Highlander harriers have fought to compete at some key invitationals:
At the St. Mary’s Invitational on Sept. 5 in Moraga, the boys team scored 260 points to finish eighth in the team competition. Alex Schleuning was 26th in 10 minutes, 47.02 seconds on the two-mile course. Dresden Schulte-Sasse took 36th in 10:51.57. Dylan Wallway was 46th (10:58.79) while Aaron Bennett was 53rd (11:01.35). Blake Riff completed the scoring in 113rd (11:59.69). Jack Shim was a non-scoring 119th (12:05.57) and Rohan Seshan was 120th (12:05.60).
Branham’s Alex Garza (9:58.91) and Carter Helms (10:08.88) went 1-2 to help the Bruins win the team title over Woodside, 71-73.
The girls team was 10th with 293 points. Camille Hauser led Piedmont in 46th in 13:19.95 with Cora Brozowski Schrader right behind her in 13:21.42. Nikita Gorelik was 55th in 13:29.41, followed by Viviane Oesterer in 69th (13:50.36) and Madeleine Ewen in 83rd (14:13.06).
Northgate’s Olivia Joseph won the race in 11:16.44, helping the Broncos to the team title with 63 points.
On Sept. 12, the Highlanders competed at the Ed Sias Invitational at Hidden Valley Park in San Ramon. The boys were led by Schulte-Sasse who took 31st on the two-mile course in 11:19.65. Wallway was 46th in 11:45.12, with Luca LaForte 66th in 12:24.91, Riff 81st in 13:00.94, and Shim 86th in 13:10.72.
Cameron Jones of Maria Carillo won the race in 10:04.05. The Pumas won the team race with 57 points.
Piedmont girls had only four runners and didn’t qualify for team scores. Oesterer was 30th in 14:06.69 with Brozowski Schrader 33rd in 14:10.57 and Hauser 37th in 14:27.70. Ewen took 71st in 15:45.76.
Highlanders coach Steve Zirkelbach said both Oesterer and Hauser had great races.
Lorelei Fairclough of Las Lomas won the race in 12:05.51, just in front of Emma Logan of Miramonte (12:06.71). The Matadors were the team winners with 35 points.
Piedmont is scheduled to compete in the De La Salle Invitational on Sept. 19 at Newhall Park in Concord.