Poplar Bluff track to send 25 to sectionals

HILLSBORO, Mo. — Poplar Bluff will send 25 track and field athletes to the MSHSAA Class 5 sectional meet in Waynesville.

Sixteen boys and nine girls finished in the top four at the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 meet in Hillsboro to qualify for sectionals.

The boys team finished second overall with 128 points behind Jackson’s 144, while the girls finished seventh overall with 68 points. Lebanon won the girls district title with 134 points.

“I hate finishing second, but we had a really, really good day. The kids performed really well,” Poplar Bluff boys coach Mark Barousse said. “The kids lived up to their potential and had a lot of personal records set. They did a lot of good things.”

Poplar Bluff won five events overall, four by the boys and one by the girls. Two of the wins were in the relay events as Poplar Bluff qualified teams every relay event for both the boys’ and girls’ teams for the first time.

Jadarius Pigg picked up a district championship in the 110-meter hurdles after finishing in 15.76 seconds, a good half second ahead of second place. He also took fourth in the 300 hurdles in 42.76.

In the javelin, Josiah Kilgore improved his personal record by 16 feet to win with a throw of 173 feet, 8 inches.

Jaden Deaton had a huge day for the Mules after earning 16 individual points and chipping in four more as a member of the 4x800 relay team. Deaton won the 3200 in 9:55.55 seconds, and took second in both the 1600 (4:35.74) and the 4x800 (8:29.34). Also on the 4x800 team was Clinton Bartlett, Dylan Cisne and Alex Clinton.

The boys 4x100 relay team of Austin Tinsley, Shemyron Townsend, Justin Mitchell, Kilgore also won with a time of 44.14.

“Anytime you get that many kids through, you have a chance at sectionals and a chance of getting a lot of kids through to the state track meet,” Barousse said.

Poplar Bluff’s girls 4x200 team of Emilee Cheek, Kennedy Rowland, Katie Pattillo and Kenya Jones picked up their team’s only win of the day after finishing first in 1:50.45.

Townsend qualified in the 100 after finishing third in 11.44, and was also a member of 4x200 team with Xzavier Bartlett, Tinsley, Colby Tomlinson and Townsend that took second in 1:33.09. The 4x400 team of Clinton, Xzavier Bartlett, Marquis Johnson and Pigg and got fourth (3:34.84).

Xzavier Bartlett also finished second in the 400 in 52.14 to qualify.

Gage Rowland and Luke Barousse both qualified in the pole vault. Roland cleared 13-6 to take second while Barousse got third at 13 feet.

In the long jump, Johnson increased his best jump by a foot on his final leap to clear 22-4 and finish second.

Preston Taylor took fourth in the shot put with a throw of 43-5.5.

For the girls, the 4x100 team of Cheek, Pattillo, Rowland and Khelie Spence finished third in 52.49. The 4x400 team of Isabel Esquivel, Pattillo, Paige Bradley and Rowland got fourth in 4:22.20 and the 4x800 team of Katelyn Moeller, Esquivel, Ava Smith and Tymber Colvin finished fourth in 10:49.55.

“We’ve had one of the largest teams that I know we’ve ever had,” Poplar Bluff girls coach Beth Lewis-Muse said. “I would prefer that we ended up further up, but we got a lot of events that we didn’t expect to get through sectionals that did.”

Spence also qualified in the 100 hurdles after taking second in 15.50, just 0.03 seconds behind Kiya Conners of Oakville. In the long jump, she also took second with a leap of 16 feet, 4 inches, and inch shy of first place.

Cheek finished fourth in the 100 in 13.51 to qualify, and Pattillo also finished fourth in the 200 in 27.69. Bradley qualified in the 400, as well, taking third in 1:04.10.