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Ava Irving-Staley ended up with three golds in the Rifle Shooting competition at the NAIG.

鈥淚t feels amazing. Out of this world.鈥�

She won the 3P 19U Female competition on Wednesday, scoring 771 points.

Then Thursday, she won the Prone 19U Female competition with 505 points.

To top off her outstanding NAIG, she was awarded the overall 19U Female gold with a combined 1,276 points.

Irving-Staley said she came close to matching the male shooters scores.

鈥淚鈥檓 just a bit behind the highest scoring male. So I鈥檓 really happy with the results.

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely something I wasn鈥檛 expecting. Just because I鈥檓 really new to the sport. I haven鈥檛 really had any experience with rifle shooting. I鈥檝e only really been to one other outside competition in Tabor, Alberta.

鈥淚鈥檓 still in the process of learning lots and just trying to get the most improvement I can.鈥�

Irving-Staley did have her challenges on the way to her overall title.

鈥淚 did end up cross-firing in the second round, which was really scary, because if you crossfire you can sometimes get a zero.

鈥淚 was positioned in Lane eight and for some reason, I thought I was in Lane nine. So when you鈥檙e looking at your gun, in your sights, you don鈥檛 always see the full picture. You鈥檙e just looking at your target. You鈥檙e really zooming in and you鈥檙e aiming for that one so it can be really easy to crossfire, especially if you鈥檙e in competition mode, just in the zone.鈥�

The day before, Irving-Staley had been in Lane 9.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 really paying attention when he was assigning lanes and afterwards I shot all my prone, which is 20 bullets and prone is the position where you can get a lot of points, because you鈥檙e laying down and have more stability.

鈥淪o I really thought I was done for. Luckily they counted half the points and because my groups were so good, it didn鈥檛 it end up affecting me that much.鈥�

Irving-Staley managed to make up for it with her standing and kneeling results.

鈥淚 managed to pull it together again and get back into the game.

鈥淚 really wasn鈥檛 expecting to get gold every time but yeah, it kind of feels like a dream.鈥�

Irving-Staley said she noticed a difference in her shooting at the games.

鈥淚 did notice a massive improvement. I would say this is so far the best I have ever shot.鈥�

She pointed to her background in biathlon as a key to her success.

She said she started in grade six. She鈥檚 been doing biathlon for six or seven years now.

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely helped a lot because it鈥檚 very similar in some ways.

鈥淕oing to the range twice a week for seven, eight, years it pays off right?

鈥淎ll my coaches, they鈥檝e been with me since I was really young, just starting out. And I鈥檓 really thankful and grateful that I had such knowledgeable people in the community helping me out like that. That really helps.鈥�

Two of those coaches are her parents, Trena Irving and Peter Staley.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e also been super-supportive over the years always driving me to practice, buying new equipment, buying the ammo, making sure I鈥檓 signed up and I have my PAL.

鈥淭hen they took over rifle shooting. They ran that and organized that. I don鈥檛 know if we would have had a team if it wasn鈥檛 for them. I鈥檓 really grateful that I had that opportunity as well.鈥�

She added she wanted to thank Rebecca Parnum, Nick Marnik, Ted Hupe and Tracy Hutton for their support with her biathlon training.

Irving-Staley also got help from an unexpected source at NAIG, Team B.C.鈥檚 coach, Curtis Smecher.

鈥淓ven though he has athletes competing with me, he still came over and gave me a lot of advice for free and just out of the kindness of his heart. That really touched my soul. I was like 鈥榃ow, this is really nice of you to be giving me all these tips on breathing technique, alignment,鈥� the stuff that I was able to put into practice and I definitely noticed an improvement in my shooting.鈥�

Irving-Staley also listed maintaining concentration as a big challenge.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to be relaxed. You can鈥檛 be too stressed out. And you can鈥檛 let cross firing or a bad shot or bad aiming affect you, you鈥檝e got to just move on to the next shot. And especially at higher stakes when you know you鈥檙e up for a medal.鈥�

As for memories of the games, Irving-Staley has those too.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really a supportive environment. Everyone is out to help each other. And everyone wants to socialize, have fun. I鈥檝e just been connecting with these amazing people. Making connections with people all across Canada, in America as well.

鈥淚鈥檝e made lots of friends and I鈥檓 really loving the supportive environment because not all sports are like that, and especially at higher levels.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really an amazing experience.鈥�

Irving Staley wants to pursue rifle shooting in the future, and possibly even coaching the sport.