Women’s Golf
Paced by another record-setting performance from sophomore Erin Donovan, the women’s golf team took fifth place at the Joe and Lee Duncan Invitational, going +58 as a team playing against some strong competition both days.
“I think as a team we did a great job facing adversity,” said sophomore Erin Donovan. “There were a lot of things going against us, but everyone stayed within themselves. I am very proud of the way I played.”
Donovan opened the final day a few shots from the lead, but defended her title by finishing -5 in the Invitational and breaking her own Piedmont record for low to par shooting by carding a 69 (-3) in the final round. “I felt really confident going into today and was able to pull out a win,” she said.
Junior Sarah Fox also finished in the top 20, coming in 17th place with an 82 in the final round.
The Lady Lions will travel to Montgomery, Alabama on Sept. 24 to tee off in the Montgomery Women’s Intercollegiate Invitational.
—Nathan Mix
Men’s Cross-Country
Senior Gary Halverson finished in 26 minutes and 3 seconds, impressively setting a new personal best for the first 8k of the season. Out of over 100 runners, Halverson finished tenth, just three seconds away from breaking the school record.
“We’re getting our minds right for conference,” junior Tucker Cox commented on the inspiring performance from Halverson. Cox finished in the top half of the group with a 28:23.6, one second short of his personal best.
The Lions have a well-rounded team, with 5 of the 11 runners in the UNG Invitational being freshmen. The program has great depth for the season and years to come.
“I had a good kick, and it went great,” said freshman Grady Sanders, who finished with a 29:33.9 in his first collegiate 8k. “It was a good warm up for the season.”
As the Lions look to the future with the youth of the program, they don’t forget the previous record-setting athletes from the cross-country team. Alumni Darius Smith and Connor Creedon attended the race on Friday to support their former teammates. “It was fantastic and surprised me. Seeing Darius and Connor motivated me to run faster,” said Cox.
Next, the Lions will travel to the Berry College Invitational in Mount Berry, Georgia, on Saturday, Sept. 30.
—Paige Kluba
Women’s Cross-Country
As the lone Division III team competing, the Piedmont Women’s cross-country team embarked on their second race of the fall season at the University of North Georgia Invite. When the gun fired, the Lady Lions ran away from their anxiety and self-doubt, and towards relief and accomplishment waiting at the finish line.
“The worst part of the race was the start line,” said graduate student and record breaker Jaycie Ponce. Every single one of the Lady Lions and competitors from various schools began their mental battle before they even lined up. The feelings and emotions that crept up as the racers took their mark started a fight that persisted with every step. The pinnacle of the race is typically when the racer hits what’s called a ‘runners high.’ This is when the runner is in his or her zone, and it’s not something you can search and seize, it’s something that comes with being an experienced long-distance runner. Going into the last lap was when push came to shove and their bodies took over their minds. No matter how fatigued, the Lions hit the gas. “During the last lap, it was time to leave everything I had out there.”
The entire Piedmont women’s team finished the race, and some finished their first ever collegiate race. As group, the Lady Lions took sixth place out of nine teams. Ponce paced Piedmont, finishing with a time of 19:04.4, finishing 13th out of 68 finishers.
“It made me want to push myself to stick with them and push myself to catch other girls in front of me,” said Ponce.
This race being one of many this season, there were highs and lows and plenty of potential for growth as the Lions proceed. The pride stuck together, and the support amongst Piedmont women’s cross-country was essential to their success. This season is an important one for a particular Lady Lion who has stood out from start to finish, even in her fifth and final year for Piedmont. “Knowing that it’s my last season running cross country ever, I want to put my best foot forward now more than ever,” said Ponce.
The Lady Lions line up at the start again on Sept. 30 at the Berry College Invitational.
—Abbey Grace Venham
Men’s Golf
The men’s golf team placed 17th with a team score of 303 at the Gate City Invitational on Sept. 18-19.
“We all keep our chins up when things aren’t going our way, one of our stronger parts of all our games,” said sophomore Adam Rogers.
