Highlanders produce good marks at DLS
The Piedmont High School cross country teams produced some strong performances at the De La Salle/Nike Invitational on September 20 at Newhall Park in Concord.
The Highlanders girls edged West Alameda County Conference rival Bishop O’Dowd for 13th in the varsity girls race. Unlike some invitationals, there was just one division for varsity teams.
Piedmont and the Dragons both scored 386 points but the Highlanders had the better sixth running in Nikita Gorelik who finished 121st across the line in 21 minutes, 44.8 seconds on the three-mile course. Bishop O’Dowd’s Jolie Gensler was 138th in 22:14.1.
At the top of the Piedmont ladder was Leighton Mand in 62nd (20:26.4). Skylar Best was 66th in 20:35.1 with Amalia Gray 83rd in 20:53.9. Cora Brozowski Schrader finished 95th in 21:09.4 and Viviane Oesterer took 104th in 21:21.2.
Branson-Ross’s Farah Allen was first overall in 17:18.8. Archie Williams-San Anselmo was first overall by 27 points, placing four runners in the top 18 and scoring 73 points.
Piedmont’s boys team finished 24th with 628 points. Alex Schleuning was the top Highlander, coming home 77th overall in 16:59.0. Aaron Bennett was 107th in 17:17.6 followed by Dylan Wallway in 142nd (17:51.8). Devon Thai and Ian Chung completed the scoring, finishing back-to-back in 163rd and 164th. Thai timed an 18:07.6 and Chung recorded an 18:08.6.
Elias Thronson of Davis won the race in 15:02.5. Dublin took the team title with 115 points, five in front of Willow Glen-San Jose.