Piedmont High School’s cross country program should continue as one of the stronger ones in the East Bay this season, despite the fact the Highlander boys team will miss star junior Sebastien Swain, who had surgery to deal with a circulation issue in his legs over the summer. He may be back by the end of the season, according to coach Steve Zirkelbach.
“Sebastien will be rejoining us next week for some very, very light work,” Zirkelbach said. “He’ll be working through some physical therapy with limited amounts of running for the next several weeks.
“We’re gonna play it by ear. We don’t want to rush anything for sure. We want to make sure that he’s healthy and recovered and have a great track season. If he can run at the end of this season, that would be great. He has a lot of catchup to do. We just might not have enough time to get him to racing.”
Missing a state-meet caliber athlete could be a problem. But the Highlanders are pretty deep. Zirkelbach is excited that three of his top seven boy runners are sophomores and that there are 14 freshmen in the program.
Junior Alex Schleuning will help lead the pack. “He’s looking really strong,” Zirkelbach said. “He had a really good summer of training. He ran a 10 (kilometer) race at the end of July and set a 5K PR en route.”
Sophomores Ian Chung and Aaron Bennett should be at the top of the ladder as well. “Ian and Aaron are very hard-working and focused sophomores,” Zirkelbach said. “five minutes in the mile last track season.”
A pair of seniors round out the top five, at least to start the season. Zirkelbach called Devon Thai “a steady, reliable runner.” He said Alex Sohn has been a “consistently strong racer and performer for us.”
He added, “Even without Sebastien at the front, the rest of the crew is still pretty talented.”
Skylar Best 
Cora Chun in 2022 
Leighton Mand at CIF Cross Country State Championship Meet
The girls are also returning several strong runners. Junior Leighton Mand leads the way. Senior Skylar Best, who went to the California Interscholastic Federation cross country championships as a freshman, should be near the top as well. Sophomore Nikita Gorelik is looking to build on an outstanding freshman year in track and cross country.
Mand, and now junior Amalia Gray, both qualified for the CIF championships last season.
Seniors Cora Chun and Mara Kemp-Malone should be strong along with junior Cora Brozowski-Schrader. “Our girls team again is deep,” Zirkelbach said. “The girls are going to make a run for top spot at North Coast. We were fortunate to only have lost one of our senior runners from last year (Caroline Taylor).”
The season opens with a meet at St. Mary’s College in Moraga on Sept. 6.