The Harlan County girls cross country team experienced a bit of déjà vu at their own all-comers meet Tuesday as they defeated Middlesboro on a tiebreaker for the second time in five days.

With both teams again missing a top runner, the Lady Bears edged Middlesboro behind the finish of their No. 6 runner. This time, it was Peyton Griffin who clinched the win for the Lady Bears.

Not to be overlooked, however, was the first career victory for eighth-grader Peyton Lunsford. The granddaughter of longtime Evarts cross country coach and former Evarts and Harlan County principal Bob Howard finished with a time of 22:40.72, defeating Middlesboro’s Grace Rose by nearly 45 seconds.

Riley Key (26:32.84) and Baili Boggs (27:04.22) finished 10th and 12th, respectively, to help the Lady Bears overcome a Middlesboro squad that boasted four of the top 10 finishers despite the absence of sophomore standout Mallory James. Rounding out Harlan County’s results were Lainey Garrett (16th, 29:57.66), Taylor Clark (22nd, 33:33.34), Griffin (28th, 37:17.18) and Kiki Dean (32nd, 39:41.72).

Harlan would’ve been in contention as well with one more runner. All four Lady Dragons placed in the top 20, led by senior Lucy Bryson (24:51.09) and junior Ella Morton (25:17.84), who finished fourth and sixth, respectively. Mia Pace (28:02.44) was 13th, followed by Eliza Smith (30:22.81) in 18th place.

Harlan County’s boys continued their consistent winning clip, defeating second-place Lynn Camp by 28 points behind another individual victory by junior Caleb Brock (18:38.00). Daniel Joseph (19:32.34) finished fourth, while Matt Yeary (eighth, 20:40.84), Zack Carmical (ninth, 20:50.59) and Austin Crain (10th, 20:54.88) also posted top-10 finishes. Rounding out the Bears’ results were Lucas Epperson (12th, 21:00.90), Sean Cooper (13th, 21:01.81), Logan Hensley (14th, 21:02.93), Cooper McHargue (15th, 21:24.15), Breydy Daniels (21st, 23:26.59) and Jody Summers (27th, 26:03.53).

Harlan’s Tristen Cornette, a junior, finished 23rd with a time of 24:07.44.

Harlan County’s Nazareth Sanchez and Harlan County Christian’s Olivia Kelly were the individual winners in the middle school races. Sanchez posted a winning time of 16:05.25 in the boys race, followed by Bradley Brock (third, 14:24.59), Kaden Boggs (sixth, 15:39.66) and Seth Coogle (12th, 19:18.97).

Harlan’s Dylan Cox (13:32.18) and Ethan Farley (15:01.28) finished second and fifth, respectively.

Kelly won the girls race with a time of 16:05.25. Harlan County’s Kaydie Coots (21:47.72) finished seventh, followed by Mary Gross (22:02.91) in ninth.

Tanner Daniels led the Harlan County boys to the win in the elementary race, winning the event with a time of 9:21.22. Dashaun Smith (10:15.97) was second. Also finishing in the top 10 for the Bears were Trey Creech (fifth, 11:05.12), Luther Gross (sixth, 11:31.50) and Ethan Lewis (10th, 13:07.88). Rounding out the team’s results were Braxton Crain (11th, 13:36.06), Timothy Hickson (14th, 14:51.78), Carson Sanders (15th, 15:02.81), Kalob Stevens (19th, 16:16.88) and Zakk Collins (21st, 17:20.41). The Bears defeated second-place Arlie Boggs by 18 points.

Arlie Boggs won the girls race behind a strong performance by race winner Destiny Slone (13:33.81). Anna Gross (14:24.38) and Alice Gross (16:31.88) finished third and fifth, respectively, for Harlan County.

The Bears return to action Saturday at Wayne County