By Leslie Lim 

Staff Writer 

   On Oct. 8, Gabrielino High School’s Cross Country team will be competing at the second Mission Valley League meet at Bonelli Park at 3 p.m.

   Three days ago, the Eagles competed against 21 schools at the Billy York Invitational hosted at the Riverside City Cross Country Course. Scores were unavailable at press time. 

   On Sept. 21, the Eagles competed at the Kenny Staub/John Barnes Invitational at Crescenta Valley Park. Boys sophomore placed fifth out of five with a score of 116, and boys JV placed second out of two with a score of 47. Boys varsity placed fifth out of twelve with a score of 158. 

   “This year’s team is super strong and there’s a lot of runners who want to do well,” stated Quyen Le, senior. “We’ve been training and doing well at the past races, so I know we’re going to do great this season.” 

   On Sept. 11, Gabrielino raced at the first Mission Valley League meet of the year. Boys varsity placed fifth out of seven, with a score of 104 and girls varsity placed second out of seven with a score of 76, trailing behind Rosemead by only three points. 

  “The season started off a little rough,” Ryan Kammerman, Gabrielino Cross Country Coach stated. “We started the season off with three injuries but that only shows potential for the future.” 

   Notably, Nicolas DiConti, junior, placed 2nd, and Kristin Song, sophomore, placed 9th.

   When asked about her success, Song stated, “I don’t think about that too much, I’m really just here for my teammates and friends. I’ll just keep doing what I have been doing and [will] just see what happens.” 

   The Eagles competed at the Rosemead Invitational on Sept. 7. with the boys sophomore team placing 26th out of 33 with a score of 660, and the boys senior team placing 18th out of 26 with a score of 462. 

   During the race, DiConti broke a school record, running 3 miles with a time of 15:35, a record previously held by Jayson Espinosa with a time of 15:34. 

   “Breaking the school record is a huge accomplishment for me but it’s only the start because I know I’m going to keep breaking records” stated DiConti. 

  This is my fourth and final year competing in Cross Country. I hope to do well and hit new [personal records]” stated Brandon Du, senior.