Girls hitting bullseye

Werribee Archery Club members Peyton Jaroz (14), Lily Helleren (12) and Sophie Helleren (14) have all recently won state and national titles. (Damjan Janevski) 362264_01

Four girls from Wyndham have been on target in national and state archery competitions this year.

Peyton Jaroz, Sophie Helleren, Lily Helleren and Amelie Lu are all members of the Werribee Archery Club and have all recently achieved results that place them among the best for their age groups in the country.

Despite having only competed for two years, 14 year old Peyton is ranked 6th in Australia for outdoor target archery and 3rd for indoor target archery and was recently selected for Archery Australia National Pathways Squad for 2023 and will represent Australia at 2023 Trans Tasman Championships (NZ/Aust).

Sisters Sophie and Lily Helleren have been competing for only a year, but both won the 2023 State Indoor Championships for their age, with 12 year old Lily also winning the 2023 National Indoor Championship and 14 year old Sophie ranked number in the nation for indoor archery in her age group.

Lu has been competing since 2016 and finished 3rd in the 2023 National Indoor Championships and won the 2023 State Indoor Championships, both while competing in the open division despite it being three years above her age group.

Werribee Archery Club President, Irene Norman, expressed pride at their achievements.

“In the short time that they’ve been shooting they’ve done remarkably well,” said Ms Norman, adding that getting girls into archery had been a focus of the club.

“It’s been a slow process but it’s looking pretty positive at the moment”.

Cade Lucas.