SIKESTON, Mo. -- Some might think a district track meet is more important than conference.
Not to the Poplar Bluff Mules.
In fact, they're equals in the eyes of Poplar Bluff boys coach Mark Barousse and winning the SEMO North Conference track meet on a windy Friday in Sikeston was deemed a just accomplishment.
The Mules swept both the boys and girls conference meet. The boys rolled to a first place finish while the girls just grazed by runner-up Jackson.
"We take conference just as important as district," Barousse said. "Those are the two meets we prepare for. We want to win conference and we want to win districts."
There's a different strategy when it comes to winning a conference meet as opposed to districts. The postseason is all about getting as many kids as you can to the next round. Conference is all about points.
Poplar Bluff loaded up to score as many points as they could by showcasing some of their stronger individuals.
"We had some good team performances," Poplar Bluff coach Mark Barousse said. "We pulled some people out of the relays and put them in individual events and we knew it was all about points. If you can score points individually sometimes it's more important than getting first in a relay. That goes a long way towards scoring points at a conference meet."
The Mules, who won their third straight title, had eight first-place finishes in all. Poplar Bluff's girls won their first title since 2015 with a 5-point margin over Jackson.
By himself, Isaiah Johnson won four events for the Mules. He won the 100 and 200-meter dashes with times of 10.80 and 21.84, as well as the two hurdles events. Johnson narrowly won the 110 hurdles with a 14.40, edging Sikeston's Elijah Faulkner at 14.56. He won the 300 hurdles with a 40.37 just beating out teammate Rufus Ward and Sikeston's Keon Graham.
Danarious Moore won the 400 with a time of 50.83. Logan Bell won the javelin with a throw of 152-feet, 11-inches and Adam Vincent topped out at 13-6 in the pole vault to round out Poplar Bluff's individual medalists.
The Mules also won the 3200 relay with a time of 8:52.78.
"I was pleased," Barousse said. "We got four or five of our kids that we haven't seen for almost a week. We saw some real good things."
The Mules won going away as their next closest competitor was Jackson at 105 points with five first-place finishes.
Sikeston took third with 81 points and four first-place finishes.
Cape Central came in fourth with 48 points followed by Notre Dame's 15 in the five-team field.
As for the girls, Poplar Bluff managed edged Jackson 121 to 116. Although out-paced by Jackson 7 to 5 as far as first place finishes go, the Mules' balanced effort was enough in the end to put them ahead.
"I don't think it was our best effort with the flooding issues keeping us away from practicing and things like that," girls coach Beth Lewis said. "I think that took a toll on our performances, but with our team and how small it is and dealing with different circumstances throughout the season this is huge. It's a way for our girls to show that their hard work paid off."
Lexi Hafford swept the hurdle events with times of 14.09 in the 100 and 51.01 in the 300. The senior also cleared 5-0 in the high jump with two others but was second in attempts.
In the 400, Krisman Eakin finished with a top time of 1:00.24 and took second in both the 100 (11.93) and 200 (25.52) behind Sikeston's Antravia Green. Shelby Sievers won the discus with a personal record of 116-8 and was second in the shot at 35-6.
Poplar Bluff also won the 800 relay at 1:52.02 and were second in the 400-relay (51.74), 1600-relay (4:32.84) and 3200-relay (11:22).
Khelie Spence was second in the 100 hurdles at 15.00 beating Jackson's Jumee McKnight by nearly 2 seconds and placed third in the 300 hurdles at 52.91. Kaylee Eakin cleared 15-9 for second in the long jump while Calli Gerber was second in the javelin at 92-10.
Poplar Bluff's Kaylee Harris placed third in the 200 at 26.18 while Katelyn Moeller was third in the 3200 at 13:30
The Indians were strong in the distance events, winning the 1600 and 3200 relays while getting first-place finishes from Megan Barnum in the 800 and 1600 with times of 2:34.40 and 5:42.40. Courtney Hahs topped the 3200 with a 12:09.96. Nicole Humphreys won the shot with a throw of 36-5 and Katie Schumer placed first in the pole vault with a 12-0.
Cape Central was third with 78 points and two first place finishes.
The Mules got second-place finishes from the 400 and 1600 relays while Markarius Bell was second in the discus at 144-10.5 and shot at 47-2.
Wyatt Murphy was third in the 100 at 10.9 and cleared 19-3 for third in the long jump. Xavier Bartlett ran 55.37 for third in the 400 while Gage Rowland's 38-10 was third in the triple jump. Rashawn McCain threw the shot 45-0.5 and the javlin 127-5 for third place in each.