Highlanders End Volleyball Season with Impressive 12-1 Record

Highlanders beat Moraga, 25-18 and 25-10 Serving was solid from the Highlanders: Hayden Payne had a string of great serves, as did Nicole Cosares and Taylor Chow with 7 aces, and Reina Lowe with 5. Noelle Lautt made many hits and 2 kills, Clare Keating had 5 kills and 3 saves, while Maya Niruluta had 5 kills and solid hits.

The Highlanders were lulled into complacency with an easy 1st game win (25-8) against Berkeley Willard. Gelly Miller and Hayden Payne served strongly, Payne with 6 aces. In the second game, Willard was transformed and passed by the stunned Highlanders to win the game 20 - 25. It was an intense third game with Willard and Piedmont exchanging the lead up to point 12. Piedmont held on to win 15-13 with Kelli Nguyen, Taylor Chow, and Reina Lowe constant in their serving, and Clare Keating with 3 kills and multiple passes. Maya Kiruluta had a beautiful tip at the net.

PMS Cross Country Team Results

A total of 50 team members competed in the meet at Orinda Intermediate School on October 18. For the first time in team history, a bus was used to transport the runners to the meet and back. Previously, team parent drivers have been used, but this was an experiment to see how useful it might be to take everyone on a bus. Based on feedback from the kids and parents who rode the bus it was a success and something that should be tired again. At the meet itself, there was one new school record set for this course. 7th grader Maddie Copeland ran 9:00 minutes even for the 1.25 mile course and broke the old school 7th grade course record by 12 seconds. Other 7th grade girls who ran in the race were Emma Seevak, Alexandra Shoptaugh and Megan Wilensky.

In the 6th grade boys race, the team was led by Blake Gruendl in 6th place. Finishing just a few seconds behind him in 9th place was Peter Wrensen and in 15th place was Hank Shaw. Another top 20 finisher was Kyle Mortimer. A large contingent of 6th grade girls participated and Piedmont had a number of finishers in the top 20. Skyler Liu in 4th place came within 7 seconds of the school course record. She was followed in Nicole Jiang in 6th place, Mia Arthur in 14th, Sabrina Kim in 16th, Gracie Petty in 18th, Addie Christensen in 19th place, and 20th place went to Amelia Eldridge.

The final race of the day was the 7 & 8th grade boys race and three of the PMS boys finished together with Alex Harrison leading the way in 15th place followed by Miles Von Herrman and Michael Kuroda in 16th & 17 place respectively.

The team has one more week of regular season meets and then the league championship meet. More information is available on the team website at: www.pmscc.com

Highlanders Volleyball Sweep 3

The Highlanders beat Martin Luther King - Berkeley's A team at home and B team away this week. In the win at home, it was a battle of serving. In the first game, Piedmont took an early 8 point lead, but King rallied to take the lead at point 20. Taylor Chow was on fire with 10 aces total to push the Highlanders to victory 25 -20. The second game was even more intense with Piedmont taking a 7 point lead in the beginning but King pushed to take the lead at point 24.
The Highlanders held on with consistent serving from Gelly Miller and Hayden Payne. However, it was Taylor Chow again who aced two serves to win the game 29 - 27. In both games, Shelton Rogers hit well and had 3 kills, Clare Keating had 7 kills, and Taylor Chow and Nicole Cosares had multiple assists and strong passes as well as sets.
On October 13, the Highlanders beat King 25-15 and 25-14. In the second game, Reina Lowe, Nicole Cosares, and Noelle Lautt all served strongly. Maya Kiruluta had some impressive kills and Noelle Lautt had some great hits.
Due to a schedule challenge at Moraga, the Highlanders played a game of 30, and decisively won 30-15. Clare Keating had 9 aces and played strong defense, as did Nicole Cosares, who also made several assists. Kelli Nguyen also had 3 aces, Taylor Chow and Reina Lowe had a pair.

PMS Cross Country Team Season Update

After six weeks of competition, the PMS cross country team has proved to be one of the top teams in its league across all four categories in which races are held. The 6th grade boys team has both depth and quality runners with Josh Wood setting a school course record at the Temescal meet on September 30th and Blake Gruendl doing the same at the Prospect Sierra meet on October 14. There are over 120 - 6th grade boys competing in the league, the largest number ever. For the 6th grade girls, Piedmont has its biggest squad ever, over 20 girls are on the team. The top runner for Piedmont in all the races so far has been Ava Podell. Other runners finishing up near the front are Nicole Jiang, Addie Christensen, Sabrina Kim, Skyler Liu, Gracie Petty, and Carlie Houser.

The 7th & 8th grade boys have a number of runners who are very evenly matched and are usually bunched up at the finish. Leading the way is 8th grader Thomas Horn who has been closely followed by Miles Von Herrman and Michael Kuroda, also 8th graders. The league is very evenly balanced in this division, and the championship may very well depend on which school can put their 5th run across the line first. In the case of the 7 & 8th grade girls, the team's top two runners Sofia Lautt and Sarah Ching have unfortunately been beset by injuries. The team hopes to have all its runners at full strength for the league championship meet on November 4th. 7th grade Maddie Copeland has recorded the top times in most of the meets for the team, but 8th grader Sofia Mills, running her first cross country season, has performed very well and set a school course record at the Golden Gate Fields meet on October 11. In a rather unique set of circumstances, the team has three sets of twins on its roster. 6th graders Margaret and Meredith Meagher, 7th graders Kyle and Nicole Bilorusky, and 8th graders Christopher and Matthew Fong. For the first time ever, the cross country team will be taking a bus to the meet at Orinda on October 18th. To follow the team, just go to its website at:

www.pmscc.com

8th Grade Highlanders Football v. OIS Bulldogs

The Piedmont Highlanders faced off against the Orinda Bulldogs on October 13th at Orinda Intermediate School. Early first quarter scoring by both teams set the tone, with Piedmont leading 7 - 6 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter saw a great pass by Gordon Faust and equally spectacular finger-tip catch by Jimmy Roach playing wide receiver. Piedmont led at the half, 14 - 12.

