FLORRISANT, Mo. -- Jaden Deaton led Poplar Bluff boys cross country with a sixth-place finish in the Paul Enke/Hazelwood Central XC Invitational Saturday. Deaton ran a time of 17 minutes, 53 seconds to earn his spot, averaging 5:46 per mile.
Dylan Cisne was the next Poplar Bluff participant to finish, placing 33rd at 19:15.1 to round out Poplar Bluff's top-100 finishes. Johnathon Thurmon placed 102nd, clocking 21:42.6.
The Poplar Bluff girls finished 15th in the team rankings. Katelyn Moeller paced the team with a time of 23:30.6, which was good for 34th. Salah McCormack timed 24:39.3 to earn 56th, while Paige Bradley finished up the list of Lady Mules in the top 100 with a time of 26:10.2. Ava Smith and Alexis Richardson finished two seconds apart with times of 28:03.3 and 28:05.2, respectively.
Cape Central
Invitational
Dexter girls cross country earned a second-place finish in the Cape Central Invitational Saturday. Margo Nea represented the Bearcats with a first-place finish, clocking a time of 21 minutes, 33.84 seconds, which was good for nearly a 43-second margin of victory. Grace Milam earned the second-highest Dexter finish, turning in a time of 25:14.93 to finish 17th. Fuyu Fujii and Gabrielle Brown capped the top-25 finishes for Dexter with times of 26:42.12 and 26:50.89. Alanie Lacey earned a time of 27:31.42 to with 26th, while Jaycee Chappell turned in a time of 29:52.05. Hannah Smith placed 37th with a 31:42.23 performance.
On the boys' side, Carter Dorton paced Dexter's runners with a time of 19:09.89, good for 17th. Gavin Cartwright completed the event in 20:13.36 for a 39th-place finish, while Andrew Ellinghouse wasn't far behind in 43rd with 20:24.99. Wyatt Parker and Miller McLaughlin finished just under three seconds apart at 22:28.76 and 22:31.54, respectively. Gabe McGhee clocked a time of 22:59.78 for the Bearcats, while Gage Coleman turned in a 24:20.51 performance.
Nick Carter represented the Bloomfield boys with a time of 19:34.97, which earned him a spot in the top 30.
Carter Mayfield's 19:11.00 finish earned him a top-20 finish for Woodland boys cross country. Timmothy Sloan clocked in at 19:47.50 to finish 33rd. Wyatt Rouggly placed 55th with a time of 21:16. 13.
For the girls, Brianna Arnzen placed 35th in the event, recording a tiem of 31:16.82.
Friday's games
SOFTBALL
Poplar Bluff managed four hits, but couldn't drive across any runs in its loss to Ozark. The Lady Mules found themselves in a defensive struggle for six innings, trailing just 1-0 entering the seventh. Then, the bats came alive for Ozark, and back-to-back home runs put the game out of reach at 5-0.
In its second game of the day, Poplar Bluff held a nine-to-eight advantage in hits, but came up just short again. Grain Valley jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead by the second inning, but the Lady Mules showed fight and kept battling. They scored three runs in the second inning before Grain Valley added its sixth in the fourth, which would prove to be the winner. Audrey Lack led the Lady Mules with a pair of hits and a run scored in a 6-5 loss.
Poplar Bluff dropped its second consecutive one-run game of the day. In the seventh inning with the game tied at 1, a sacrifice fly from Monett drove in the eventual winning run. Lexi Nippe led Poplar Bluff as the only player with multiple hits, tallying two as the Lady Mules dropped the final outing of their day, 2-1.
East Carter 10, Van Buren 1
A solid all-around day for East Carter led to an easy win over Van Buren. Makenna Moore pitched a complete game and struck out 10, while allowing just four hits. Jordan Moore led the Redbirds with three hits and two runs scored on the day. Kennedy Thies tallied a pair of RBIs.
BASEBALL
Bernie 6, Campbell 1
Bernie faced a one-run deficit entering the sixth inning. Three runs in each of the final two innings quickly erased that and then some. John Nimmo led the Mules with three hits on the day, while he tied Landon Zoll and Jaden McGowen for the team lead in RBIs at two. Wyatt Barnett went the whole way on the mound, striking out four and giving up one earned run.
