COLUMBIA, Mo. --Poplar Bluff senior Taylor Norwood placed second in the butterfly and third in the individual medley, lowering her state-qualifying times Saturday at the CoMo Invitational at the University of Missouri pool.
Norwood, Audrey Cisne, Raegan McAtee and Paige Bradley had the 12th-fastest time in the prelims of the 200-yard medley relay, missing the state cut by less than half a second at 1 minute, 58.73 seconds. The Mules, however, scratched out of the final as Bradley competed in the diving event and McAtee was ill, coach Beth Lewis-Muse said.
"Coach's decision that you don't ever want to make," Lewis-Muse said of scratching the other relays. "Not worth wearing (Bradley) out going back and forth. Having Rae ill, she's such a key player in the relays. Not worth making her feel worse."
The Mules were swimming their third meet in five days and with 27 teams, they had to qualify for the finals. Poplar Bluff finished 21st in the team standings with 33 points.
Norwood had the fastest prelim time in the 100 butterfly at 58.41 seconds, lowering her previous-best time this season by 1.87 seconds. In the final, the senior finished in 58.59 but was beat by Battle's Lauren Naeger's 57.44. Naeger placed sixth last year in the state final, two spots ahead of Norwood.
Norwood also had her fastest time of the season in the 200 individual medley, placing third in the final at 2:11.19. She had the second-fastest prelim time at 2:11.35 while Nicole Williams of Rock Bridge, who placed sixth in the state final last year, won the final in 2:04.66.
"That's what she needs," Lewis-Muse said. "It's a big motivator to go to this meet and see that competition."
McAtee placed 21st in the butterfly at 1:03.34 to advance to a consolation final but scratched.
In the dive, Peyton Moore finished 35th at 128.2 points while Bradley was 47th at 61.60 followed by teammate Kaylee Harris at 61.45. Bradley placed 28th in the 50 freestyle at 26.59, missing the final by 1.34 seconds.
Carly Wiseman lowered her time in the 200 freestyle by nearly 7 seconds to 2:23.23 to place 56th. In the 100 freestyle, she lowered her time 4.5 seconds to 1:04.1 for 60th.
Cisne lowered her backstroke time by 3 seconds to 1:11.53 for 57th and was 68th in the 50 freestyle at 28.66, nearly half of a second faster than her previous best time.
Poplar Bluff hosts Cape Central on Tuesday.