Caledon has a bronze — Local archers compete at Ontario Summer Games

August 22, 2014 · 0 Comments

This year, the Ontario Summer Games (OSG) were held in Windsor from Aug. 7 to 10.
Caledon sent two archers to the Games — Hayley Maskell, 15, and Lyla Stevens Woo, 16, and Maskell came home with a bronze medal.
The girls were members of the Central Zone Archery Team, which was comprised of both male and female athletes ranging in age from 14 to 20. The team included both recurve and compound archers. The Central Zone encompasses several regions such as Simcoe, Dufferin, Peel, Toronto, Niagara and Waterloo.
The tournament format for the Summer Games was a two-day competition, shooting 90 arrows each day over three distances — 55, 45 and 35 metres. At the end of the second day, Maskell won the bronze medal, just three points behind the silver medallist. Woo battled fierce competition and extreme heat to score a personal best both days of the competition. She intends to continuing her training and to attend the next Summer Games in 2016 as a medal contender.
The Central Zone Team as a whole won seven medals: four gold, one silver and two bronze.
Maskell first became interested in archery after trying it at summer camp. She took lessons at the Archers of Caledon club and then began training with Coach Richard Towler who was Team Canada’s manager and assistant coach for the London Olympics in 2012. She began competing in 2013 in both indoor and outdoor tournaments at the local, provincial, national and international levels.
She won her first gold medal while in Grade 8 at the St. Michael’s Father Mulcahy Memorial Tournament, beating her closest competitor by 200 points. Over the next five tournaments she competed in, she won a gold, silver and bronze medal and placed fourth twice. This past indoor season, Maskell competed in the Canada Winter Games Trials, finishing fourth, and she won a silver medal as a member of a senior women’s team at the Multi-Site Indoor Championships of the Americas.
Maskell also competed as a member of the Humberview Secondary School archery team and won the silver medal at ROPSSAA and the sixth place medal at the Ontario High School Archery Invitational Tournament. She was chosen as the team MVP.
Woo has been interested in archery since she was very little and began shooting about a year and a half ago at the Archers of Caledon. She took the beginner classes and then met Maskell through the Humberview archery team. They often train together at school and their club. The practice paid off as Woo placed seventh at ROPSSAA and 20th at the Ontario High School tournament. This summer, she began shooting outdoors and competing at outdoor tournaments.
The Central Zone Team would like to thank the Ontario Archery Association for their support and coordination, as well as their sponsors, including the Ontario Centre for Classical Sports (Mississauga), Warthog Archery Targets (Orangeville), Dufferin Northern Peel Anglers’ and Hunters’ Association (Orangeville), Digital Vision Security (Orangeville), Embroid Me Brampton, CALSARCH Archery (Caledon) and the Archers of Caledon.
These games brought together more than 2,500 athletes who competed in 20 sports at multiple venues as well as hundreds of coaches, managers, and officials who were supported by over a thousand volunteers.
OSG began in 1970 as a showcase for amateur sport. The Games have now become Ontario’s largest multi-sport event, including both team and individual sports, and they are a stepping stone for these young athletes to many national and international competitions.