Woodland 15, Bloomfield 5, 6 inn
Woodland scored four runs in three different innings to power past Bloomfield in a five-inning game. Blake Matheny paced the Cardinals with four runs scored, while Cecil Abernathy kept the trend going with four RBIs. Abernathy also led the team with a trio of hits, including a triple and a double.
Naylor 11, Puxico 1, 5 inn
A combined eight runs in the first two innings allowed Naylor to make easy work of Puxico Friday. Eli Roark and Chase Sarabia each led the Eagles with three hits, while Roark filled the stat sheet by tallying a pair of RBIs and drawing two walks. Seth Jones batted in three runs to lead the way for Naylor. Jones was just as good on the mound, allowing one earned run and striking out three in four innings of work.
Saturday's games
FALL SOFTBALL
Poplar Bluff earned its first victory of the weekend over Hillsboro Saturday. The Lady Mules trailed Hillsboro 3-1 entering the bottom of the seventh but rallied with five singles to win the game. Savannah Hicks earned the game-winning RBI with a walk-off single to shortstop that allowed Lexi Nippe to cross the plate and put the finishing touches on the 4-3 comeback win. Hicks tied with Abby Gregory for the team lead with two hits.
Poplar Bluff couldn't sustain that same momentum in its next game against Troy. The Lady Mules quickly found themselves in a hole after Troy scored six runs in the second inning and another six in the fourth for a 12-1 lead just over halfway through the game. Poplar Bluff put up four runs in the fifth to briefly prolong the game, but Troy stamped and sealed the deal with three more runs to ice the game in the sixth inning for a 15-5 win. Gregory and Audrey Lack led the Lady Mules with two hits apiece in the game.
Neelyville 10, Salem 1
Neelyville used six runs in the sixth inning to lock up its first of three Saturday wins. Emily Dollins, Paige Earls and Payton Reinbott all connected on doubles for the Lady Tigers in the win. Neelyville totaled 13 team hits, and Reinbott struck out a dozen in six innings of work.
VOLLEYBALL
Poplar Bluff (7-4) went 3-2 at the West Plains Showdown on Saturday. The Mules beat West Plains (27-25, 25-12), Willow Springs (26-24, 25-14) and School of the Ozarks (25-23, 25-22) and lost to Mountain View-Liberty (25-17, 25-22) and Rolla (25-22, 25-7). Khelie Spence had 26 kills in the Showdown while Haley Slaugher and Kiley Bess both had 25 and Sophie Rowland added 13.
Sierra Sievers led the team with five aces while Rowland and Slaughter both had three. Ady Kingree finished with 51 assists and Zoe Savat got 34. Spence also led Poplar Bluff with eight blocks while Sievers ahd six and Bess got four.
TENNIS
Poplar Bluff 7, Arcadia Valley 2
Poplar Bluff's No. 1 player Sara Holland couldn't compete in her singles match after getting sick, but instead of having to forfeit, Arcadia Valley agreed to let the Mules make substitutions. Four of Poplar Bluff five singles players moved up a spot in the rankings and three picked up a win.
Annaleese Williams, the only person not to move up a spot, won 8-0 at No. 5 singles while Clarissa Varner won 8-2 at No. 2 singles. Both Megan Murphy and Sine Anders won 8-4 at No. 3 and No. 4 singles.
Holland and Varner also won 8-5 in No. 1 doubles.
Poplar Bluff lost 8-0 in No. 1 singles and 8-6 in No. 2 doubles and picked up two wins via forfeit, as well.
BASEBALL
East Carter earned a pair of double-digit victories on Saturday. The Redbirds started the day by putting up 10 hits and 12 runs against Advance. Colby Miller and Dalton Rudd smacked a homer apiece, both finishing the game with four RBIs in the process. Tommy Baldridge and Wyatt Elliot combined to allow just three hits and one run in a solid 12-1 win.
The Redbirds carried that momentum into their game against Dora, recording a 13-2 win this time around. Jordan Douglas knocked home three runs to lead East Carter in RBIs while also leading his team with a trio of hits.