Warren Central sophomore Ava Jones shoots arrows during practice at Moss Middle School on Monday afternoon, Jan. 29, 2024, after setting a new world record in girls' U18 Barebow Recurve on Jan. 6 at USA Archery State Tournament in Owenton. (Grace Ramey/grace.ramey@bgdailynews.com)

Ava Jones is just 15 years old and already a world record holder.

Ask the Warren Central sophomore about it, though, and you get the impression the talented archer thinks it’s no big deal.

And really, for Jones it wasn’t – she can do even better than the world-record breaking performance she delivered on Jan. 6 during the USA Archery Kentucky State Indoor Championship.

Seems hard to fathom, considering Jones bettered the previous record – world, not state – by three points with a 528 out of a possible 600 in the U18 girls’ recurve barebow division. That record was previously held by an archer Jones greatly admires, Maggie Brensinger.

“It’s pretty cool,” Jones said. “The person who previously had it, she’s really good. She’s an amazing archer. She’s moved up so she can’t get it anymore, but it was really cool to be able to compete with her.”

Jones got the record in the 18-meter event, but she’s done better – really.

“I’ve shot that in practice before – I’ve beaten that, actually, in practice before,” Jones said. “But it only counts at the tournament and then you have to do a bunch of paperwork for it.”

Jones isn’t joking – this past weekend she posted an even better score at the 2024 Lancaster Archery Classic in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she reached the semifinals in the women’s division and by beating Italy’s Elisa Medico before falling to reigning world champion Lina Bjorklund of Sweden by just two points, 110-108.

“I think I shot a 541 this weekend, so it beat that record but it won’t count as a new record because of the way its set up,” Jones said. “You have to be at a certain shoot. You have to be through the USA stuff or the World Archery stuff for it to count.”

It’s been an amazing ascent in the sport for Jones, who is just starting her third year competing in archery. Taught by her father, Jeremy, Jones competes both for Warren Central’s NASP team alongside her younger brother, 13-year-old Alex, where she’s coached by Cheyanne Sullivan. In Scholastic 3D(Archery), Jones is coached by Shawn White. Dad Jeremy is always around to offer helps, while Jones’ mom Jen keeps her schedule and travel plans straight.

Jones credits her dad with much of her quick success in archery.

“He was starting to go elk hunting so he was practicing his pins bow, getting it all sited in and going to these shoots,” Jones said. “So he enjoyed it and started going more and more, so we would go with him and see him doing all that. So that’s how we kind of started to where we wanted to try it out.”

Jones had one word to account for her success – practice. That’s something she does every single day.

“I’ve got a good coach,” Jones said. My dad helps out a lot, but I don’t know – I’m a little steadier than a lot. Sometimes I’ll compete against older people and I’m a lot steadier than them sometimes, but I don’t know.”

The recurve barebow was supposed to be a one-time thing when Jones first tried it out. The competition required archers use a recurve bow with no sites and stabilizers to aid in hitting the target.

“You just aim off the end of the arrow,” Jones said.

With the Lancaster tournament wrapped up, Jones is looking forward to competing later this month in the ASA Premier 3D Pro/Am Archery event later this month in Foley, Ala.

“That’ll be a big one because I shoot against both men and women,” Jones said. “Usually most every archery thing is divided by gender and age, so I’ll compete against my age level. This one I’ll shoot against men and women, anyone from 19 and up because I moved up. I was winning all the youth. I was going to jump to the young adult class, but that wasn’t in so I jumped straight to the adult class.”

There’s also USA Archery Nationals coming up, giving Jones a chance to challenge her own world record.

“I’ll shoot Nationals and see if I can beat the record,” Jones said. “I probably will – hopefully – because I’ve been shooting better.”{&end}