SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Poplar Bluff swimmers broke five team records Saturday at the Springfield Invitational as they made a push to qualify for state for the first time in program history.
The Mules rewrote the relay records while Kastin Caudel set a team record in the 50-yard freestyle, breaking a mark that stood since 2003, and Elijah McAtee lowered his mark in the 200 freestyle.
Poplar Bluff finished ninth in the 21-team event with 90 points.
McAtee, Caudel, Gavin Vaughn and Carson Todd cut 4.56 seconds off the team record in the 200-medley relay, finishing in 1 minute, 49.78 seconds for seventh. They also cut 3.89 off the team mark in the 200-freestyle relay to 1:37.23 to finish sixth and were 1.34 seconds faster in the 400-freestyle relay to finish eighth at 3:42.6.
McAtee lowered his 200-freestyle team record by 1.82 seconds to 1:59.36. He finished ninth in the event.
Caudel was 12th in the 50 in 23.43 seconds, breaking the team record by half a second set by Dru Baker in 2003.
Vaughn placed 13th in the 200 IM at 2:21.17
Poplar Bluff’s Parker Hicks placed 11th Saturday at the Dexter Invitational, finishing in 18 minutes, 30.30 seconds as the Mules had their final regular-season tune-up.
The varsity girls race was not held due to severe weather.
Poplar Bluff’s boys placed fourth in the large-school division with 66 points behind Jackson (27), Willow Springs (35) and Dexter (43).
Poplar Bluff’s Nick Spain (19:40) was 31st, Cayden Larkins (20:47) 49th followed by Jacob Crawford (20:49) while Cameron Sisk (21:19) was 55th. Wyatt Rowcliff (23:13) and Aden Wirtz (23:30) also ran for the Mules.
Poplar Bluff will run in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 meet Saturday at Bridle Ridge Acres in Hillsboro.
The Mules lost a pair of games Saturday at Rock Bridge, losing 1-0 to Jefferson City and 8-1 to Hickman.
Alex Papanicolaou scored his fourth goal of the season in the loss to Hickman.
The Mules (7-15) close out the regular season hosting Cape Central on Tuesday and Farmington on Wednesday.
Poplar Bluff is the seventh seed in the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 playoffs and will face second-seeded Vianney, the host, at 11:45 a.m. Saturday. The winner advances to the semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against the winner between third-seeded Oakville and Seckman.
The championship will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 4 at Vianney in Kirkwood, Missouri.