Ryli Vallière had an exciting winter. The 17-year-old CCH Crusader athlete competed at the Canada Games in Red Deer, AB in late February/early March – and she came away with a pair of medals around her neck.
Competing in the archery events at the Canada Games, which were held Feb. 15 to March 3, Valliere earned a bronze medal in the Individual Recurve event at Westerner Park while representing Team Ontario. She achieved the feat by defeating Jay Gegner (Regina, SK), 6-0, to earn the final spot on the podium.
Vallière impressed right away, posting the second-highest point total (1,053) over the two qualification rounds, trailing only Marie-Ève Gélinas (Trois-Rivières, QC) who was the eventual gold-medal winner in the event. Vallière then won her quarter-final match, 6-0, over Aliqa Mara Piers (Fredericton, N.B.). That set up a tough semi-final match against Adi Shapira (Kerrisdale, BC), which Vallière unfortunately lost, 6-0 (Shapira went on to win the silver medal). But a 6-0 win in the bronze medal match capped off a fantastic event for the Londoner.
Meanwhile, Vallière also competed in the Mixed Team Recurve event, where she won another bronze medal, alongside teammate Reece Wilson-Poyton (St. Catherines, ON). The pair placed second in the qualifying round and beat New Brunswick, 6-0, in the quarter-finals before losing 6-4 to Saskatchewan in the semis. A 6-4 win over Alberta earned Vallière and 19-year-old Wilson-Poyton the bronze medal.
Ryli Vallière is certainly a rising star in the archery world. How did she first start out? She says it began as a child after watching the movie Narnia.
“I would pick up sticks on my way home from school to make my own bow and arrows, and I practiced inside our home,” she says. “My mom promised to enroll me in archery lessons as long as I would stop shooting inside the house …”
Most recently prior to the 2019 Canada Games, Vallière placed 1st at last year’s Ontario Target Championships and Ontario 10 Ring Championships, and she won silver at the Canadian Indoor Championships.
By SportsXpress Team and photo by Lee Friesen
