Five Poplar Bluff athletes from two different sports had solid performances to open the AAU Junior Olympics this weekend in Detroit.
In swimming, Poplar Bluff Piranhas' Gavin Vaughn took home two sixth place finishes in the boys 13-14 division on Friday. Vaughn swam the 200-meter breaststroke in 3 minutes, 22 seconds then took sixth in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 1:21.19.
Jack Harrison touched the wall in 3:10.12 to finish eighth in the boys 15-18 division 200 breaststroke, while Kastin Caudel was 27th in the boys 13-14 200 freestyle race and 17th in the 200 breaststroke with times of 2:57.57 and 3:48.45, respectively.
In her fourth straight appearance at the Junior Olympics, Keona Sample finished seventh in the girls 11-12 division 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:42.34.
The Junior Olympic swimming events conclude today. Results from Saturday and Sunday were not available by press time and will be printed in Tuesday's edition of the DAR.
On the track, SEMO Cleats of Fire's Trenton Davis was the lone Poplar Bluff athlete to compete on Day 1 Saturday.
Davis took 12th in the 400 meter run with a time of 56.21 seconds, then finished 23rd in the 100 meter dash in 12.64 seconds.
In field events, Davis leaped 4 feet, 5 inches to take 28th in the high jump. He also threw 28-08.25 to place 16th in the boys 15-16 division shot put event.
Poplar Bluff's Wyatt Murphy and Logan Bell each competed at the United States Track and Field Junior Olympic Championships Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas.
Murphy took third in the men's 17-18 division decathlon after finishing in at least the top 20 in all 10 events, including a third-place finish in the high jump.
With a throw of 118-09, Bell, meanwhile, took 29th in the men's 17-18 division hammer throw.
Both Murphy and Bell will compete in the Junior Olympics, which runs through Wednesday, Aug. 5.