‘She just took off’: National archery champ from Bend High joining Texas A&M team this fall

(Update: adding video, comments from Avery and Todd Beauvais)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Avery Beauvais is a multi-time national champion archer, and is heading to one of the top archery schools in the country this fall. 

When Avery was 5 years old, her dad, Todd, got into archery hunting.

He let his two daughters try it, and they were pretty good.

A few years later, Avery competed in her first-ever national archery competition -- and won.

“I was like, 'Oh -- maybe I'm not so bad!'” Beauvais recalled with a laugh. “So that’s kind of where that was.”

Since then, she’s won a total of four field national championships, and five 3D national championships.

Her father touched on how humble she’s been since she’s started competing. 

“She just took off, won title after title after title,” Todd Beauvais said. “And she’s humble. I would probably say she won three or four titles before anyone at school even knew she won a title.”

This year, she won her first championship as an adult.

Avery explained the difference between competing as a kid and a grown-up. 

“Kids' divisions, there are only like 13 kids, whereas as an adult, there's like 70-80,” Beauvais said. “So where I was going to fall in that, I wasn't quite sure. So to go out there and win it this year was pretty great.”

She's been competing and training nearly every day for the past 10 years, perfecting her form and technique.

But to her father, he’s more proud of her character.  

“The titles are cool, the titles are great. It's helping her get to where she wants to go,” he said. “The most proud of her I am is the person she is.”

Avery was recruited by nearly half a dozen schools, but ultimately chose Texas A&M, which has one of the best archery programs in the country -- and Avery's ideal major, mechanical engineering.

Plus, it gives her a brand-new archery family.

“There’s not really that many kids that shoot locally, so being able to go shoot with a group of kids my age and being part of an actual team where you see that group of kids every day, I think will be exciting for me,” Beauvais said. 

Avery and Todd give a ton of credit to her coach, Tom Powell, who started coaching Avery when she was 7 years old.

Avery said the great thing about archery is there are so many people willing to help you succeed

You can keep up with Beauvais on her Facebook and Instagram pages.