Shelby County Today

November 4, 2019 — The Panola College Fillies and the Tyler Junior College Apaches have gotten quite familiar with each other lately, playing three times in the last 11 days.

Each team took a hard-fought 3-2 win on their home court, setting up the rubber-match Sunday.

However, there was a little more significance to this match.

It was for a bid to the NJCAA National Tournament.

The Fillies took the first set 25-20, only to see the Apaches bounce back to tie it with a 25-22 win. Panola took another 25-20 win in the third, then battled the home team point-for-point down the stretch for a 29-27 win and their fourth trip to the national tournament.

This will be the fourth time the Fillies have qualified for the national tournament, which is in Hutchinson, Kansas, Nov. 21-23.

Top-ranked Navarro College won the Region XIV Tournament on Saturday night, but the Fillies (29-7) got the other bid allotted to the conference.

The 18th-ranked Fillies were the third seed and beat Blinn College to open the tournament, then lost to TJC, 3-2. They beat Laredo 3-1 on Saturday, then beat Lee College 3-0 on Sunday to get its second shot at TJC.

"God is so good," said coach Nicole Thorn, who previously coached PC when it made its first trip to the national tournament in 2009. "We won this because we believed in us when no one else did. We knew we'd be here and win it and that's all that matters.

"This region is tough and every game is a battle and every game's a fight. It says a lot about the determination of our kids for them to win this."

The other two appearances at the national tournament were in 2016 and 2017.

Panola Watchman - J. Scott Russell

Stats from all five games combined listed below.

• Mikayla Ware: 93 kills, 7 blocks, 2 aces, 10 assists, 94 digs 
• Hannah Floyd: 2 aces, 4 assists, 95 digs
• Erin Perez: 5 aces, 5 assists, 69 digs
• Carol Melo: 6 kills, 3 digs
• Riley Seegers: 8 kills, 9 blocks, 4 aces
• Nina Hauff: 47 digs
• Mylena Testoni: 50 kills, 5 blocks, 10 digs
• McKenzie Dimery: 3 aces, 9 digs
• Maria Idjilov: 17 kills, 7 blocks, 6 aces, 217 assists, 36 digs
• Ashton Brown: 19 kills, 20 blocks
• April Brown: 13 kills, 2 blocks
• Nyah Walker: 60 kills, 15 blocks

Maria Idjilov received Setter of Year from Region XIV. Mikayla Ware received First Team All-Conference, Maria Idjilov received Second Team All-Conference & Hannah Floyd, Nyah Walker, and Mylena Testoni received Honorable Mention. 

The NJCAA National Tournament will take place in Hutchinson, Kansas on November 21-23. Go !

October 29, 2019 - The Panola Fillies Volleyball team tied for second with TVCC in conference play but finished third going into the Region XIV tournament due to their head-to-head loss to them earlier in the year.

The tournament is a psuedo double-elimination tournament with national bids going to the winner of the winner's and consolation brackets. The Fillies will take on the Blinn Buccaneers in the first round at 3:00 PM on Friday, November 1st at Wagstaff Gymnasium. Please come out and support the Fillies as they fight for a spot to the National Tournament! Click the following link for the Region XIV bracket which will be updated daily - 2019 NJCAA Region XIV Volleyball Championship Tournament page (Bracket at the bottom).

Go Fillies!

Panola College sophomores on the Fillies Volleyball team were honored Wednesday before the match against TJC. (Photo courtesy Kraig Cain Photography)

October 25, 2019 - Seven Fillies Volleyball sophomores were honored on Wednesday, October 23, in the Arthur Johnson Gymnasium at Panola College.

“We honor our seven sophomores and their families for the heart, dedication, and time they have devoted to Panola College and our volleyball team,” said Don Clinton, Athletic Director. As he introduced the sophomores, they walked out to center court, escorted by friends and family.

Manager, Mily Luna, from Joaquin, is a graduate from Joaquin High School. Luna has taken over the managerial aspects of our program and has done an amazing job. She consistently puts others before her and for that we are forever grateful. Luna currently has a 3.75 GPA and will graduate in the spring from Panola with an Associate degree in Mathematics. Luna is escorted by her parents, Rosa and Juan Luna.

The second sophomore is April Brown, a middle blocker from Tyler, graduate of Robert E. Lee High School and transfer from Texas Southern University. Brown has appeared in 29 matches this season and 64 sets, tallying 107 kills and contributing 1.67 kills/set with a .343 hitting efficiency. Her career high of 12 kills came this season against Lee College. Brown will graduate this spring with an Associate degree in Kinesiology and plans to play at the next level.  She is escorted by her God-parents, Christie and Stan Cook.

The third sophomore honored is McKenzie Dimery, an outside hitter/defensive specialist from College Station, and a graduate of A & M Consolidated High School. As a freshman, Dimery appeared in 31 matches, recorded 27 total kills and 76 total digs.  As a sophomore, she has appeared in 56 sets with a total of 82 digs, averaging 1.46 digs/set with her career high of 10 digs coming against Cedar Valley this year.  After her spring graduation from Panola College, Dimery plans to continue her playing career and education at a university where she will pursue a Kinesiology degree with hopes of becoming a physical therapist. She is escorted by her dad, Thirman Dimery.

