'Amazing' Poplar Bluff seniors leading mates into biggest meet of the year

Every athlete wants to perform their best with the finality of their careers nearing, and in the case of the two Poplar Bluff High School senior swimmers, Carson Todd and Isaac Cato have certainly achieved that.

Todd and Cato will lead a large contingent of Mules to the MSHSAA Class 1 Boy’s Swimming and Diving i

“They’re amazing,” third-year Poplar Bluff coach Kyler Sowell said of the two seniors recently.

Todd and Cato led their team to a third consecutive SEMO Conference Meet championship recently, and both will be busy over the next two days.

“Carson came into this season with goals,” Sowell said. “He said that he wanted to go back to state in the 50 and 100 free (races), and the relays.”

Mission accomplished.

Todd has not only qualified in the 50 free and 100 free events, but he also met the time standard (though he is limited to competing in just two individual events) in the 200 IM and 100 back (races).

Todd will compete in both sprint free races, where he is seeded 16th in the 50 free (the top 16 swimmers move on to the finals on Friday following today’s preliminary heats), and 24th in the 100 free.

“Carson has helped us tremendously,” Sowell said. “He is one of the great ones that I have seen come through this program.”

Todd will swim the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay with junior teammates Owen McDaniel (breaststroke), Henry Duncan (butterfly), and Cyrus Sagharichi (freestyle), as the Mules are seeded 23rd.

He will join his teammates Cato, Duncan, and Sagharichi in the 200 free relay (the Mules are seeded 10th), as well.

“In the relays,” Todd said, “we have to help each other. We have to make sure that we’re swimming into the wall fast so we can get a good switch off.

“It’s definitely a team sport.”

Duncan will team with Cato, Wiggs, and Sagharichi in the 400 free relay, with the Mules seeded 23rd.

For Cato, his state meet appearance has been a bit of a surprise for Sowell.

Cato joined the Mules after the season had already started because of his commitment to Basic Training for the United States Army National Guard, but Sowell said he made up for lost time.

“He just crushed it,” Sowell said. “He has dropped so much time.”

Sowell admitted that early in the season Cato “wasn’t even one of my top ones for the relays.”

“Now he has gotten in two different spots,” Sowell said. “He has done amazing.”

The other individual competitor for the Mules will be McDaniel, who is seeded 32nd in the 100 breast event.

For Sowell, watching his two seniors compete for the final time will be bittersweet.

“They are both quality swimmers,” Sowell said. “They are great team captains. They say nothing bad about anybody. They cheer (teammates) along the whole way.

“They are amazing. It sucks to lose them, but I am proud of what they have done.”