Excellent coaching on the part of both teams was evidenced by only five total penalties. A real see-saw offensive display for both teams in the second half provided an exciting game for spectators, with Piedmont suffering a close loss in the end. Final score: Piedmont, 21; Orinda 26.

8th Grade Scots v. Joaquin Moraga Intermediate

The Fightin’ Scots could not solve the Moraga Marauders Wednesday afternoon at Moraga, as they were blanked 14-0, despite some good running and passing by quarterback Kieran Baack, the runningand receiving of Bennett Barnes, and a potentially key interception and return by Fiachra Collins in the second half. This game wrapped up the first half of the Scots’ season.

8th Grade Volleyball Highlanders Have a Turbulent Week

In the most exciting and rewarding match so far in the season, Coach Woodruff said that the competition from Berkeley Longfellow brought the team together to play hard and to be excited about winning. In the first game, Noelle Lautt and Shelton Rogers made some good hits and digs, but Longfellow came from behind to take the win, 25-23. Piedmont, with wonderful serving from Taylor Chow and Reina Lowe and 5 kills from Maya Kiruluta, easily took the second game 25-11. The Longfellow gym was loud in the tiebreaking third game with Longfellow taking the lead until point 15 when Clare Keating, with an assist by Nicole Cosares, made the kill to tie the game. Keating aced the next serve to take the lead, and Reina Lowe then won the game with a tip at the net: 17-15.

The Highlanders faced stiff competition from Dorris Eaton, keeping within a point of each other up to 20-20 in the first game, but could not return well placed spikes for the last several points giving Dorris Eaton the win 25-22. The Highlanders were shut down in the second game 25-13. Nicole Cosares served strongly, had 4 assists, and set well. Shelton Rogers and Hayden Payne made some great hits in the first game. Maya Kiruluta had 4 kills and strong hits.

Gelly Miller played well with good serving, several hits and several saves in the win against Prospect Sierra, 25-9 and 25-15. Kelli Nguyen had 2 aces, Hayden Payne also had several good serves and hits, Reina Lowe had 8 aces, and Clare Keating had 5 aces. Reina Lowe had multiple kills as well, with many assists and wonderful sets from Nicole Cosares. Taylor Chow had consistent passing in the back row.

The Highlanders record stands at an impressive 7 - 1.

PMS Cross Country Team Hosts Largest Meet in League History

On September 30, the PMS cross country team hosted its annual meet for the East Bay League schools at Temescal Regional Park in Oakland. A record number of runners, 320 in total, from 13 different schools participated in the meet. Last year, there were 260 runners in the meet.

Another first for the league was the use of "chip timing" in timing the runners. This technology makes use of small plastic "chips" or bands worn on the runner shoe laces and as they cross the finish line mats their time place is automatically recorded. Chip timing was used in the 7 & 8th grade races and the League is considering using this technology for its championship meet since results can be generated much faster and the times for the runners are more accurate than timing them by hand.

Four different races were held during the meet starting with the 6th grade Girls race. PMS has its largest 6th grade girls team ever and 22 of them participated in the race. Leading the way for the team was Ava Podell in a time for the 1 mile course of 7:55 and finishing 5th overall. Other PMS finishers in the top 25 runners were, Carlie Houser in 10th, Minnie Cooper in 13th, Addie Christensen in 19th, Nicole Jian in 21st, Sabrina Kim in 22nd and Maxine McCarty in 24th.

The next race, and it was the largest race of the day with 101 runners, was the 6th grade boys. Piedmont had 10 boys in this race and they were lead by Josh Wood in a time of 7:08 for the 1 mile course and a 4th place finish. He also broke the 6th grade boys school record for this course by 2 seconds. Other 6th grade boys who were part of the scoring 5 runners for Piedmont were Kyle Mortimer, Elijah Levy, Lorenzo Rael and Nick Perkocha.

The final two races of the day were the 7 & 8th grade boys and girls, these races were chip timed. In the girls race, PMS only had 3 runners entered, as several runners are out with injuries or illness currently. The top finisher in 8th place was Maddie Copeland and her time for the 1.25 mile course was 8:17. The PMS 2nd runner across the finish line was Sophia Mills in 22nd place and in a time of 8:46, and in 34th place was Emma Seevak in a time of 9:11. The 7 & 8th grade PMS boys team had 15 runners in the race and the top finisher was Thomas Horn in 14th place and a time of 7:53. Also breaking 8 minutes in the race and in 19th place was Max Canty-Hilchey, followed by Matthew Fong (26th place), Michael Kuroda (27th place) and Miles Von Hermann (28th place).

For more information about the team and to review complete results and pictures, go the the team website at:

www.pmscc.com

8th Grade Football Scots v. Dorris-Eaton

Using a combination of passing and running, the Dorris-Eaton squad bested the Scots 20-8 at Coaches Field on Wednesday, September 29. The Scots’ scoring drought was broken by David Dryburgh’s quarterback sack in the opponents end zone late in the first half for 2 points. The Scots’ first touchdown of the season came with Liam Schindler’s punt return early in the second half.