IRONTON, Mo. -- Katie Sliger won her second straight race of the young season as the Poplar Bluff senior was first across the finish line Saturday at he Arcadia Valley Invitational.
Sliger won the 5,000-meter race by 21 seconds, finishing in 20 minutes, 10.59 seconds. Katelyn Moeller was sixth in 21:25 as the Mules placed second as a team, 30 points behind Potosi.
Jaden Deaton led the Mules in sixth place with a time of 17:42, Wesley Moore's 18:07 was 10th while Victor Olivan finished 19th in 18:36. Poplar Bluff finished third, a point behind Kennett in the team standings.
Caleb Cornelius of Saxony Lutheran won the boys race in 16:36.
Sliger, who won her first race by 48 seconds, was 40 seconds faster on a more flat course Saturday.
Brooke Slayton finished 22nd for the Mules in 23:16, MacKenzie Dowd was 37th in 25:19 while Alexis Richardson (25:42) placed 40th followed by Ava Smith (25:43) and Kenya Jones (26:06).
Dexter's Emily Ladd placed fourth in 21:07 as the Bearcats were fourth as a team, eight points behind Valle Catholic. Madelyn Haynes (25:36) finished 39th, Keaira Craft (26:38) 43rd, Oliva Milam (26:55) 45th and Hailee Mayfield (28:26) 47th for Dexter.
Kennedy Thies of East Carter placed ninth in 22:20 while Kehaunani Brewington was 31st in 24:20.
The Redbirds were fourth in the boys standings, five points behind Poplar Bluff, led by Isaac Thompson (18:31) in 16th and Drake Epperson (19:06) in 25th.
Seth Ingle (20:12) was 44th and Brent Worley (21:57) finished 64th for Poplar Bluff while Brendan Yarbro (21:58) and Jadarius Pigg (22:23) also ran for the Mules.
Dexter placed eighth led by Dawson Kasting's 18:31 for 18th. Carter Dorton (19:09) was 26th while Sean Rybolt (20:48) finished 49th for the Bearcats.
Bloomfield's Riley Burns (18:30) finished 15th while Noah Hester (20:07) was 42nd and Seth Stroup (20:57) was 50th.
Greenville's The Huff (20:27) was 46th.
The Poplar Bluff Junior High girls placed second led by Salah McCormack's fourth-place finish. She ran the 2,500-meter course in 9:35 while Madalyn Berry (9:49) was 13th. Brady Robertson (8:33) led the Junior Mules in eighth place.
SOFTBALL
Poplar Bluff won four of five games at the Ozark Fall Festival, losing to a Lee's Summit West team that placed third in Class 4 last fall.
The Mules scored first but trailed Lee's Summit West by two runs after the first inning in a 7-2 loss Friday. Earlier, Poplar Bluff beat Logan-Rogersville and Republic by similar 9-1 scores.
Poplar Bluff (15-5) used a six-run second inning Saturday to beat Nixa 11-7 then beat Carthage 6-3.
Shelby Sievers drove in seven runs in the tournament and had five doubles among her seven hits. Brylee Misner had nine hits with three doubles, driving in six, while Audrey Lack drove in six and was 6 for 12. Abby Gregory scored seven times and had seven hits, Emma Johnson had six hits along with Jordyn Caldwell while Lauren Alexander and Calli Gerber each had five.
Adrienne Stucker won two games, striking out nine against Nixa in five innings. Sievers also won twice, striking out five in five innings against Lee's Summit West, which held the Mules to three hits.
VOLLEYBALL
The Mules rebounded from a pair of losses in pool play Saturday to win the silver division at the West Plains Tournament.
Poplar Bluff beat Mountain Home (Ark.) 25-22, 24-26, 25-23 in the final after a 25-5, 25-6 win over Salem. Earlier in pool play, the Mules lost to Rolla (25-22, 25-22) and host Zizzers (25-21, 25-14) while beating Houston (25-13, 25-17).
For the tournament, Kiley Bess led with 13 aces and 32 kills while Khelie Spence had 22 with six blocks. Doni Everts chipped in 17 kills and four blocks while Haley Slaughter, Hannah Vaughn and Megan Murphy each recorded 11 kills. Vaughn averaged 17.2 assists per game and had 10 aces. The Mules ended the day with a 92.8 percent service rate. Ady Kingree led with 33 digs.
The Mules host Bernie on Monday and Notre Dame the following night.
SOCCER
The Mules lasted 71 minutes with the defending Class 3 state champions before Rockwood Summit scored its 10th goal Friday night.
Justin Moses made 23 saves for Poplar Bluff (3-5), which travels Tuesday to face district and conference rival Jackson.