Samantha Abrahams, editor of the Cougar Claw newspaper, took second place at the UIL Academic regional competition in News Writing on Saturday, qualifying for the state meet to be held in Austin on April 21.

Abrahams, who is in her second year as editor of the school paper, finished second at district behind fellow newspaper staffer Emily Ashlock. Ashlock finished out of the top 3 at regionals.

News Writing is one of four UIL Academic events for journalism, along with Feature Writing, Editorial Writing and Headline Writing. Other UIL Academic events cover such skills as Mathematics, Science, Computer Science, Debate, Speech, Spelling and numerous others. Ashlock and Abrahams were the only ones to advance out of district for THS.