The lead changed hands several times in the match until Seneca and her two teammates went on to win 224-223, securing first place in the girls 16-18 compound bow category at the Youth Archery World Championships.

“That was nerve-wracking for a while,” 17-year-old Seneca said of the one-point victory.

Winning first place was exciting, but the experience of traveling across the world to compete was a reward in itself. It took two days of travel before Seneca and her mother, Joan, arrived in Antalya. Moving through airports with large black cases holding compound bows and dozens of arrows was tiresome and sometimes amusing, Joan Francis said.

At one airport security checkpoint, the guards were far more concerned about the jar of peanut butter in Seneca’s bag than the potentially lethal weapons in the cases. During a layover in Germany, officials made them sign a form saying their “firearms weren’t loaded,” Seneca laughed.

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Best with a bow