WACO -- Bryan's Pashe Moore bought a picture of the photo finish in the Class 5A Region II girls' 100-meter hurdles final. For her, it was framed perfectly. There she was, in the middle of a trio of hurdlers.

It was a goal fulfilled, earning the Lady Vikings' four-year standout her first trip to the UIL state track meet. Moore won the silver medal in the 100 hurdles in a time of 14.95.

"I'm ready to go to Austin" an exuberant Moore said. "I'll see you in Austin."

Joining Moore in earning a trip to Austin was A&M Consolidated's Whitney Harris, who will make her third straight trip the state meet in the 400.

Moore's photo was a requirement as much as a keepsake. Moore fell behind Mesquite Horn's Olivia Amy, who appeared headed to for an easy victory after two hurdles. Through four, Moore was dead even with Plano East's Jamie Simanek. But the Bryan senior edged forward and closed the gap on Amy with a powerful finish.

"I started off high over the hurdles," Moore said. "I could see [Simanek] out of the corner of my eye, because she had white on, and I was just pushing. I tried to get lower to the hurdles, be much stronger and get faster over the hurdles."

She needed every edge. There was a .04-second gap between each of the first three runners. Amy ran 14.91, with Simanek at 14.99.

Moore also ran a leg on Bryan's 400-meter relay that finished seventh at 48.76.

Harris is making her fourth overall appearance at state after taking second in her own photo finish behind fast-closing Quinterra Charles of Spring Westfield in the 400.

Charles ran 55.22 to edge Harris at the tape. Harris ran a season-best 55.24, which matched her fourth-place time at the state meet in 2007. Her career best was 54.92 at the 5A-Region II meet last year.

Harris ran on Consol's fourth-place 1,600-meter relay as a freshman and was state silver medalist in her specialty race as a sophomore. Harris ran a steady 400 on Saturday, gradually pulling away from her competition before Charles came on strong in the home stretch.

"If I had done the 100 today, I would be tired out," Harris said after competing on a warm, humid day at Baylor's Hart-Patterson track. "I was too slow at the end. I'm ready for state. I'm not going to let anything let me down, like the hip flexor [injury] did last year."

While A&M Consolidated's Keri Wood ran near the front of the pack in the 1,600, she was in comeback mode. After her third-place 800 finish, Wood battled to a second-place 5:03.53 in the mile, assuring her second straight trip to state in the event.

The Woodlands' Sarah Andrews built a five-meter lead over Wood and slowly added to it to win in 4:58.89, but Wood's most important battle was against Andrews' teammate, Nevana Pilpovic-Wengler, for second. Wood ran the curve powerfully and muscled her way into the home stretch, refusing to relinquish a spot at state.

"I could hear the cheers for her and knew that all I had to do was just go," said Wood, who then quoted legendary Australian coach Percy Cerutty.

"Run hard, be strong, think big."

Bryan's Fono Vakalahi was the surprise leader in the discus after the preliminaries with his throw of 159 feet, 7 inches. But in the finals, Lufkin's Jamarucs McFarland bettered Vakalahi's throw twice, winning at 161-1. Casey Strong threw 160-0 for the silver medal on his second throw of the finals.

"I'm a junior so there is time to get better," Vakalahi said. "It was all right, I guess, within five inches. I really wanted to go [to state] especially for football recruiting."

A&M Consolidated's Sam Villacin and Kris Wulfson took fourth and fifth in the pole vault, with each clearing 11-0. Belton junior Morgan Toone, the District 13-5A champion, won the event at 12-0.

Bryan's Jaron Gentry, hampered by an injured ankle, jumped just 20-71/4 in the long jump. A healthier Gentry had leaped 23-21/2 at district. The Vikings' Robert Robinson cleared 12-6 in the pole vault.

A strong opening leg by C.J. Demouchette had Bryan contending for a medal in the 400 relay, but the baton fell to the track on the final handoff from Tre Odom to Monterrell Washington.

Consol's Sally Hays was ninth in the 1,600 at 5:23.21. The Tigers' Chris Florian ran the 1,600 in 4:34.90, and teammate Stephen Case ran 4:36.57.

• David Campbell's e-mail address is david.campbell@theeagle.com.