Monday Morning MIL: Seabury Hall’s Yu, Maui High’s Arisumi win air riflery titles

Seabury Hall senior Brandon Yu was driven to get back to the Hawai’i Army National Guard/HHSAA air riflery state championships for the first time since he was a freshman, but he surprised himself Saturday. Maui High senior Dylan Arisumi is used to being there.

Both won Central Pacific Bank Maui Interscholastic League individual air riflery titles at Kamehameha Schools Maui.

It was Yu’s first win in four years of competing in the sport and it earned him a gold medal.

“Honestly, it’s an amazing experience, I never thought I would come this far at any point during my high school career,” Yu said. “And it’s just awesome to finally be here and win.”

Yu said he has been chasing the dream since his freshman year, the only season prior to Saturday that he did qualify for the state meet. He attended the event as an alternate last year and has been a consistent shooter this MIL season.

“I’ve been placing top 10, top 15, but I never expected to get this far, it was just a really good day,” Yu said. “I felt good, I was shooting good, and it all turned out really well. I’ve never been first before.”

Arisumi successfully defended her girls MIL individual crown and led the Sabers to state as team champions. In the overall individual rankings, Arisumi was tops with 533 points, while Yu was fourth with 518. Maui High’s Kaytin Bayez was second overall with 520 and Baldwin’s Rianna Ribucan was third with 519.

Last season, Arisumi was seventh at the state tournament, the best finish for the MIL in 2023. The league has never won a state title, individual or team, in the sport.

“I want to be shooting at least 550 if possible, but if not 545,” Arisumi said, adding that she could win a state title “possibly, but it depends on how I do in the finals round. I’m pretty excited and looking forward to my last competition.”

Arisumi plans to study accounting in college and the state meet will be her last shooting competition. Yu hopes to pursue the sport in college.

“When I went to states as a freshman, I pretty much placed last, so I definitely want to try to do better this year, maybe even medal,” Yu said. “In eighth grade I did a whole project on ballistics. I’ve always loved shooting, it’s been a big thing for me and my dad. I’m so excited to go back to states as an actual shooter.” 

The Sabers girls won the MIL team crown — each team counts their top four shooters — with 2,075 points. Maui High counted Arisumi, Bayez, Keona Comilang (515) and Caytlin Shim (507). 

Kamehameha Maui won the MIL boys team crown with 1,990 points — the scoring team was Chaysen Tanaka (512), Noa Fong (498), Luc Sheehan (497) and Keanu Tabaco (483).

Tanaka was second individually among the boys, while Maui High’s Jayse Miyagawa was third with 510 points.

Moloka’i athletic director Lee DeRouin has been the sport coordinator since 2015 and under his watch Kūlanihāko’i, Seabury Hall and Hana high schools have joined the ranks recently and the number of shooters has increased as well. Based on the Hawai’i High School Athletic Association formula to determine state berths, the MIL gets 12 boys and 13 girls to the state tournament — out of 60 on each side — and is second only to the O’ahu Interscholastic Association’s 22 boys and 22 girls.

A total of 58 girls and 55 boys competed at Saturday’s MIL championships, the culmination of the eight-meet season. The state tournament is Oct. 29 at the Neal Blaisdell Arena on O’ahu.

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FOOTBALL: Baldwin beats Maui High, championship game next vs. Lahainaluna

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Baldwin forced a championship game in MIL Division I football with a 41-0 win over Maui High on Friday at War Memorial Stadium. On Nov. 1 or 2, the Bears will play Lahainaluna for the MIL’s lone D-I berth to the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA state tournament — that game will be at either King Kekaulike or Kamehameha Maui.

The Bears are 6-2 overall and won the MIL D-I second round at 2-0. They have a bye this week before the MIL title game. Baldwin was 1-27 in the previous three seasons.

Baldwin junior defensive back BJ Gonsalves put the finishing touch on the win with a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:22 to play.  

Gonsalves dedicated the win and the pick six to his cousin Kyle Fukushima, who died 14 years ago in a car driven by a drunk driver, and his grandfather Richard Fukushima, who died in 2020.

“Felt good, they would have been proud, they’re watching me in heaven,” Gonsalves said. “They’re always by my side.”

Antone Sanches had three scoring passes — 14 yards to Ryan Coppa, 8 yards to Cooper Watkins and 14 yards to Noah Reuss.

Sanches also ran for a 4-yard score and Brock Toma also had a 17-yard scoring run. 

Toma, a senior, was 0-17 in his two varsity seasons player before this year. His father Daryl Toma died when Brock was 5 years old. 

“Man, it’s surreal, I hope we can win our next game and make it to the states and play good when we get there,” Toma said. “I run hard for my dad — he unfortunately passed away when I was young and I run for him. This was his favorite sport.”

This week’s Maui High at Lahainaluna game has been switched to Friday at Sue Cooley Stadium so it can be shown on OC-16 television — it was originally scheduled for Saturday. 

Kamehameha Maui can nail down the MIL Division II state berth when it hosts King Kekaulike on Friday night. If Na Ali’i win, they would force an MIL D-II title game for the state berth Nov. 1 or 2.

HJI’s “Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.