Though the track and field season did not end with a winning streak for Diamond Bar High School, there were many individual highlights throughout the season and at CIF.

The boys finished 3-2 in the league, beating Bonita, Glendora and South Hills, and losing to Claremont and Ayala. The girls were 1-4 in the league, only beating South Hills. During league finals held on May 2, the girls placed fourth and the boys placed fifth out of six teams.

Five individual athletes and two relay teams competed in CIF prelims on May 12 at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo.

Among the competitors were senior Samantha Blazek, sophomore Marissa Vasquez and the boys varsity 4×400 relay team. Both individual runners qualified for CIF-SS finals. Vasquez placed fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:14:16. Blazek placed ninth in shot-put, with a distance of 36 feet 8.5 inches, placing her fifth on the list of Top 10 DBHS scores of all time.

The boys varsity 4×400 meters relay team, consisting of juniors Kailen Smith, Timothy Lee, freshmen Jayden Sanchez and senior Christopher Cardozo earned a personal record with a time of 3:27, which earned them the 10th on the Top 10 list of DBHS times.

Vasquez went on becoming the CIF Division 1 800 meters champion on May 19, breaking her school record with a time of 2:11.98.

Even though the girls team finished league with a losing record, several female athletes found individual success and even managed to break school records.

Senior Clara Ru broke the school record for the 100 meters hurdles event and placed second overall in the league finals. Although this was her first year competing in the hurdles event, she was able to break the record by a tenth of a second, with a time of 15.89 seconds.

Blazek had another successful season, after winning the league champion for the shot put event. This season, she was duel league champion in both the shot put and discus event.

“I was also able to become more aware of myself, meaning my various forms to throw,” Blazek said via text.

Due to the lack of funding from the district, the track and field team will not be competing in pole vault and high jump events next season, according to coach Cooke. For the track and field team, the district provides for only five coaches, leaving the track team to pay for extra coaches with their team budget.

“In order to save money, I have decided to not pay for any coaches that are not covered by district stipends next year… which means we will not have high jump or pole vault teams next year, “ Cooke said.