Air Riflery shoots for second season

The+team+practices+for+their+upcoming+postal+shoot+%28Wednesday%29+on+Monday%2C+August+24+in+the+air+riflery%2F+wrestling+room.

Photo by Quinn Williams

The team practices for their upcoming postal shoot (Wednesday) on Monday, August 24 in the air riflery/ wrestling room.

Air riflery is back for its second season at Kamehameha Maui with 20 shooters strong under the direction of Coach William Julian.

“I look forward to having meets at different schools because I like to challenge myself at the different terrains they have,” senior Megan Miguel said.

Miguel has been doing  air riflery since the team started and was nominated to be team captain along with senior Jonathon Alakai this year. Miguel says that despite it being a very “mental” game, she enjoys that the sport requires her to “relax and teaches more patience.”

The team of 11 boys and 9 girls were scheduled for their first postal last week, but due to official roster issues, they held their own practice postal on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

In a postal meet, all shooters shoot at their home ranges, and the scores are submitted to the Maui Interscholastic League by the each school’s coach. Once all scores are reported, the teams and shooters can be ranked for placement at the postal meet.

The team’s first official shoot is this Saturday, August 29 at 8 a.m. at Baldwin High School.

“I’m really excited to see my young ducklings shoot their first meet because I know that my first meet was pretty cool for me,” Miguel said.

Returning for his  second year of coaching at Kamehameha, Coach Julian hopes to send more of his shooters to the state championship at the end of this season.

“Last year we had 3 shooters go to state[s] and I’m hoping we [will] have more this year; Right now [it] looks like we’ll probably have more,” he said.

Coach Julian is keeping his eye on the girls team as “the girls team is stronger this year than last year.”