In her first race for the Royals since winning the NCAA DII outdoor 10,000-meter national title, Tanya Zeferjahn (Hesperia, Calif., Hesperia High School) bested the women's 3,000- meter field at the Virginia Tech Invitational with a 9:22.95 US Indoor Championship qualifying mark. Zeferjahn pulled away from runner-up Kimberely Ruk of Clemson over the final 1,000-meters winning with an 8-second margin and setting a personal record for the distance by nearly a minute. Zeferjahn also posted a personal best splitting 5:00 through the mile.

Zeferjahn's time automatically qualifies her for the US Indoor Championships to be held in Albuquerque, NM two weeks before and at the same sight as the NCAA DII Indoor Championships.

Zeferjahn and the Royals will compete at East Tennessee State's Niswonger Invitational next week where she will run an off event before chasing the NCAA standard at the Umiversity of Washington in the 5,000-meters.