Andrea Paulk kept waiting.

Waiting to hear her name called. Waiting to take her place atop the medal stand. Waiting to receive her prize.

But then Paulk, a senior from Buena Vista, saw three other girls from the 800-meter run come to the Region I-1A Championships medal stand at the South Plains College track in Levelland on Tuesday.

One by one, the PA announcer called the names.

In third place, Shelby Greenwalt, Shamrock. In second place, Sundown's Mackenzie Hodge. And in first place, in a time of 2 minutes, 27.19 seconds, Amber Thornberry, from Sunray.

Paulk had beaten all three girls after a perfectly executed race, a race she had won in approximately 2:25.7.

Something was wrong.

"I was overwhelmed," Paulk said. "Nobody had told me anything. I just stood there, looking around for my coach, wondering what was going on."

Nobody had taken the time to tell Paulk that she'd been disqualified.

Shortly after Paulk - who led most of the race - and the rest of the field passed the break line at the beginning of the backstretch, Hodge, the runner from Sundown, tried to make a move on Paulk to the inside.

Paulk was already in lane 1.

"Somebody screamed behind me," Paulk said. "My momentum had carried me to the inside of the lane, and I stumbled. I felt somebody stumble behind me."

Hodge fell.

Region I-1A Championships officials ruled that Paulk had impeded Hodge's progress and disqualified the Buena Vista runner, who would have joined Danyell Dillard at state as the first Lady Longhorns to reach Austin in as long as anybody can remember.

Dillard took second place in the shot put on Monday.

Buena Vista track and field coach Jess Roberts couldn't believe the ruling.

"We had video of the race, and I didn't see anything," Roberts said. "She doesn't have to yield right of way to somebody on the inside."

Roberts appealed the disqualification. Submitted a written inquiry. UIL officials upheld the ruling.

Coming into the race, Paulk had the fourth-best qualifying time in the field. She led from wire to wire.

By the time she crossed the finish line, Paulk was completely spent.

"She ran the perfect race," Roberts said. "It was beautiful."

Paulk had another chance to run. Not too long after the 800 finished, Paulk competed in the 400-meter final.

By that time she didn't have anything left in the tank.

"For her to get mentally prepared to run the quarter, this demoralized her," Roberts said.

Talking about the race still brings tears to Paulk's eyes.

It was her last chance.

Running at the regional meet last year, Paulk made the turn for home side-by-side in second place. Ready to make her final push, Paulk caught the brunt of an elbow and some track spikes.

She finished fourth.

"I never stopped training after last year," Paulk said. "I ran all summer, ran during cross country, and I couldn't play basketball, so I just kept running until track."

Training that hard requires plenty of determination for anybody.

For Paulk, though, every step requires an extra dose of guts. Paulk suffers from fibromyalgia, a condition that causes muscle and joint pain throughout the entire day, increased sensitivity to pain and intense fatigue.

With the help of former Longhorns coach Robert Ridgley and Roberts, Paulk had learned to train harder than everybody else.

She wanted to make it to state. For a little while, she thought she had.

Coaches from Sanderson and Rankin told Paulk she should have been awarded first place. Roberts kept fighting. Ridgley, an assistant coach, comforted the senior.

"I ran the best race I possibly could," Paulk said. "I beat them all, fair and square."

But she won't be going to Austin.