NEWS REPORT

Bell County followed a team approach to success Saturday in the Bob Howard Memorial Invitational on Saturday at Harlan County High School.

The Bobcats finished with 22 points, 19 ahead of second place Harlan County. Leslie County was third with 83 points, followed by Lynn Camp with 107, Harlan with 133 and Red Bird with 136.

Braydin Hickey won the race with a time of 18:28.84, just ahead of teammate Reese Arno in second place. Nicholas Stewart placed fourth, followed closely by Jacob Brannon in seventh and Hayden Green in eighth. Andrew Roy and Landon Eldridge rounded out the field for the Bobcats.

“Our boys ran great today. It was a big team effort,” Bell County coach Jason Stewart said. “Braydin came through with a nice win. I was very proud of him. All of the boys ran well though. They understand the power of pack running and are working hard at it”

Kaelyn Lyrock led the Bell County girls as she placed 10th, followed by Ava Harris in 23rd and Meredith Allen finishing 27th.

Sophia Good won the girls junior varsity race, with Abigail Keener placing fourth.

Bell’s Ashton Manis placed third in the boys junior varsity race.

“They raced hard today. Sophia had a nice JV win and Kaelyn placed 10th varsity in a loaded field of girls. These girls are great kids and fun to coach. I know they’ll keep working hard,” Stewart said.

The race was in honor of Bob Howard, who started the cross country program at Evarts High School and led the program to numerous regional titles. He was also the last principal at Evarts High School and the first at Harlan County High School, as well as being an advocate for cross country and track.

Bell County returns to action Saturday at the Somerset Invitational.