Boys track and field: Permian's McDowell feels like he's saving his best for last

Ryan McDowell has never competed at the UIL Class 5A State Track and Field Championships, but he won't be your average first-timer in Austin either.

When the Permian High School senior lines up at 6:55 p.m. Saturday for his 110-meter hurdles race, there certainly will be a sense of fulfillment.

The allure of running against the state's best at the University of Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium seeped into McDowell's soul earlier this decade while watching older brother Jon McDowell finish third in the 110 hurdles for Permian during the 2002 and 2003 state meets.

"I'm excited about going down there because I do remember the atmosphere," Ryan McDowell said. "I remember watching him and going, ‘Wow.' Even being in elementary school, you just feel all the craziness around you and I'm really excited to get down there and feel that."

While the younger McDowell's ability and potential was never in question, his career didn't follow a routine path to this weekend's trip.

He didn't compete at the district meet as a sophomore because of injuries and then, after winning the district title as a junior, suffered a fall during the Region I-5A preliminaries.

McDowell's senior season also was hampered by an ankle injury much of the way, so his prospects weren't clear even after winning the District 2-5A title at Ratliff Stadium on April 17.

But with the UIL's mandated change of the Region I-5A meet to May 22-23 because of the North American flu, McDowell got extra time to get healthy and train at a higher rate.

"As frustrating as it was when all that was going on, it actually turned out to be a blessing for us because it allowed his ankle to get healthier and it gave us more time to work," Permian boys head coach Jeep Shanks said. "Fortunately, he stayed focused and took it in the right way, that the extra time was an opportunity to improve and not just wait and see if it ever was going to get here."

McDowell arrived in a big way for the regional meet in Lubbock.

Qualifying for the final was a big first step on the opening day, and he followed that up by running a career-best time of 14.12 seconds to take the regional title.

Any confidence issues that might have existed for McDowell were wiped out when he produced high-level performances against a top-notch field on consecutive days.

"It's shown during this week-and-a-half of workouts," Shanks said. "He's very focused and intent on what he's doing and (winning a state title is) a pretty big carrot dangling right in front of him."

To get a gold medal, McDowell knows he'll likely have to break the 14-second barrier for the first time in his career - which would be another sign of breaking into elite territory as a hurdler.

It isn't exactly the momentum of the regional victory that has McDowell excited, though.

"I know I ran OK," McDowell said, "but I think I can just do so much better than what I did and I know there's just so much more inside of me I can pull out. That's the main thing that has me hyped up. I just know I can go out there Saturday and do something really special."

For a race McDowell has anticipated so long, he can't wait to get it finished.