Zoe, 16, of Hylton Castle, Sunderland, was ranked fourth last year in the British under-18s, but has now moved up to second. She also set a new national under-16 record, scoring an incredible 142 out of 144.

The Castle View School pupil now has her sights set on selection for the Great Britain junior team for the 2009 World Indoor Junior Championships, as well as the outdoor championsip in Poland.

Zoe is a member of the Cleadon Archers' Club and took up the sport when she was just eleven years old, switching from recurve to compound archery a couple of years ago.

This weekend she represented England against Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the UK Junior Championships at Lilleshall in Shropshire.

She was also invited to the BBC North East Sports Personality of the Year Awards ceremony.

Coach Peter Jones is upbeat about Zoe's chances and praised her self-discipline and ability to listen.

He said: "She bought her first compound bow two years ago and she was so shy and nervous that I thought she would never use it.

"Since then she's broken record, after record, after record. I can stand her in a blizzard and she would perform."

Zoe's dad Eric, 47, confessed: "I'm more excited than she is."