As the Diamond Bar High School cross country team approaches the end of their season, the athletes await their third League Meet that will determine if they have secured a spot in this year’s CIF. 

During their second league meet on Oct 14, junior Simon Worku finished third for the varsity boys division, while senior Carissa Jeon also finished third for the varsity girls division. Besides the two top-finishers, 20 athletes also managed to surpass their personal records. In terms of the team results, varsity boys took fourth place, while varsity girls took fifth place. 

“This season I think the freshman sophomore boys division will be able to make it to CIF as a team. They have consistently placed first in our league, so it’s very likely they’ll move on to CIF,” sophomore L’Mio Edwards said via Instagram. “As for individuals, Simon and I have a good chance at advancing to CIF.”

Recently, on Oct 23, the varsity cross country team raced at one of their most important competitions — the Mt. SAC invitational. For all the athletes, except Jeon, this was a course that the team was unfamiliar with. Jeon, who ran the course before the pandemic,  improved her time by around three and a half minutes, with a time of 20:13 and placed 17th out of 84 runners. Overall, the boys team placed 13th out of 21 teams while the girls team placed 9th out of 17 teams.

The third and final League Meet is today. If cross country does not make it to the CIF, the season will be over for the team as a whole, but individuals can still make it to the CIF Individual competition.