Piedmont High School’s cross country season competed at the North Coast Section championships on November 18 at Hayward High with Sebastien Swain the only qualifier for the California Interscholastic Federation championships.
The Highlanders girls finished sixth in the Division 4 team competition with 150 points. The boys were eighth in Division 4 with 194 points.
Freshman Swain was the top Highlander boy, taking 13th overall on the three-mile course in 16 minutes, 29.5 seconds. He qualified for the CIF meet on November 25 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Senior Xander Schulte-Sasse, coming off of a leg injury, was 24th in 16:50.5. He was racing for the first time in nearly a month.
Henry Horsley, Xander Schulte-Sasse, Sebastien Swain, Julian Lee, Noah Sohn, Thomas Ero, Oliver Horsley
Senior Julien Lee was 27th in 16:57.2. Sophomore Noah Sohn took 60th in 18:05.5 and freshman Thomas Ero was Piedmont’s final scorer, finishing 72nd in 18:33.6. Juniors Henry Horsley (76th, 18:49.7) and Oliver Horsley (81st, 19:06.5) rounded out the Highlanders team.
“Sebastien Swain’s poise, determination and good racing aptitude allowed him to rise to the occasion,” Piedmont coach Steve Zirkelbach said.
Zirkelbach added that Ero’s time was an 18-second improvement and personal-best.
Sophomore Cora Chun was the top Highlanders girl finisher in 21st place with a time of 20:45.9. Skylar Best, who made the state meet a year ago as a freshman, was 25th in 20:52.9. Freshman Leighton Mand was 32nd in 21:05.4. Freshman Cora Brozowski Schrader was 36th in 21:10.7 and freshman Amalia Gray 50th in 21:55.8. Non-scorers were senior Jamie Schwarz in 57th (22:29.2) and freshman Gladwin Horsley in 74th (22:54.9).
Leighton Mand
The girls Division 4 race was the final race of 10 on the course.
“The course had become very muddy and slippery,” Zirkelbach said. “Our young team worked very hard, but was just not able to pull together the finishes necessary for them to advance to the state meet.”
Acalanes won the girls Division 4 team title with 57 points, well in front of St. Mary’s-Albany (73). Olivia Williams of Acalanes was the individual champion in 18:02.6.
Miramonte won the boys team Division 4 title with 50 points, with Archie Williams second with 69. Albany’s Lucas Cohen was the individual winner in 15:17.7.