HUMBLE -- Rodney Brown marched into the Class 3A Region III track and field meet as the top-ranked discus thrower in the state, but the Navasota junior tip-toed into the finals in seventh place.

Didn't matter. Brown is still making the trip to Austin for the state meet, finishing strong to win his specialty after claiming gold in the shot put earlier Monday at Turner Stadium.

Brown's twin titles highlighted efforts by Brazos Valley athletes on the opening day of the regional championships. Two other area field performers qualified for the UIL championships, with Rockdale's LeRaven Clark taking second in the discus and Dave Brown of Cameron leaping to silver in the triple jump.

The regional meet will conclude Tuesday with four more field events in the morning and running finals set to begin at 1 p.m. The top two finishers in each event earn automatic berths in the state meet, with the top third-place mark from all four regions getting the final spot.

Rodney Brown arrived at Turner Stadium with a career best discus throw of 198 feet, 7 1/2 inches that was the best in the state this year, regardless of classification. His second warm-up throw sailed far enough past the others in his heat that it sent a member of the crew scurrying out of the way.

However, Brown was called for a scratch he didn't understand when he unleashed a big throw on his first qualifying attempt. He threw 136-8 on his second attempt and scratched on his third, going into the finals in seventh place, more than 20 feet behind Clark's leading 158-2.

"The pressure was on a little bit," Brown said. "Being [ranked] No. 1, there are a lot of people looking at you and expecting you to throw 190 or 200. I was thinking that I had to get one out there. I wasn't throwing well."

Brown moved into second place by throwing 156-10 on his first chance in the finals, then took the lead with a toss of 166. His winning mark of 171-5 came on his final attempt.

"I'm disappointed that I didn't throw my personal best, but I'm happy that I made state and get another shot to do it," Brown said.

Clark improved to 158-10 on his fifth throw, then had to sweat out a last attempt by Tatum's Trance Johnson, who was third at 156-6. Johnson scratched on his final throw and Clark, a junior like Rodney Brown, was headed for state.

"It feels great," Clark said. "I didn't think that would stand up. It was a big relief when I knew I had made it."

Cameron's Dave Brown survived the closest call among Monday's state qualifiers. He fouled on his first two attempts and was in danger of missing the finals, but he put together an effort of 47-0 3/4 on his third try. That was more than 4 feet behind regional champion Mark Jackson of Taylor, but also was 1 1/2 feet better than Dominique Wheeler of Crockett, who took bronze at 45-6 1/2.

A couple of BV athletes just missed automatic bids to state by finishing third. Rudder's Colton Jackson cleared 14 feet to match his personal best in the pole vault. Vantazia Jackson of Caldwell went 36-8 3/4 in the girls triple jump.

Rudder junior Jackson was bidding to qualify for state in his second sport, having already earned a berth in bull riding. He came close on his final attempt at 14-6.

"I'm not hanging my head as long as I'm doing what God's called me to do, minister to people through the pole vault," Jackson said. "I went over a little crooked [on his last try] and hit the bar with my forehead. If I would have went straight like I was supposed to, I would have got it."

Area athletes who placed fourth Monday were Rudder's Alvin Moore in the high jump (6-4), Rockdale's Brittany Frei in the high jump (5-0) and Cameron's Alisia Pena in the 3,200 meters (12 minutes, 6.46 seconds). Moore matched his personal best and was close on his last two attempts at 6-6.

Rudder's Lamaria Cole struggled to cope with a meet schedule that forced her to compete in different events that both began at 8:30 a.m. Cole and two other girls were carted from the high jump at the north end of the stadium to the triple jump outside the south end. The Lady Rangers sophomore finished fifth in the triple jump at 36-7 and was ninth in the high jump after clearing 5 feet, which was 4 inches lower than her winning effort at the District 24-3A meet.

The top three finishers in the high jump cleared 5-2, and none of them competed in the triple jump. Cole said she didn't consider pulling out of either event because she wanted to make state in both.

"It weakened my knees going back and forth," Cole said. "I couldn't really jump like I wanted to, but I tried."

Maeson Mondrick of Cameron led the area athletes in the running preliminaries. The sophomore posted the fastest qualifying time in the 100 meters at 12.19. Another Cameron runner qualified second, with Martha Bustamante posting a time of 2:29.05 in the 800.

Rockdale's Daniel Brooks put himself into position to compete for a couple of state bids. Brooks qualified second in the 110 hurdles (14.67) and third in the 300 hurdles (40.02).

Caldwell's Vantazia Jackson will have two more good shots at making state. She qualified third in the 100 meters (12.57) and in the 200 (25.87).

Mike Jones of Rudder had the fourth best time in the boys 200 with a 22.24.