The Piedmont High School cross country teams had a successful trip to Moraga on Sept. 6 at the St. Mary’s Invitational on the campus of St. Mary’s College.
The Highlander girls were packed together, leading to a second-place team finish. Leighton Mand finished 17th on the two-mile course in 12 minutes, 45.15 seconds and Skylar Best in 18th in 12:48.06. Not far back were Viviane Oesterer in 20th (12:56.31) and Amalia Gray in 21st (12:57.70). Cora Brozowski Schrader completed the scoring in 24th in 13:02.31.
Nikita Gorelik was 30th in 13:11.72 with Gladwin Horsley was 44th in 13:53.61.
Leighton Mand 
Kelsey Coleman 
Skylar Best
Piedmont totaled 81 points, edging Berkeley (83) for second place behind Branham-San Jose (53).
The Highlander boys were led by Noah Sohn in 13th place in 10:37.06. Alex Schleuning finished 20th in 10:45.39. Ian Chung took 26th in 10:53.57 with Aaron Bennett clocking 10:55.02 to take 30th.
Devon Thai was 42nd in 11:12.27. Joseph Ichimaru was 83rd in 11:59.95.
Dylan Wallway 
Ken Tran and Aaron Bennet
Piedmont finished with 130 points, good for third place in the team scoring. Branham again won with 30 points with California-San Ramon next with 85.
It was the first competition of the season for the Highlanders. Piedmont will next compete at the Ed Sias Invitational in Martinez on Sept. 13.
Photos courtesy of Steve Zirkelbach