JEFFERSON CITY -- Markarius Bell and Wyatt Murphy had a pair of second-place finishes as the Mules finished 14th at the MSHSAA Class 5 State Championships.
Bell had a throw of 168 feet, 10 inches in the discus, about nine feet better than his previous personal record, and was nearly 14 feet shy of Jefferson City's Devin Roberson.
Murphy ran the 200-meter dash in 21.95 seconds and was under 22 seconds for the first time. He just edged Liberty's Robert Rawie, who finished in 22 seconds flat.
Justin Robinson of Hazelwood West won the event in 21.62 seconds.
Markarius Bell also took 14th in the shot put (47 feet, 10.75 inches) while Logan Bell was 9th in the 100 (10.98 seconds).
Brett Barousse added 3.5 points with a fifth-place finish in the pole vault by clearing 15 feet, also a personal record. KC Lightfoot of Lee's Summit won the event with a vault of 18 feet.
"One of my older sons won it five years ago at 15 feet," Poplar Bluff coach Mark Barousse said. "So it is pretty special."
Logan Bell and Rashawn McCain both set personal records in the javelin. Logan Bell took 9th (163 feet, 2 inches) while McCain was 11th (156 feet, 6 inches).
Rufus Ward finished 15th in the 110 hurdles (15.98 seconds) and the 4X100 team of Barousse, Murphy, Josiah Kilgore and Austin Tinsley got 12th (43.07 seconds) to round out the Mules' weekend at state.
"I thought our legs were a little bit dead the first day, but had some really good days," Mark Barousse said.
Kilgore (sophomore) and Tinsley (sophomore) were the only non-seniors to compete at state.
"I think it is amazing. These seniors have won four straight conference championships, two district championships in the past three years and a second-place finish at sectionals," Mark Barousse said. "We won seven of the nine meets we competed in this year."
Poplar Bluff alum Adam Vinson, now at Missouri Baptist, finished eighth in the pole vault at the NAIA Nationals on Saturday after clearing 15-feet, 7-inches to make be named an All-American.
The Lady Mules' trip to state ended with nobody making a final.
In a loaded day, Krisman Eakin finished 10th in both the 200 and 400 and 11th in the 100. Khelie Spence was 10th in the 100 hurdles while Kaylee Eakin took 14th in the long jump and Shelby Sievers was 15th in the shot put.
It was the fourth trip for the Eakins and third trip for their fellow senior in Sievers. Spence, a sophomore, made her second trip to state.
The Eakins were freshman when the Mules won a state track title. That year, Krisman Eakin took 8th in the 200 (26.14) and both Eakins were on the 800-relay and 1600 relay, which finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Kaylee Eakin was also on the 3200 relay that finished 13th.
The following year, Sievers finished 12th in the shot put (35 feet, 0.5 inches) while the Eakins competed in all three relays.
Krisman Eakin also earned an All-State medal in the 200 after finishing 8th in 25.880 seconds, while Kaylee Eakin was 12th in the 200 (1:00.62).
As juniors, Kaylee was 15th in the long jump (16 feet, 6.75 inches) and Sievers got 11th in the shot put (38 feet, 4 inches).
Krisman Eakin finished 13th in both the 200 (25.81) and the 400 (59.79) and Spence took 12th in the 100 hurdles (15.76).
Hannah Moore of Dexter finished fifth in the 400 to earn an All-State medal.
The senior finished in a personal-record 59.65 seconds, almost a half-second behind fourth-place finisher Cheyenne Martin, of McCluer.
Jhordin Galmore, of MICDS, won the state title in 57.68 seconds.
Moore advanced to the finals Friday by posting the sixth-best qualifying time. Her time of 59.74 seconds made her one of only six runners to beat the 1-minute mark.
Moore competed in the long jump Friday, placing 14th with a leap of 15 feet, 8 1/2 inches.
Zion Pearson, of MICDS, won the state championship with 18-6 1/4.
BOYS TENNIS
Dexter's Eric Hahn and Nate Gargas extended their first-round opponents to a pair of tiebreakers and then took their second-round foes to a third set Friday at the MSHSAA Class 1 Boys Tennis Championship in Springfield.
However, the junior teammates lost both sets in the first round and dropped two of three sets in the consolation first round at the Cooper Tennis Complex.
Kade Ockenfels and Creed Houghton, of Trenton, beat Hahn/Gargas 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) in the first round.
Francesco Bona and Luke Rehagen, of Boonville, outlasted Hahn/Gargas 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 on the consolation bracket in the double-elimination tournament.