Five days after winning the first meet in school history at Owsley County, the Harlan County Black Bears boys cross country team got a reminder Thursday that it won’t always be that easy.

The Black Bears finished a disappointing fifth in the Bobcat Invitational at Bell County, more than 60 points behind the first-place team.

Freshman Hunter Middleton was the team’s top finisher, placing 11th with a time of 20:34. Chris Cupp (15th, 21:57) and Blain Grubbs (20th, 22:03) also placed in the top 20.

Rounding out Harlan County’s results were Justin Baird (24th, 22:47), J.K. Hensley (30th, 23:41), Chris Southerland (34th, 24:52), Jacob Hunter (44th, 26:46), Andrew Shepherd (52nd, 30:34), Jordan Sim (53rd, 32:01) and Corey Jones (54th, 36:08).

Bell County won the meet, with Knox Central placing second and Williamsburg coming in third. Corbin placed fourth, and Harlan took sixth place.

Individual results for Harlan weren’t available at presstime.

Harlan County didn’t field an entire team in the girls race after two runners dropped out.

Sophomore Hayley Helton placed eighth with a time of 27:44. Senior April Grubbs finished 25th, posting a time of 33:56. Junior Whitley Martin (26th, 34:10) and freshman Ashley Green (29th, 35:46) rounded out the Lady Bears’ results.

Lindsay Sim and Natasha Ealy didn’t finish the race.

Bell won the girls race, followed by Williamsburg, Knox Central and Corbin.

Harlan County returns to action Sept. 20 at the Pulaski Southern Harrier.