Three Werribee archers came back with some extra luggage from the Youth National Championships Archery, after a successful event.
More than 130 of the best archers from across the country headed to Canberra for the event.
Werribee’s Lily and Sophie Helleren, and Peyton Jarosz were part of the Victorian team.
Lily won gold in the under-14 female compound for field, silver in the indoor and bronze medal in the 720 and finished fourth for the 900 round.
Sophie won silver in the under-16 female compound bow type for field and had two fourth places and one fifth place.
Peyton won silver in the under-16 Olympic recurve bow type for field and a bronze medal for the 720 rounds under-16, Olympic recurve bow type.
Sophie said the nationals were a great experience were she could meet new people. She started archery after going to birthday parties and enjoying it.
“I have been shooting for two years at Werribee Archery Club,” she said. “For me I thought that I did great. I came away with a sliver which was amazing.
“My expectations going in was to come away with a great experience and to have fun.
Lily said she had a lot of fun at the six day event. She said she was really happy with how she went.
“I was so excited to be able to shoot and compete for Victoria alongside people from other states and territories,” she said.
“Going into this I expected to get at least one medal and to shoot well for our state team.
“I have been shooting for two years now but only started to do competitions last year I have held state and national records over the last 12 months.
Peyton said while she didn’t shoot her best, she shot fairly well.
“I was very happy to be walking home with medals because it was tough competition and mentally, I was struggling so it was a big achievement for me to walk away with medals,” she said.
“My expectations heading into the event were placing a couple of times, getting a PB and catching up with all my other friends from all over Australia.”
Peyton has been doing the sport since 2021 and has been competing since then winning both state and national titles and was last year selected to be part of the national pathways squad.
All three are aiming to compete in the indoor national titles June, while their long term goals are to represent Australia in Trans Tasman Championships in New Zealand next year.
