Three Brazos Valley competitors claimed four gold medals between them at Brenham's regional qualifiers meet Friday, a tuneup for regional meets that begin Monday.

The Brenham Cubs' Derek Edwards has committed to play college football at Texas Tech, but he showed he can be pretty spectacular without wearing pads. Edwards was at his best in the triple jump, going 48 feet, 2 1/2 inches. At the UIL Class 4A meet in that event in 2009, he went 48-8 1/4 to claim the silver medal.

Edwards' regional qualifiers mark stood out because he had cleared 6-6 in the high jump just moments before heading to the triple jump.

Navasota's Rodney Brown, looking like the favorite to win the 4A title in the discus, threw 191-7. The second-place throw was 164-7.

Rudder's Colton Jackson, who was second at the District 24-3A meet, won the pole vault by clearing 14 feet. That improved Jackson's district vault mark by a foot.

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Running fast in Dime Box: The girls 400-meter relay team from Dime Box has one of the top three Class A regional times heading into the Region IV meet at Sam Houston State's Bowers Stadium.

Sabrena Laday, Tori Moore, Shelbi Faris and Brianna Jackson make up that quartet, which has clocked a 50.60-second run. Moore is also among the fastest competitors set to run in the 100 at 12.87.

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Multi-event standouts: There is no pentathlon at the high school level, but occasionally athletes create their own version of it by being talented in a variety of events.

Franklin's Janie Neyland earned a trip to regionals with some varied skills. At the 20-2A meet, Neyland won the triple jump (33-6) and 100 hurdles (16.33) and ran a leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay, which ran 4:15.53. She was second in the high jump at 5-0 and in the 300 hurdles with a time of 57.89.

Kaylin Jones of Franklin has four events on her schedule at the Region II meet in Whitehouse. She's in the 800 and the pole vault and runs on two relay teams -- the 800- and 1,600-meter relays.

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Double feature: Blinn College's Spencer Stadium once hosted Class A and 3A regional track meets. When Blinn dropped what was one of the best junior college men's track programs in America, it began a decline that led to regional meets being placed elsewhere.

Blinn isn't even playing football at Spencer next fall, but dual meets -- with two classifications running at the same site -- are now thriving despite challenges added by UIL rules. The biggest was the addition of a third qualifier from each district, which adds an extra heat of preliminary competition in every race.

It has led to some well-organized scheduling at Sam Houston, where Class A Region IV and Class 4A Region III both compete, including some BV athletes. Preliminaries are run separately, with Class A beginning its running prelims in the early afternoon. Class 4A starts at 4 p.m.

Both classifications compete Tuesday in running finals, which builds in a little extra rest time for multi-event athletes. In almost every event, they run in the same order -- Class A girls, Class A boys, 4A girls, 4A boys. The girls run consecutively in the hurdles to avoid having to change heights and locations.

Humble's Turner Stadium beat Sam Houston to the two-for-one punch, with 3A Region III and 5A Region III competing there using an almost identical template. The Brazos Valley will be represented there, too.

With two meets at the same site, the 3,200-meter runners can run their race without being on the track during the heat of the day. At Sam Houston those races, in all classifications, begin at 7:30 p.m. In Humble, they start at 8:30.

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So you're telling me there's a chance: This is the first year the UIL will have "provisional" qualifiers for its state meet. A third-place finish in any regional event sets up a wild-card chance to advance to state.

The top two from each regional advance automatically. After that, the next-best time or mark over all regional competitions -- regardless of weather differences -- will earn a spot at the state meet in Austin.

Don't be surprised if you see coaches with athletes in the 100 meters (and other events) demanding that their sprinters run with the wind at their back.

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Pole vaulters, etc.: Bryan pole vaulter Mikey Piatt bypassed a regional qualifier meet to rest his injured hand and wrist, which nearly knocked him out of the 12-5A meet.

Although he didn't do it in a meet, Piatt was clearing 15-6 in practice. If he can match that at Waco's Hart-Patterson Track in regionals, he might have a shot at reaching state.

New Caney's Seth Arnold has the best regional vault at 16-3, with three other athletes, including Harker Heights' Regan Gilbert, clearing 15-6. Piatt finished third at district by clearing his only attempt at 13-6.

A&M Consolidated's Andrew Fletcher will be in the running to score points in the long jump but will have to improve his district mark of 22-6 1/2 to qualify for state.