In the beginning, there was no place for Isabel Villanueva to practice.
There were no targets and no range. Just the parking lot at St. Francis School. Coach Delwin Dang provided the screwdrivers and wood. It took two weeks, but Villanueva, then a freshman, and her six teammates built their target stands (traps) from scratch.
Three years later, Villanueva is a state champion. Her 548 total led all girls on Tuesday at the Civilian Air Marksman/HHSAA Air Riflery State Championships held at Blaisdell Center.
Villanueva’s closest competitor was classmate Toni Silva, who piled up a 545-point total.
Kayla Hooker of Kailua (542), Danielle Tanabe of Pearl City (541) and Alexa Yoo of Hawaii Baptist (540) rounded out the top five.
Mid-Pacific (Meagan Nakamoto, Mara Ho, Jaylene Lum, Kaitlin DeMello) captured the girls team state title with a final score of 2,106. Pearl City (2,103), Waiakea (2,002), St. Anthony (1,964) and Maui (1,842) followed.
Darren Nirei of Hawaii Baptist took first place in the boys competition with a score of 540. Nirei, a senior, did not qualify for the state competition until this year. His best score as a junior was 510. He started in air riflery as a sophomore.
Nirei credited former Pac-Five teammate Nadia Hata, the 2013 girls state champion.
"One thing was to focus on myself, to stay committed to my shots and don’t think of other people during my shots," he said. "Last year was also my first year in precision riflery and that really helped me to get better. Breathing, mind over matter."
Dean Rodan of Punahou (535), Zachary Chang of Mid-Pacific (534), Dylan Vodzak of Punahou (530) and James Sison of Leilehua (530) rounded out the top five.
Punahou (Rodan, Vodzak, Ty Suthard, Ryan Ogasawara) won the boys team title with a score of 2,120. Mid-Pacific (2,103), Waiakea (2,028), Leilehua (2,001) and Molokai (1,989) followed.
The building of St. Francis’ dominance in girls air riflery came one shot at a time, hour after hour.
"I didn’t really know that I would be good. I wanted something to do on the side," Villanueva said of her first year in the sport.
After last year’s high placing, Villanueva felt some tension entering Tuesday’s competition.
"I felt a little nervous. I have a lot of expectations for myself. I knew what to do once I got in the line," she said.
Villanueva was fourth last year in the state meet. Silva was the runner-up. This fall, Silva was first in ILH competition and Villanueva was second. Then came the ILH championships, when Villanueva took the gold and Silva took the silver. Silva didn’t start shooting until her sophomore year. The two Saints acknowledged that they could’ve flip-flopped any day of competition.
The shooters have always liked their coach’s approach.
"We just keep the focus on fun," Villanueva said. "He said, ‘Academics come first before sports.’ We can shoot for a little bit and study after that," Villanueva said.
"It’s studying and we get to shoot guns," Silva added.
Dang was beyond happy for his top two shooters. Tears of joy spilled out as he talked about the girls. Villanueva has a genetic disease, linear scleroderma, which affects the skin and can also affect muscle and bone.
"For Isabel, she has pain every time she shoots," Dang said.
"It’s a big challenge. It’s a mind game," she said.
Doing the work as a team, which grew from seven to 27 members over the past three years, is key.
"To get to where they got, they had to overcome a lot of adversity," Dang said. "Sometimes, in the parking lot, there were kids walking by so they’d have to stop. We’re in Manoa, so there’s wind. You can’t complain about it, so they learned to just suck it up."
Those challenges developed a quick trigger for the Saints, and the habit continued indoors at the state meet.
"Slowing down doesn’t make them better. They’re used to the conditions (at St. Francis)," Dang said. "It’s about staying in their rhythm."
Dang also gave the two lots of leeway when it came to fundamentals. In the prone shooting position, Silva has a tendency to dangle her feet around as she shoots, completely relaxed. Villanueva shoots a bit differently, too, to alleviate the pain in her hand.
"I felt like as long as they shoot well, I’ll let them go," Dang said.
Villanueva and Silva are hoping to compete at the next level.
"I’ll take any scholarship," Villanueva said, mentioning Nevada and TCU as possibilities.
The boys champion, Nirei, also plans to apply to Nevada.
