Sister sharpshooters look to improve upon trophy take at Westmoreland Fair

Eric Pavlik and his wife, Kim, shared an interest in shooting sports and hunting when they met, so it was a natural development for their daughters to follow suit.

“I’ll bet Autumn was about four years old when she asked for her first bow,” her father said. She started with a child’s version that shot arrows tipped with suction cups before graduating to a beginner’s compound bow about four years later.

Summer shoots with her own compound bow, featuring cables and cams that make it easier to draw back the bow string. Autumn now prefers the greater challenge of shooting arrows with an Olympic recurve bow that lacks the assisting components.

Dedicated to their chosen sports, the sisters practice shooting with bows and guns at least two hours each day. While maintaining top grades at Greater Latrobe School District, they also show their pet dogs at the fair, create cross-stitch decorations and take care of daily chores at home, tending to the family’s chickens and goats.

Taking part in 4-H events during milder weather, the sisters keep their bowstring-pulling muscles in shape at indoor winter events sanctioned through the Junior Olympic Archery Development program.

In April, they traveled to Harrisburg to enter that program’s state archery competition. Summer finished second in her age division, but then defeated the more-experienced girl she’d lost to in an informal shoot-off among the four top scorers.

In just a year’s time competing in the Junior Olympic program, Summer has collected more than a half dozen differently colored pins, each signifying progression to a higher skill level in archery. Her next goal is to trade her yellow pin in for a bronze one, just two steps below the top gold pin.

Autumn, a sophomore, is interested in pursuing cosmetology training offered at the Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center. But after school lets out, she’s equally focused on improving her shooting skills.

In archery, she said, “I’d also like to get to bronze because I’ve been practicing for two years straight without putting my bow down. I want to make sure that pays off.”

As they become more able in archery, the sisters hope to step up to national amateur competitions — first the Lancaster Archery Classic, held early each year, and eventually, the World Archery event in Las Vegas, which usually is held in February and is televised.