The fourth sophomore quad-captain is Hannah Floyd, a libero/defensive specialist from League City and a graduate of Clear Springs High School. As a freshman, Floyd played in 32 matches and 85 sets, totaling 243 digs and averaging 2.86 digs/set.  In 2018, she had a career high 32 digs twice, with the first one coming against Polk State and the second one against Missouri-West Plains. In 2019, Floyd’s role has increased stepping into the Libero position playing in 31 matches, 104 sets with 396 total digs on the year. She leads the team with 40 total aces and is averaging 3.81 digs/set.  Floyd is majoring in business with dreams of owning her own company one day. She plans to continue her playing career and education at a university to be decided after graduation from Panola this December. She is escorted by her parents Rhonda and Chris Floyd and younger brother, Drew.

The fifth sophomore quad-captain is Masha Idjilov, a setter from the Republic of Moldova and a transfer from the College of Central Florida. Idjilov instantly made her presence known on the Fillies volleyball court, appearing in 31 matches and 104 sets. She helped anchor the Fillies’ offense, tallying 1084 total assists and averaging 10.42 assists/game while also picking up 82 digs, averaging 1.73 digs/set on the year. Her career high of 48 assists came in the 4-set win over Brookhaven last month. Idjilov is currently ranked 8th in the nation in assists/set and 3rd in the nation in total assists. Idjilov will graduate in the spring with an Associate in Liberal Arts and plans to finish her degree and playing career at a university after Panola.  She is escorted by her home away from home parents, Rhonda and Chris Floyd.

The sixth sophomore quad-captain is Riley Seegers, from Beckville, and a graduate of Beckville High School.  As a freshman, Seegers played in 24 matches and 48 sets contributing 45 kills with a hitting efficiency of .238 and 31 blocks on the year. As a sophomore, she has thrived in the role of being the heart and soul of the team as you can see in her effort and her play.  Seegers has played in 31 matches and 74 sets, contributing 75 kills, 40 digs and 51 total blocks on the year. After graduating from Panola in December, Seegers plans to continue her education at Texas State University and major in Respiratory Care. She is the proud daughter of the late Eric Seegers. She is escorted by her mom Jaime Seegers and her brother, Jesse Sipes.

The seventh sophomore is quad-captain Mikayla Ware. Ware is an outside hitter from San Antonio and graduate of Clark High School. Ware emerged as a prominent player for the Fillies mid-way through her freshman year, going from a reserved role to finishing the year 3rd on the team in total kills with 219. She also picked up 297 digs, 14 blocks, 21 aces and 21 assists and was named Honorable-Mention All-Conference for Region XIV. This year, she has been a consistent force on the outside for the Fillies, leading the team in total kills, kills per set, and points earned with 395, 3.80 and 442.5 respectively. Ware has notched 17 double-double performances in kills and digs this season, with her season-high of 21 kills and 11 digs coming against Blinn College. After spring graduation from PC, Ware plans to continue playing at a university while completing her education degree in Nursing. She is escorted by her mom, Tanya Aleman, grandparents Mary-Ellen and Jerry Rodriguez and her dad, Anthony Ware.

“We applaud this outstanding group of sophomores and the accomplishments they have achieved as a team as we wish them the best of luck the rest of this year and beyond,” Coach Thorn said.

October 23, 2019 - A life can change in 8 seconds. Ask Daylon Swearingen, Professional Bull Rider and a member of the Panola College Rodeo Team. Ranked #12 in the nation by the PBR, Daylon knows the value of hanging on for 8 seconds. But as a little boy, he lived through an event that changed his family forever. And that nightmare probably didn’t last even 8 seconds.

Look closely at Daylon’s gear. He wears a cross on his vest, and a ribbon logo with a hand-tooled leather cross over it on his chaps. That purple ribbon logo is the symbol for Domestic Violence Awareness. Daylon and his little brother Colton witnessed their mother Carrie experience a devastating injury in a domestic abuse crisis that changed their lives.

“I wear the symbol for Domestic Violence Awareness because of what happened to my mom,” Daylon says, “She now does testimonies to help other people. I travel so much, but I have a church program on my phone and when I’m in Carthage, I go with the team to the Still Waters Cowboy Church.”

Once she recovered from her injuries, Daylon’s mom bundled her boys into the truck, left North Carolina and moved to Piffard, New York. Change is hard. Starting over is hard, but sometimes it’s the only choice. Daylon’s mom and her boys needed a fresh start. Rodeo in New York? Piffard is far from New York City, and the town has become a mecca for rodeo in the Northeast.

Carrie settled in, found a man who loved rodeo as much as she did, remarried, and her new husband adopted the boys. “Sam Swearingen is our dad. He adopted us and he is our dad. He was a bronc rider and now he and my mom own our rodeo company called Rawhide Pro Rodeo. Colton and I know we are adopted, and Sam Swearingen is our dad,” he says.

