Poplar Bluff’s Travis Blalock, center, runs in a pack of Notre Dame runners during the SEMO Conference cross country race Thursday at Kelly High School in Benton. Blalock finished second. (Brian Rosener/DAR)

By BRIAN ROSENER ~ DAR Sports Editor

BENTON -- Poplar Bluff cross country coach Beth Lewis was speechless after seeing her runners’ times Thursday at the SEMO Conference meet.

“When they all have PRs, you can’t ask for anything more,” said Lewis in a voice so soft from screaming that she couldn’t help but laugh at herself mid-sentence.

“Pretty exciting ... a perfect day of racing.”

Travis and Hannah Blalock each broke the course record while finishing second and third respectively in their races, and Jasmin Sumrall also earned an all-conference medal by placing fifth.

The Mules and Lady Mules didn’t have enough runners for a team score, but that didn’t keep Lewis from losing her voice.

The Blalocks made a run at the sweeping the individual titles, running in the lead packs of both races before fading in the final 1,200 meters of the 3.1-mile course.

Cape Central’s Brittany Moreland defended her title with a course-record 18 minutes, 43 seconds, while Notre Dame’s Logan Davis won the boys race in 16:09.

“I just let him go, and I didn’t think,” said Travis Blalock who also broke the previous course record with a time of 16:17. “Just didn’t push myself anymore and he just got too far away and I couldn’t catch up.”

Hannah Blalock’s time of 19:02 was also good enough to break the course record, but Moreland and teammate Veronica Schabbing pulled away from the freshman in almost the same spot.

Both winners made their move on a lonely trail cut through high prairie grass far from the crowds waiting at the finish line.

“They got in front of me and I tried to stay with them but my legs just weren’t there,” Hannah Blalock said.

Sumrall ran the trail with Cape Central’s Mary Dohogne and Kelly’s Tara Johnson. The Poplar Bluff junior ended up a second behind Dohogne at 19:37 and 3 seconds ahead of Johnson.

Sumrall said before the race she told Lewis she was going to run between 20:20 and 20:30.

“This was a fast course, but I kind of underestimated myself at the beginning,” Sumrall said. “I know I can get out here and run it, so for me I just try to focus on if I’m strong enough mentally.”

Kelsey Sumrall finished 24th in 23:41, while Ashley Snapko followed in 23:49.

Poplar Bluff’s only senior, Julia Huck is sidelined with a stress fracture but had she run, the Lady Mules might have battled for second.

Cape Central won the girls title with 15 points while Jackson edged Notre Dame 56-58. Notre Dame won the boys title with 19 points followed by Cape Central (61 points), Jackson (70) and Kelly (83).

Lewis was more happy with the times than where her runners finished.

“It’s kind of nice to see them run this fast,” the first-year coach said. “They don’t believe me.”

Travis Blalock, who finished fifth at the race last year as a freshman broke away from a large lead pack that ran the first mile in 5:10. Davis and Blalock pulled away in the second mile, running it in 5:21 before Davis made his move.

Blalock’s time was 16 seconds faster than Ross MacDonald’s 2001 winning time when the race was last held at Kelly. MacDonald, a three-time state qualifier for the Mules, went on to finish 15th at the state meet that fall.

“Right up until the second mile the whole thing was just real congested (with a) pretty quick pace,” Blalock said. “My last mile I fell off a little bit where I should have pushed myself a little bit more.”

Hannah Blalock, who won the junior high race the last two years, broke away with Moreland and Schabbing almost from the start. The trio ran the first mile in 6:02 and Blalock surged ahead in the second mile only to be overtaken by the Lady Tigers, who finished seven seconds apart.

Moreland, a junior finished eighth at the state meet last fall.

“I was wanting to break 19 (minutes), but I haven’t dropped down on my (training) miles yet,” Blalock said.

Poplar Bluff has two weeks to get ready for the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 race at Potosi. The top 15 individual runners advance to the state meet in Jefferson City.

In the junior high race, which was 2,000-meters shorter, Jason Keena (9:19) finished fourth, 28 seconds behind the winning pace, while Logan Brittingham (9:34) was eighth and Mark Keena (10:25) was 14th.