Swimmers will have a new target line this winter in terms of qualifying for the state championship meet after MSHSAA split the schools into two classifications.
Poplar Bluff is one of 48 schools in the largest class while nearly 90 will compete in Class 1.
"I don't think it really makes a difference because the state standards are the same on both sides," Poplar Bluff coach Beth Lewis-Muse said. "The only thing that's going to matter is that there's going to be more room on the deck (during the state meet)."
While the qualifying times for state mostly remained the same as last year with the exception of a 0.7 of a second drop in the 100-yard backstroke, swimmers that are close to it will now be considered.
A minimum of 32 state qualifiers will compete in each preliminary event. That means if only 25 swimmers around the state break the qualifying time, another seven spots will be filled with the next-fastest times from around the state during the season.
"We might be hitting all kinds of state cuts," Lewis-Muse said.
Poplar Bluff returns a pair of individual state qualifiers in senior Taylor Norwood and junior Raegan McAtee. The Mules also qualified all three relays for a third straight year but nearly half of the spots need to be replaced.
Poplar Bluff also enters the season mourning the loss of teammate Linda Schulz, who died in an October car accident with Camille McCain and Cody Logan.
"I know her death hit the team extremely hard," Lewis-Muse said.
The team mourned together in the pool after releasing balloons, Lewis-Muse said.
"We put our suits on and jumped in the pool to be a family and listen to the sounds of waves," Lewis-Muse added.
During home meets the team will have a duck toss fundraiser that will go toward a memorial fund in honor of Schulz and they will weak pink caps at the conference meet.
Looking to claim the program's second conference title in three years, Poplar Bluff lost nearly a third of its conference points earned by eight graduating seniors.
The current roster is smaller with 19 swimmers and two divers.
Lewis-Muse said the smaller team has allowed her and her assistant coaches to spend more time working with individual swimmers.
"We opened up one land and if we see someone having trouble we immediately send them to the outer lane so one coach can work with them and they get some one-on-one time," Lewis-Muse said.
The Mules return 11 swimmers and diver Kaylee Harris is back on the team after a year away.
Harris, Norwood and Megan Adams are the only seniors.
Norwood, who recently signed to swim at Maryville University, has earned all-state medals in all six of her individual events in which she has qualified. The three-time conference MVP has also won six conference individual titles and led five relays to wins. She holds five individual team records and helped set all three relay marks.
McAtee has qualified for state in two individual event and two relays in each of her first two seasons, winning conference titles as a freshman.
Paige Bradley won the conference diving title last season as a freshman, breaking the team record in the process.
Harris and junior Peyton Moore are also diving for the Mules, who do not have a board at the Black River Coliseum Aquatic Center to use.
"With little time to get on the board they're pulling some heavy-duty stuff," Lewis-Muse said.
Bradley also placed third at conference in her other individual event, the 100 freestyle, in a time under the new state consideration standard. She also would have been also been considered for a spot in the 50 freestyle.
To qualify for state in the 50 this year, a swimmer must again break 25.49 seconds, the automatic qualifying standard. But if a swimmer has a time of 25.5 to 28.49 they will be considered for the state meet if there are fewer than 32 automatic qualifiers.
Last year none of the Mules qualified for state in the 50 but under the new consideration standard time, five would have found out the Monday before the state meet if they had earned a spot to fill the prelim race.
Being one of 48 schools in the largest class gives Poplar Bluff about the same chance at the team title. Last season there were 50 teams that recorded at least a point at state with the Mules tying for 21st place. Only five teams with more points dropped down to Class 1, which will also include conference rivals Cape Central, Notre Dame, Farmington and Saxony Lutheran.
Central edged the Mules 498-473 for the conference title thanks to its depth, something that again will not be a strength for Poplar Bluff.
"We're going to make due with what we have," Lewis-Muse said. "We're going in making sure that every single girl on that team is efficient on all four strokes. We talked about there's nobody going to be specializing."
Adams, junior Calli Barker and sophomores Audrey Cisne, Carly Wiseman, Jessica Rush and Haven Phelps all scored points at the conference meet while sophomores Electra Destree and Hailey Grogan also return. Lewis-Muse said that many in the group are already hitting times they clocked last season.
Newcomers, some with experience swimming in the summer AAU program, include junior Emily Berry, sophomores Kenzie Garrett and Bethany Leighty, with freshmen Simone Anders, Austynn Dover, Morghyn McCain and Emryn Smith.
Poplar Bluff will host five meets starting Monday with Saxony Lutheran after opening the season Saturday at the Ladue Invitational.