The Diamond Bar High School varsity Cross Country team competed in its first official meet at the 2012 Bronco Invitational at Cal Poly Pomona. Out of 18 schools the boys’ team placed 16th while the girls’ team placed 9th.
The course was 3.1 miles long consisting of grass and hard packed dirt trails with some asphalt and concrete. Senior Kelly Kuo led the girls’ team by finishing in eighteenth place with an overall time of 19:43. Following Kuo was sophomore Ariana Infante who completed the course at 20:26. Next for the Lady Brahmas was senior Annemarie Branks and senior co-captain Casey Lam with times of 21:23 and 22.01 respectively. Close behind Lam was sophomore Jeannie Huang with a time of 22.07 with junior Annaliz Loera finishing it up for the Lady Brahmas clocking in at 23:07. “We had a fast start, but because of the hot temperatures I think we started too fast. However, the team did really good for the first meet of the season,” Lam commented.
“The top three runners did well and everybody showed that they are dedicated to the team. The team did really good. It kept a good pace and all of them pushed very hard toward the end,” Coach Christine Cortez said.
For the boys’ varsity team, senior captain Zachary Unger led the way for the Brahmas finishing with a time of 18:18. Then senior Aaron Wong and sophomore Ryan Alvarado completed the course with times of 18:44 and 18:44 respectively. Sophomore Hamilton Lin came in at 19:24 while his twin brother Harrison Lin finishing it up for the Brahmas at 19:38. The results of the boys’ team were affected by the absence of junior Jacob Unger and senior Jeremy Meyers. “The team did great as we exceeded the expectations we had before the race,” Unger commented.
This is also the first official meet for Coach Cortez. She is replacing last year’s varsity coach Brian Weincek. Cortez was an assistant to him and the track team. “I love Cross Country because the sport’s main aspect is the focus on how the team did,” she expressed.
“It was a good start for the boys because many of the runners are newcomers,” Cortez said. As the Lady Brahmas were able to qualify for CIF last year, Cortez has high expectations expecting both teams to finish in the top three in every league meet.
