley De Mattos (Waiak) 485. 26, Pono Kadooka (Kona) 485. 27, Danny Collins (KS) 480. 28, Christopher Okamura (Kalani) 480. 29, Michael Blickos (Roos) 479. 30, Noel Tampon (Roos) 478.

GIRLS

Team Results
1, Sacred Hearts 2080 points. 2, Punahou 2069. 3, Waiakea 2027. 4, Kalani 1983. 5, Pearl City 1950. 6, Baldwin 1856. 7, Waimea 1838. 8, Moanalua 1781. 9, Kapolei 1732.

Individual Results
1, Meilin Jia-Richards (Pun) 538 points. 2, Mai Oseto (SHA) 531. 3, Danielle Pontes (SHA) 527. 4, Jessica Pajo (Waiak) 524. 5, Maxinne Ramos (SHA) 523. 6, Samantha Niver (SHA) 520. 7, Kristen Lee (Pun) 516. 8, Lauren Riford (Pun) 516. 9, Cheyenne Ritt (Camp) 515. 10, Robyn Jong (Pun) 509. 11, Shaynee Shirai (Kona) 507. 12, Coryn Miyashiro (Waiak) 506. 13, Kristy Inouye (Kalani) 505. 14, Emi Nakayama (Kalani) 502. 15, Jenna Wojcik (SHA) 502. 16, Janelle Matsuura (SHA) 502. 17, Michelle Woltmon (Island) 500. 18, Jessica Shimazu (Pun) 499. 19, Dion Tsue (Waiak) 499. 20, Sheri-Lyn Hirota (PC) 499. 21, Sarah Hamakawa (Waiak) 498. 22, Nikki Otsuka (PC) 497. 23, Stephanie Chu (Hilo) 496. 24, Teralyn Chang (Kalani) 495. 25, Misha Takane (Waiak) 495. 26, Stephanie Iha (Kalani) 494. 27, Norah Nguyen (PC) 491. 28, Tracie Takaki (PC) 488. 29, Carissa Pajo (Waiak) 486. 30, Ashley Farley (Bald) 485.

Reach Stanley Lee at sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com.