DENTON — Some track and field insiders call Region II-4A the toughest region in the state of Texas.

You probably won’t get any argument against that claim from returning state qualifiers Jessica Franklin of Greenville and Megan Frausto of Royse City. Both athletes experienced the peaks and valleys of competing in the Region II-4A meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 12 and 13, at Fouts Field.

Franklin wound up qualifying for state in the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles though she couldn’t get past the preliminaries in the long jump competition on Wednesday morning.

Frausto fought hard in the long jump for a qualifying spot, didn’t quite make it, bounced back with a strong performance in the 800-meter dash to advance to Austin and then ran out of energy in the 400, the event she won a Class 3A state title in during the 2007 season.

Both athletes dealt with some pain as Franklin cut her right hand when it hit her track spikes while jumping on Tuesday and Frausto’s shoes left her with blisters on both feet.

Lancaster’s Lady Tigers, who’ve won a record eight straight state championships, repeated as the Region II-4A girls team champions with 102 points.

The Lancaster Tigers, who’ve also claimed a couple of state boys titles, won the Region II-4A championship with 101 points.

Franklin, who made it into the triple jump as an alternate only to win with a leap of 40 feet 2 inches on Tuesday, couldn’t repeat that magic in the long jump on Wednesday.

Franklin, also an alternate in that event, got to compete when Highland Park pulled one of its regional qualifiers out of the long jump.

But Franklin couldn’t get her steps down and scratched on her first two attempts. Then while being careful to hit the board on the last try, Franklin jumped only 16-6 3/4 and didn’t make the finals. She finished 14th.

Frausto, who was seventh in the triple jump on Tuesday, put together two of the top long jumps in her four-year varsity career but finished fourth with her best effort of 19-1.

Frausto went 17-10 1/2, 18-9 3/4, 18-3 1/2, 19-1 and 19-3/4 on five of her jumps and scratched on the other attempt.

Tatiana Colbert of Frisco Wakeland won the event with a leap of 19-9 3/4. Highland Park’s Katherine Culwell, whose spot in the triple jump Franklin took on Tuesday as the alternate, earned the other state berth in the long jump by leaping a career-best 19-9 1/4.

The top five finishers in the girls long jump all topped 19 feet, which could be a first for Region II-4A.

Frausto gutted it out in the 800 to finish second to Shunterrical Lamb of Dallas Kimball with her time of 2 minutes 22.10 seconds. Frausto grabbed the lead off the final turn and put out maximum effort to try to hold off Lamb, who won with a 2:21.79.

Unfortunately for Frausto, her grueling schedule at regional, which also included a leg on the 4x200-meter relay in the preliminaries on Tuesday, left her with little energy for the 400. She wound up eighth with a 1:00.60 time after clocking a 58.71 in Tuesday’s preliminaries.

Franklin bounced back from her disappointing performance in the long jump to claim second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.76.

Franklin won a state qualifying berth by only .05 over third-place finisher Taije Jordan of Lancaster. Olivia Amy of Henderson won with a time of 14.57. Franklin broke her own school record in the preliminaries on Tuesday with a 14.73.

Royse City senior Skyler Strahm, a state qualifier in the Class 3A high jump, cleared 5-2 in the Region II-4A high jump to finish seventh. Strahm said she’s been dealing with a possible stress fracture in one of her feet.

Greenville sophomore Sha’Kia Whetstone threw the shot a personal-best 33-11 3/4 to place ninth. Waxahachie’s Brittanya Sterns, who ranks among the state leaders, won with a toss of 41-3 1/4.

Greenville sprinter Cobbie Johnson got a second chance in the 200-meter preliminaries on Wednesday because of a timing malfunction on Tuesday but his 22.65 time wasn’t fast enough to reach the finals.

Dario Jackson of McKinney won with a 21.34.

Johnson also missed out on qualifying for the 100 after clocking an 11.02 on Tuesday. Charles Silmon of Waco won that race on Wednesday with a 10.48.

Lancaster’s Lady Tigers, guided by former Greenville coach Beverly Humphrey, took the 4x100 relay (46.95) and were second to Dallas Samuell in the 4x200 (1:38.49) and second to Dallas Lincoln in the 4x400 (3:52.30).

Waxahachie took the boys 4x100 (41.35), while Texas High of Texarkana claimed the boys 4x200 (1:26.22) and Lancaster won the 4x400 (3:18.40).

The Tuesday-Wednesday schedule was a first for Region II-4A. It was moved back from its original date of May 1-2 because of concerns over the swine flu outbreak. The meet in the past has been held on Fridays and Saturdays.

The top two finishers in each event advanced to the state meet, which has been rescheduled for June 5-6 in Austin.