Adrianna Royal, a junior at Oak Harbor High School, has been invited to participate in the U.S. trials for the first ever Youth Olympics (16- and 17-year-olds) in Singapore Aug. 14-26.

The trials for track and field will be at the University of Texas at Arlington April 3.

Royal was invited to compete because of her excellent performances in the steeplechase at the regional and national Junior Olympic meets last summer. The qualifying standard for the 2K steeplechase is 7:45; Royal’s personal best is 7:35 at the regional last summer.

However, even if she wins her event at the U.S. trials, Royal is not guaranteed a spot for the Singapore Games. The Americas have been allotted two spots for the 2K steeplechase, so Royal’s time at the trials will have to be in the top two performances for all of North, Central and South America.

To prepare for the trials, she has been practicing at Western Washington University on their stationary barriers and is working hard with the high school track team in practice. Her main focus is to improve her hurdle technique and her technique stepping off of the water barrier. Her goal is to break 7:15 at the trials. When Royal ran her PR of 7:35 she had not practiced hurdling because she did not have access to hurdles or stationary barriers.

The Singapore Youth Olympics will feature 3,600 athletes from 205 nations in 26 sports.