Robin Selley shot her way into the record books at The Vegas Shoot in Las Vegas, Nevada at the weekend.

The Bermuda High School student finished ninth out of 78 archers with a personal best and new national record score of 561 competing in the Recurve Female Young Adults division for the first time at the South Point Hotel & Casino last weekend.

“It was my first time in this age category [under-18] and I wasn’t really sure what to expect because people are older and more experienced,” Selley told The Royal Gazette.

“It was a really big competition and there were 78 people in my division.

“The girls in my target were really nice so it’s not too intimidating, but you definitely kind of get a pressure wanting to do well.

“I was hoping to try to come within the top 20 and so I am really happy that I accomplished that. I am really, really excited about it.

“Huge thank you to my coaches Ross and Trina Roberts because they’ve helped me a lot to get to where I am. They were really supportive about it the whole time so I am really grateful for that.”

The 15-year-old is also thrilled to have reaped the benefits from all the hard work she put in preparing for the competition.

“I trained as much as I could every week and was working on my diet and then doing some mental training online, which is also very helpful because that shows you how to prepare your mindset before a competition,” Selley added.

“Archery is a lot about the mental side of it, which I didn’t know going into it, but it’s crazy how much you have to tune into your mental side in order to do well.”

The promising athlete was honoured to represent Bermuda on the international stage.

“It is a very much an honour, especially with The Vegas Shoot,” Selley said.

“A lot of people are from the US so you get everyone saying ‘where is Bermuda?’ and it’s really cool to share our country with everyone and be able to hold our flag.”

Selley was among a group of five archers representing Bermuda at this year’s even, including Camerin Pickering, Jaydon Roberts, Bernard Wade and Robert O’Connor who all competed in the Flights Recurve division.

Pickering finished 30th with a score of 837, Roberts 57th with a score of 826, Wade 75th with a score of 816 and O’Connor 254th with a score of 685 among the field of 449 archers.

“This is the second year Bermuda has been able to send a team to The Las Vegas Shoot and we are pleased with the results achieved,” assistant coach Trina Roberts said.

“In 2023, we selected this event as one of our primary developing competitions, which benefits the first-time competitor to an International event to the elite.”