A Lincoln track and field record that stood for 69 years was broken not once, not twice but three times Friday afternoon as  Eriq Royal (South Orange, NJ/Columbia High School) took home first place in the event at the Kehoe Twilight Meet in College Park, Maryland.
 
The meet, hosted by the University of Maryland served as a last-chance meet for the competitors to attempt to better their qualifying times or qualify for the upcoming IC4A championship meets or the NCAA Championship meet later this month.
 
Prior to Royal's record setting performance at Friday's meet the Lions' men's javelin record was held by Sherman Patterson, a three-sport athlete (football, basketball and track) while attending Lincoln.  Patterson had set the mark of 51.96 meters (170' 6") at the 1948 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championship meet.  Royal eclipsed that mark on his second throw of the competition, as his toss traveled 52.18 meters.   On his next two throws Royal, bettered the mark with tosses of 53.33 meters and 54.45 meters (178' 8") etching his name into the Lincoln record books.
 
Royal's throw was the best in the competition, giving him a first place finish and ten points for the team.  Teammate Solomon Potter (Lindenwold N.J./Timber Creek HS) also threw a personal best in the event with a toss of 42.18 meters (138' 5") to place second in the event.
 
Potter added a season best mark of 44.80 meters (146' 11") to place third in the discus throw, giving the Lions another six points.  The Lions final competitor in the field events, James Richardson (Jersey City, N.J./Raritan Valley Community College), placed second in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.95 meters (6' 4¾") to add eight points to the Lions' team total.
 
Lincoln's 32 points in the three field events they competed in were an integral part of the team's 63 total points, placing them third in the competition behind Division I host Maryland (136) and Hagerstown C.C. 65).  Seven colleges competed at the meet, including Division I Georgetown University, Villanova University and Coppin State University along with fellow CIAA school, Bowie State University.
 
On the track, senior Michael Brown (Norristown, Pa,/Norristown HS) won his heat in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.09 seconds, placing him second in the overall standings of the event.  Brown later anchored Lincoln's 4 x 100-meter relay team to a second place finish with a time of 43.30 seconds. Anthony Watkins (New Castle, Del/Neumann University) led off for the Lions and handed the baton to Royal who passed it cleanly to Rashad Robinson (Upper Marlboro, Md./Dr. Henry A. Wise HS) before Brown took the baton for the final 100 meters.  In his final event of the day, Brown took second in his 200-meter dash heat and was the top collegiate finisher in the event with a time of 21.88 seconds. 
 
Senior Marcus Kinard (York, PA/West York HS) rounded out the final scorers with five points in the 400-meter dash.  Kinard was the fourth collegiate finisher amongst a field of nine runners in two heats finishing off his season with a time of 52.24 seconds.
 
Brown and Richardson will be competing in next weekend's IC4A Championship meet at Princeton University.  Brown qualified in the 100 and 200 meter dash events while Richardson qualified in the high jump.