Raegan McAtee and the Poplar Bluff swim team knocked off the competitive rust Tuesday as the Mules swam in their first meet in three weeks.
McAtee missed a state qualifying time by half a second in the 100-yard butterfly, cutting 2 seconds off her previous season-best time in winning by 9 seconds at the Black River Coliseum Aquatic Center.
"She was booking, did really good," Poplar Bluff coach Beth Lewis-Muse said of the junior who qualified for state in the event last year.
McAtee, who finished in 1 minute, 2.62 seconds, looks to get a boost Saturday when she swims the race at the faster University of Missouri pool with some competition.
"It makes it easier when you have that extra push," Lewis-Muse said of having another swimmer to race to the wall.
The Mules won all but one race in beating Farmington 129-61 while Pocahontas (Ark.) scored 14 points.
Taylor Norwood and Paige Bradley joined McAtee with two individual wins while Jessica Rush won the 200 freestyle in front of teammate Audrey Cisne, who also placed second to Norwood in the backstroke.
The Mules also took the top two spots in all three relays.
"We come back from a long break it's real messy," Lewis-Muse said. "It's like a reverse of the fish out of water really."
Cisne, who led two relays to wins and cut time in both of her individual events, said the meet was good to have before bigger events later this week.
"It just gets you to where you know your times, you know where you should be," the sophomore said.
During the competitive break, the Mules spent two hours a day in the pool and another hour running and climbing stairs.
"Even though you're in here and we're swimming tons and tons of yards, it just feels different when you have to do it at a competitive rate," Lewis-Muse said.
Cisne, Norwood, McAtee and Bradley opened with a time of 2:04.15 to win the 200-medley relay while teammates Mackenzie Garret, Simone Anders, Megan Adams and Carly Wiseman followed, beating Farmington by 13.11 seconds.
Rush then won the 200 freestyle in 2:33.93, beating Cisne to the wall by 0.87 of a second. Cisne cut nearly 4 seconds off her previous-best time in the race and was also faster in the backstroke at 1:15.83.
Norwood was 1.75 seconds faster in the backstroke at 1:04.92 and won the 50 freestyle in 26.72. McAtee won the 500 freestyle in 6:21.29 while Rush was third.
Bradley won the 100 freestyle in 1:00.49 and took the breaststroke in 1:22.89.
Emryn Smith cut 3.64 seconds in her 200-individual medley, placing second in 3:07.47 behind Farmington's Taylor Tucker.
Cisne, Bradley, Megan Adams and Calli Barker won the 200-freestyle relay in 2:00.42 while Rush, Anders, Smith and Electra Destree followed 12 seconds later in second.
Wiseman, Rush, McAtee and Norwood won the 400-freestyle relay in 4:26.79 while Haven Phelps, Bethany Leighty, Barker and Garrett followed, beating Farmington by 10.89 seconds.
Adams had the fourth-fastest time in the 50 while Destree and Morghyn McCain each cut a little over 2 seconds in the race. Austynn Dover was nearly 8 seconds faster in the butterfly, Destree cut 4 seconds while Phelps had the fourth-fastest time after Wiseman's 1:26.12 in the race. Garrett had the third-fastest time in the backstroke at 1:23.94.
The Mules travel Thursday to Southeast Missouri State University for the Rec Relays while a handful of swimmers will make the trip Saturday to Columbia for the Mizzou Invitational. Cape Central, the defending conference champions, will be at the Black River Coliseum on Tuesday.