Piedmont High School’s cross country teams had a successful meet on Sept. 25, sweeping San Leandro in West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division competition. The dual meet was part of a larger meet involving several WACC schools on the three-mile course at Point Pinole in Richmond.
In the girls race, the Highlanders beat the Pirates, 16-47. Skylar Best was fifth overall in 19 minutes, 20.02 seconds. Amalia Gray was ninth in 19:53.96. Cora Chun was 17th (20:22.07), Leighton Mand 19th (20:30.85) and Caroline Taylor 22nd (20:33.55). Violet Lau was the top San Leandro finisher in 20th (2030.93). Mara Kemp-Malone (27th, 21:07.34) and Gladwin Horsley (29th, 21:12.38) were the other Piedmont runners in the top 30. Berkeley’s Carina Nottingham was the top overall finisher on the day in 17:49.55.
The boys team race was much closer with Piedmont winning, 27-28. Sebastien Swain was eighth for the Highlanders in 16:17.75. Noah Sohn was 15th in 16:43.07. Alex Schleuning finished 30th in 17:29.66 followed by Oliver Horsley in 34th (17:35.72). Thomas Ero was the final scorer for Piedmont (37th, 17:36.98). Henry Horsley was 48th in 18:08.36 while Dresden Schulte-Sasse was 68th in 19:11.45.
San Leandro was led by third-place finisher Jmel Tesfai (15:37.42). Randolph St. James was 13th for the Pirates in 16:33.50. Bishop O’Dowd dominated the overall boys race, taking 1-2-5-9-10-11-14. Ennio Eilenberg won in 15:31.11.
“Just about every returning athlete on the team had either a distance or course PR,” Highlanders coach Steve Zirkelbach said of his teams. “Of the varsity boys, Noah and Thomas had the most significant improvements over the three-mile distance and Alex Schleuning ran a very competitive race, moving up to the third position for the team.”
He added, “The girls team continues to demonstrate their focus and dedication to improving and helping each other compete as a team.”
Zirkelbach said Mand was running her first race of the season after missing three weeks with an injury.