Slippery Rock resident Heather Stewart, who won two state archery championships earlier in the year, recently won a national title in the animal round during the National Field Archery Association Championships in Mechanicsburg.

SLIPPERY ROCK — Having competed in archery for 28 years, Heather Stewart had won championships before.

But never like this.

Stewart, 40, of Slippery Rock recently returned from the National Field Archery Association Championships in Mechanicsburg, where she shot perfect scores on consecutive days in the animal round to win a national title.

She also placed second nationally in the field and hunter divisions and wound up being named Pennsylvania State Archery Association Female Archer of the Year.

“I had won state titles in the intermediate youth division back in the day and won some adult state championships,” Stewart said. “This was the first year I've competed in pretty much everything.

“To have this kind of success? No, I never imagined it.”

Prior to nationals, Stewart won the PSAA indoor women's unlimited AA title in Harrisburg last April, breaking the state record in that division.

In June, she won the State Target championship in the female unlimited division in Mechanicsburg. She shattered the previous state record there by 30 points.

“Heather has put together an incredible season and I'm proud of her,” said Tom Kennedy, Stewart's father and a fellow archer. “She should be proud of herself.”

Because the nationals were in Pennsylvania this year, Stewart decided to compete. She had never shot the animal round before. That round consists of 28 different paper animal targets, a perfect score being 20 points per target.

Stewart shot a perfect 560 on the first day — yet trailed another competitor.

“Another woman also shot 560 and had 44 x's — shots inside the bullseye — to Heather's 41,” Kennedy said.

Stewart responded the next day by shooting another 560, becoming the first woman to ever shoot perfect rounds in consecutive days at nationals.

“I've always practiced a lot, but I started reading books on mental imagery and mental focus during practice,” she said. “I visualize shooting arrows now instead of just shooting them.

“That may not sound like much, but it's made a lot of difference for me.”

Stewart's 2018 season is basically over. She plans on competing in a tournament in Ohio in late November in preparation for a bigger indoor event in Lancaster in January.

“That Lancaster tournament will have more than 1,000 shooters,” Stewart said. “The Ohio event will be good practice for that. I want to stay sharp.”

Next year, she plans to compete in more national events.

“My confidence level has gone up with that mental training,” Stewart said. “It's helped me tremendously. I've shot for a long time, competed for a long time.

“I've just never had a year like this. I don't know ... It will be fun to see what's next.”