Girls track and field: Three Lady Panthers headed to Austin

LUBBOCK Permian High School's girls didn't exactly repeat themselves Saturday.

For the second consecutive year, however, the Lady Panthers qualified three entries to compete in the UIL State Track and Field Championships.

Seniors Porshia Fobbs and Shartanae Swearengin earned return trips with their efforts in the Region I-5A Championships at Texas Tech's Fuller Track Stadium. They will be joined this time by freshman Jamia Graham.

Fobbs won the 100-meter hurdles title for the first time while earning a return state trip in the event and Graham held off Swearengin by one-hundredth of a second for an exciting 1-2 finish in the 800.

Graham, nursing an injured hip, nosed out Swearengin after the Lady Panthers duo made a rousing kick to the 800's finish. Much like at the District 2-5A Championships last month in Odessa, they made a break for it around the 150-meter mark and left the rest of the field behind.

"When you get to 200 or 150 to go, that's when you have to kick it in because that's when it counts," said Graham, who finished in 2:17.62 while Swearengin came in at 2:17.63. "At first I didn't know who (Swearengin) was and I just kept running. I thought she beat me."

Both Lady Panthers runners were smiling at the finish line because they knew a trip to the state meet was in store regardless of the finish.

Swearengin later had to deal with a little disappointment, however, after she again fell one-hundredth of a second short in the race for a state berth.

The senior was third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.05, a strong finish unable to catch Amarillo High's Leslie White (44.04) for the runner-up finish. Swearengin was the defending regional champ in the 300 hurdles and finished second at the state meet as a junior.

"I hated it for just to be a millisecond," said Swearengin, who earlier in the day was seventh in the triple jump. "I started off pretty bad. I caught myself, it was already too late."

Swearengin now will simply have to concentrate on the 800, while Fobbs is heading to state for the second consecutive year in the 100 hurdles.

She went last year as the regional runner-up, but her personal-best time of 14.22 held off Abilene High's Amanda McGill (14.34).

"I'm glad I got the district championship and now the regional championship," Fobbs said. "I've wanted to be a regional champion since my freshman year. I was like, ‘One day, it'll finally happen,' and it did. It means a lot."

Fobbs later was fourth in the 300 hurdles and the 1,600 relay team of Bianka Cortez, Swearengin, Lakeisha Johnson and Graham finished sixth.

Put all together, the Lady Panthers scored 42 points and finished third in the team standings - one place better than a year ago.

Permian head coach Carl Chancellor had hoped to make a run at the regional team title, and a second-place finish certainly would have been attainable if a few more points had been gained where possible.

But with three athletes heading to the state meet, there was plenty of reason to celebrate - and plan.

"We've got two weeks to get better," Chancellor said. "I think all three of them are going to get better by the time we go to Austin. It's going to be on their time with some of the training, but they're going to stay focused and do what they need to do."