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Hufana leads Na Alii girls to MIL crown

Takahama, Warriors take top boys honors at league air riflery championships

By Dakota Grossman 4 min read

KAHULUI -- King Kekaulike High School's Alia-Marie Hufana and Kamehameha Maui's Bennett Takahama left the Izumi "Shine" Matsui Athletic Center with big grins while adorned in lei and gold medals on Saturday.

The pair had just finished shooting the top scores to win the girls and boys individual titles, respectively, at the Maui Interscholastic League air riflery championship, as well as lead their squads to team championships.

"I'm so happy," said Hufana, who shot a 529 that included a 185 prone, 171 standing and 173 kneeling to win the girls title and to finish with the best score overall. "It feels great, I've waited for this since last year after I came in second."

Even more exciting for Hufana, she led Na Alii girls to a historic win as they tallied a combined score of 2,012 to emerge above a crowded field -- this is the first team win for Na Alii's air riflery program, according to coach Torrey Ho-Ching.

The race for the girls team crown appeared wide open this season as Maui High, King Kekaulike -- the 2021 MIL runner-up -- and Baldwin each won around two meets leading into the MIL championship on Saturday. Kamehameha Maui had won the last three girls team crowns.

"Kam has won however many years and now the underdogs are on top," Hufana said after having an emotional hug with her teammates. "It's great."

Ho-Ching -- Hufana's mother -- said through tears that "it means a lot" to see Na Alii succeed.

"It's just proof that if you don't ever give up on your dreams, your dreams can happen no matter where you come from," she said. "These kids, they work really hard, you know, and I'm just so extremely proud of them for not giving up."

Ho-Ching said that everything felt "super surreal."

"I knew that there might have been a chance because the talent on our team is exceptional this year, but for them to pull it off is absolutely amazing," she said.

Maui High's Dylan Arisumi (517) and Kaytin Bayez (511) finished second and third, respectively, to lead the Saber girls to a runner-up finish.

In the boys standings, Takahama shot a 516 (187 prone, 154 standing, 175 kneeling) to edge Warriors teammate Luc Sheehan (507) for the individual title. Like Hufana, Takahama won nearly every meet he competed in this season.

"I didn't do so well last year so it means a lot just to, like, actually do it and I jumped up a lot from my last year's score, so it makes me feel really good I guess," Takahama said.

The junior said he's made big improvements from last season that boosted his performance.

"I think this year I went into it with a lot more patience and maybe taking in a lot more of what the coaches are saying," he said. "I think having the exposure in the first year made me a lot more nervous and now it's a lot easier to go on and shoot at the meets."

Brandon Sado finished third with a 495 as Kamehameha Maui swept the top three spots en route to a dominating team victory.

"It feels really great for me to see all of our new shooters do so great and for our senior to do well, too," Takahama said.

The Kamehameha Maui boys, who were runners-up last year to Baldwin, went undefeated throughout the regular season this year.

"It's good to see that they won as a team," Warriors head coach Ira Uradomo said after the awards ceremony. "We're proud. We've had a lot of support from the school, the parents and obviously the athletes who put in the work, so it's good to see what we got today."

Uradomo, who is in his first year at Kamehameha -- he was previously at King Kekaulike -- said "I feel lucky, blessed."

"It wouldn't have happened without the boys working hard," he added.

The top 11 shooters for boys and girls -- with the top four spots held for the MIL team champions -- qualify for the Civilian Marksmanship Program Air Riflery State Championships at the Blaisdell Center on Oct. 25.

Looking ahead to the state tournament, Hufana said "it's definitely going to be intense training and then we're just going to have a lot of laughs and giggles up in there, too."

There, the senior said she hopes to go after a long-standing state record set by her aunt Vicci Yau, who shot a 557 in 2002 while attending Punahou.

"We'll have practice this week and just making sure we're all in the right headspace going into it," Ho-Ching said. "Positivity, integrity is huge and it plays a huge part in winning, not only in air riflery, but in life."

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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