Rodeo is in Daylon’s blood. His mom is a nurse and also a barrel racer and trick rider. She and Sam produce rodeos around the country using a portable arena or they contract with other rodeo venues. They also raise bulls and bucking horses. In the Northeast, the rodeos start in June and run through the end of September.

Rodeo is a family affair for the Swearingens. Daylon’s brother Colton is a calf roper and steer wrestler. He’s currently going to school and competing on a rodeo team at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant.

While Daylon can handle any rodeo event, he is first and foremost a bull rider. “I’ve always enjoyed being around bulls. When I was a kid, I started out riding on sheep and calves,” he said. He kept on riding and practicing and achieved success in high school rodeo.

“I won the high school national finals in bareback rodeo as a senior,” he said. “That was my first big success, but I’ve always been more passionate about bull riding. I was the youngest competitor to the RAM National Circuit Finals in Kissimmee, Florida. This year I’m making it to the NFR and PBR finals, and I’m the youngest to make it to both in the same year.”

Daylon is on the road so much traveling around the country to compete in rodeo events that he is grateful for the opportunity to take most of his Panola College classes online. “Panola really works with you to help you get your degree. This semester all my classes are online, and in the spring, I’ll have one face-to-face class. I’m on track to graduate in May 2020.”

How did a rodeo star from Piffard, New York, find his way to Panola College in East Texas? “I met Coach Jeff Collins at the high school finals,” Daylon said. “I liked his mentality, how he looks at life in general. Coach Collins won the world PRC bareback riding competition in 2000 – he’s done something I want to do. My mom and brother and I came down for a campus visit. When I realized Panola College offers a degree in land and ranch management, I knew this was where I needed to be.”

Daylon arrived back on the Panola College campus at 3 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 14, and was ready for his interview for this article at 10 a.m. He competes with his team in the Mt. Pleasant Community College Rodeo on Friday, Oct. 18, then he flies out to Nampa, Idaho, for a PBR bull riding event on Saturday, the last PBR event before the World Finals, scheduled for ATT Stadium in Las Vegas in November.

Rodeo is big not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia, so the World Finals draws a huge crowd of international fans.

Rodeo competition is based on a point system. For college students like Daylon who are on scholarship, it’s hard to balance the commitment to the college and making it to the pro events that offer winnings. Daylon said the PBR updated its rules to allow college rodeo team members to miss an event in the “Unleash the Beast” series. “There are only 10 rodeos in college, and I have to make every one count. Last year we won the National College Finals with a great team. I’m proud to be a part of that.”

Now in his second year at Panola College, Daylon says he has learned so much. “Last year, I put a lot of time in my school work. This year, it’s been more of a struggle. But I remember that my mom always preached to stay away from drugs and alcohol. It can lead you astray. I’ve seen that in traveling all over. I try to eat pretty healthy, especially when I’m on the road. If I have a 7 p.m. show that night, I eat at 12 noon, and don’t eat again until afterwards. I like to feel light.”

At 5’6” and 150 pounds, Daylon focuses his fitness routine more on flexibility and balance than weight-lifting. “My routine is similar to Crossfit. I do lots of reps but not with heavy weight. I work on my balance by standing on a yoga ball.”

Standing on a yoga ball…

Panola College has been good to Daylon in other ways. About a year ago he met another rodeo team member named McKenzie Bush, a barrel racer and breakaway roper from Center. “I met her at a meeting here at Panola, and we’ve been together for 11 months.”

Daylon prepares physically and mentally before each rodeo competition. “My mindset is ‘I’m going to go there and win. I’m going to try to do the best I can on whatever animal I draw’.”

And it’s the luck of the draw. Daylon says his hardest bull was Cochise, owned by Gene Owens. “You can’t really size them up by looking at them. I’ve been on the same bull three times, and he’s bucked me off every time. They are smart. Some are mean, but they are all wound up and they are trying to buck you off,” he said.

When Daylon completes his associate degree in land and ranch management, he plans to shift his focus to full time rodeo competition and building toward the future. “I would like to raise bucking bulls and own my own ranch one day,” he said.

Daylon has made significant money on the pro circuit but he covers his own equipment and travel expenses. Right now his sponsors include Wrangler, Total Feeds, and Rather P Chaps. For now, Daylon is focused on earning his associate degree, competing with the Panola College Rodeo Team in collegiate rodeos, and making it to as many pro events as he can.

“I’ve been blessed meeting everyone here at Panola College, and I’ve met so many great friends on the road. I’m already on the pro circuit so I’m doing now what I plan to continue doing next year. My goal is to stay on the bull for 8 seconds, every time,” he said.

Daylon has a vision, a dream, and a network of family, friends, the pro rodeo circuit, and his Panola College team to support him as he holds on for those 8 seconds, whether it’s a bull ride or surviving a life-changing event. He holds on…