The Lions struggled to get started with Rogers pacing the team with a 3-over 74 in the first round. Piedmont ended the first round with a team score of 308 and a second-round team score of 300. Freshman Tom Yao led the team with a solid 1-over 72 in the second round, having the best round for Piedmont on Monday. In the second round, Rogers led with four birdies but had three double bogeys resulting in a 5-over 76. The Lions ended the day placing 15th on team leaderboard.
To start off Tuesday’s play, Piedmont was led by Rogers and Josh Hebrink with a pair of 74s. Both Rogers and Hebrink then shoot identical rounds with a pair of birdies with five bogeys. Adam Rogers continued to pace the team on day two. With the final counting score coming down to Cam Lucas, he delivered a 79.
“Our team struggled on the greens this week as they were different than we practice on, which can make it difficult to judge green space,” Rogers said.
The Lions will next compete at the Tartan Invitational in Ligonier, Pennsylvania on Oct. 9-10.
—Bailee Nolan
Women’s Tennis
The Women’s Tennis team took part in the Huntingdon Invitational in Montgomery, Alabama last weekend.
“The Huntingdon Invitational was great for our team,” said Head Coach Trey Martin. “They let us divide into two teams, so we played six total dual matches in the two-day window. We competed against D3 schools and JUSCOs across the southeast. Even though our team was divided into half, we won or tied every round we played in.”
It was a long weekend for the team, but regardless of rain delays and waking up early, the Lady Lions still managed to pull through with 37 combined wins throughout the weekend — 10 in doubles and 27 in singles. The entire team left it all out there on the court and pushed through some intense competition with schools like Coastal Alabama and Wallace State coming through with high UTR-level players.
“We might have been spread out over the tennis complex and playing at different times, but we stuck together and supported each other immensely as a team,” said senior Abbey Grace Venham, who finished 1-1 in singles and 1-0 in doubles on the day.
Piedmont would win on both days with a combined record of 37-14.
The Lady Lions will travel to Tennessee to compete at the ITA regionals in Suwanee on Sept. 29-30.
—Zane Brookshire
Men’s Golf
The men’s golf team fought hard in the Gate City Invitational in Greensboro, North Carolina Sept. 18-19, finishing in 17thwith a score of 911.
With all counting scores in the middle to high seventies, the men’s golf team did not play to their potential. Sophomore Adam Rogers led the Lions this weekend with rounds of 74-76-74. Rogers carded 7 birdies during the 54-hole event, the most for the team. Senior Josh Hebrink followed closely behind Rogers shooting a total of 227. The Lions struggled this week, scoring a team total 911, finishing in 17th of 18 teams. Emory University won the event scoring 831 to win by 16 strokes.
In terms of the team, Rogers says that this performance will not deter the Lions, “We are a hardworking group and will be focusing on areas of improvement…to help us at out next event.”
The Lions will travel to Ligonier, Pennsylvania next for the Tartan Invitational Oct. 9-10.
—Erin Donovan
Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer team continued their slump after a 4-0 loss on Sunday to Oglethorpe. After starting the season off strong, the Lions seemingly have come back down to Earth dropping their third game in a row. But head coach Jimmy Stephens felt good about how the team performed.
“We knew they’d probably be a little better than us,” Stephens said. “We gained more from this game than we did from Pfeifer.”
From the initial whistle, the Lions were put on their backfoot and within the first few minutes were down 2-0. But after that the Lions defense truly clamped down and made it difficult for Oglethorpe to score the rest of the half. It was almost the same result when the second half kicked off as the Stormy Petrels were able to score two more goals on a Lions defense playing without Delroy Mattis and Muhammed Alsuweydi.
Goalkeeper Bobby Wood was busy all afternoon defending against 25 shots and only allowing 4 total goals. “Today was a tough one” says goalie Bobby Wood. “We really wanted to come out here, against a tough opponent like Oglethorpe and show that we are a team to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, they had their way with us and we came out too slow and too defensive to set ourselves up on the attack.”
Getting the ball to lead scorer Davis Knight has been a consistent problem for the Lions, as Piedmont has suffered offensively in the past week after scoring 12 goals in the first three matches of the season.
The Lions (2-3-1) will face off against Southern Virginia University (3-2-1) on Sept. 22.
—Eric Edmondson & Simon Johnstone
