Poplar Bluff's Hannah and Travis Blalock qualified for the MSHSAA Class 3 state cross country championships, each finishing in the top nine Saturday, while the Van Buren girls team qualified with a second-place finish at the Class 1 District 5 meet.

Van Buren's Ian Newberry, Matt Crafton and Zane Betts also qualified for the state meet in Jefferson City.

Meanwhile at Cape Girardeau, the Mules soccer team had their season end with a 3-0 loss to Cedar Hill Northwest in the Class 3 District 1 quarterfinal.

At Potosi, Travis Blalock finished ninth with a time of 17 minutes, 4 seconds to qualify for his first state meet. The sophomore was 47 seconds behind the winner, Potosi's Jacob Searingen.

Hannah Blalock finished third in 19:57 and was 55 seconds behind Alyssa Allison of Festus, who defended her district title.

"They were both really relaxed going in and really relaxed going out," Poplar Bluff coach Beth Lewis said. "They were ready to go, ready to race."

Poplar Bluff junior Jasmin Sumrall finished 19th in 21:38, just 29 seconds and four places from making the cut.

At the Class 1 District 5 race, Van Buren finished second with 61 points in the girls race behind Alton's 15 points while the Bulldogs were third with 63 points. Koshkonong finished first with 46 points, followed by Alton with 49.

Britney Peterson (24:04) finished ninth while Denise Haburl (24:43) finished 12th to earn all-district honors. Whitney Van Winkle (26:23) Courtney Swift (26:25) and Logan Smith (26:36) finished 17th-19th, respectively.

Newberry turned in the best time, 19:15, finishing sixth overall. Crafton and Betts came in 13th and 14th with times of 19:41 and 19:42, respectively.

Daniel Newberry also finished in the top 20 with a time of 20:00, while Nick Black came in 34th in 22:12.

The state championship will be Saturday in Jefferson City.

SOCCER: Poplar Bluff trailed Northwest by two goals at halftime and played a man down for the majority of the second half.

"To end the season the way we did, it's difficult to look guys in the eyes and justify how it happens," Mules coach Mark Papp said. "You just have to say sometimes life isn't fair."

Papp and senior goalie Justin Hubbard were both issued red cards during the second half. Hubbard made six saves while sophomore Billy Powell added four saves and did not allow a goal in relief.

The Mules finished the season 5-19-1 but entered postseason play after winning two straight.

Northwest, which faces topseeded Cape Central today, scored 15 minutes into the game and led 2-0 at halftime before adding another goal on a penalty kick early in the second half.

"We had our chances," Papp said.

The Mules were shut out for the 13th time this season. Poplar Bluff scored 26 times in 25 games led by Hubbard and Nate LeGrand with five goals each. Josh Thompson scored four times for the Mules.

It was the final game for seniors Darrin Whited, Dustin Haga, Mario Mitchell, Damon Bower, Martin Esquivel and Hubbard.

"Our seniors were the heart and soul of our teams and they kept us focused when it would have been very easy to pack it in for the season," Papp said.