Piedmont High School’s cross country teams are used to a high level of success and this year should be no different.
The girls team is eyeing the North Coast Section championships in November. There’s a lot of talent and depth on the roster.
“Our girls team continues to be very solid,” coach Steve Zirkelbach said. “Its going to be a tough and competitive intersquad situation for the girls to vie for those top seven varsity spots. There are probably nine or 10 of them on any day that could be in that rotation.”
The top two are underclassmen and if they can remain healthy, will lead the squad into the future. Skylar Best is now a junior. She made the California Interscholastic Federation championships as a freshman and is now one of the captains.
“Skylar is looking really strong,” Zirkelbach said. “She put in a lot of work this summer and it’s showing. We’re looking forward to diving into some of the tough workouts. I expect her to be ready to race and lead this team. We all have high hopes. But she’s certainly on track to have a very good season.”
Sophomore Leighton Mand is also in line for a strong season. Zirkelbach said Mand is right
there with Best.
Senior Nasreen Schulze is another top runner.
“She just shows up very well in this early part of the season and appears to be focused on having a positive impact on the team this year,” Zirkelbach said.
Others who should be scoring points include junior Cora Chun, senior Caroline Taylor, sophomore Amalia Gray and sophomore Gladwin Horsley.
“I think that our team is going to do very well at the North Coast Section championship meet at Hayward barring any injuries,” Zirkelbach said.
The boys will be led by all-everything sophomore Sebastien Swain, who made the CIF meet as a freshman. He followed that up by having a terrific middle-distance season in track and field.
Junior Noah Sohn will be No. 2 on the ladder.
“Noah caught my eye as one of our standout runners when he was a freshman,” Zirkelbach said. “He just continues to show up and put in the hard work and we can rely on him to score points.”
Sophomore Thomas Ero along with seniors Oliver and Henry Horsley should keep the Highlanders competitive. The Horsley brothers are captains as well. Sophomore Alex Schleuning adds depth along with junior Devon Thai.
The boys team will try to finish in the top half of the West Alameda County Conference. Zirkelbach said there are 14 freshmen new to the program, nine on the boys side and five for the girls.