NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Royals competed at one of the track and field mecca's this weekend, The Armory, at the New Balance Collegiate Invite. The Armory has a history of hosting some track and field greatest meets, including the Millrose Games and the site of Olympic hopefuls.

The women- Emilia Skolubowicz (Myslowice, Poland, Myslowice), Taylor Blackwell (Beltsville, Md., High Point), Kimone Hewitt (Orange County, Calif., Segerstown), and Rosa Young (Spartanburg, South Carolina, Dorman High School)- did not waste their opportunities at the Armory Friday night kicking things off with a ninth place finish in the collegiate DMR. The Royals raced in at a time of 12:05.52 for a NCAA Division II Nationals provisional qualifying time.

On day two of competition the Royals competed in the women's collegiate mile and women's collegiate 800m. Young and Skolubowicz went out hard in the first 800m of the mile run which gave them great positioning for their race. Young ran a new PR of 5:08.02 for a 20th overall finish, while Skilubowicz ran a PR of 5:13.19 for 31^st place.

The 800-meter run belonged to Hewitt. Approaching the start line with confidence, she ran a strong and tactical race. Her competitive actions helped her take first place in the heat with a time of 2:15.43. Hewitt placed 14th overall, but most exciting of all she blew away the 2:16 provisional qualifying time for Division II Nationals.

The men's team- Felix Duchampt (Clermont Ferrand, France, Lycée Jeanne d'Arc ), Christopher Watson (Tampa, Fla., Wharton), Chris Enriquez (Downey, Calif., Warren), Anthony Mallory (Merced, Calif., Golden Valley Merced ) - made a commanding impression during their events starting off with the DMR as well. The men completing the race in a time of 10:28.8 for 13^th place improving their previous DMR race time last week at ETSU. However, they were not able to secure a provisional qualifying time for Division II Nationals.

Duchampt dominated the collegiate 5,000-meter men's race with a 14:25 final time outperforming athletes from Shippensburg, Xavier, Tennessee, Baylor and Iona. The time met provisional qualifying standards for the NCAA Division II Nationals event.

Mallory ran not only a strong race in the mile, but a smart one. His tactics demonstrated in the were just as impressive as his 4:10.7 time. Mallory finished 12^th in a field of 62 out racing competitors from Kansas, BYU, Duke and Shippensburg.