Men’s Cross Country
Graduate student Walker Capelle capped off his collegiate cross country career by making Piedmont history, winning an individual conference championship as the Lions placed second in the CCS Men’s Cross Country Championship on Nov. 1.
“It was a great day to represent Piedmont at the conference level last weekend,” said Capelle. “Getting a win at conference level and being the first to do that in school history is pretty awesome.”
Capelle finished first with a time of 26:21:30, making him the first CCS men’s cross country champion. Not too far behind him was senior Layton Bradford, who finished just 10 seconds behind Capelle, taking second place. Another senior, Tucker Cox, also finished in the top 10 with a time of 28:11:60 taking 8th place. Piedmont finished with three runners in the top 10 and an average time of 27.52, but as a team fell just short of CCS champion Covenant College, who ended the 8k with an average time of 27.40.
Earlier this week, Capelle was also named CCS runner of the year. “It’s all just a testament to the training and discipline that Coach Jimison has installed upon me this year,” Capelle said.
—Skylar Smith
Women’s Cross Country
Junior Skyler Seeber won the individual championship, pacing the Piedmont women’s cross country team to a 3rd-place finish last weekend in the CCS Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.
“Obviously, 3rd wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we tried our best and worked hard,” said Junior Bella Caccamo, who ran a personal record (PR) time of 26:01.8 finishing second for the Lady Lions and 15th overall. “We’re going to keep our heads high, work hard and focus on region in a couple of weeks.”
Seeber took home the first CCS Title of the 2024-25 season with a PR time of 23:36.5 in the 6k. Senior Tanea Davis also gained a PR time of 26:25.4 to take 20th overall, while junior Hannah Marlowe finished 24th with a PR time of 26:49.8.
—Damyon Traylor
Women’s Golf
Junior Erin Donovan’s first-place finish paced the Piedmont University women’s golf team as they finished their fall season last week at the Chick-fil-A Invitational, placing an impressive fifth overall (out of 15 teams). Donovan claimed the individual title, shooting -3, the only golfer in the 82-women field to finish under par on the historically difficult Stonebridge Golf Club course in Rome.
“I think she was able to win this event due to consistent ball-striking and pacing on the greens,” said head coach Hannah Satterfield. “She also had a great mindset and stayed patient both days.”
Donovan shot a total of six birdies in the first round. During the first seven holes of the final round, Donovan remained +1, however, she secured her big win by putting up back-to-back birdies on the back nine.
Senior Abigail Williams finished second for Piedmont and 29th overall, finishing +20. Senior Sarah Fox and sophomore Keegan Goins also made strong comebacks in the final round, as Fox improved her score by 12 strokes and Goins improved her score by five strokes, finishing 37th and 44th, respectively.
Looking ahead, the Lady Lions will prepare for the upcoming spring season, hoping to keep the momentum going from this fall.
—Ansleigh Dubose
Men’s Soccer
The Piedmont men’s soccer season came to a conclusion on Oct. 30 with a 5-1 defeat against Asbury University in the first round of the CCS Tournament.
“We could have had a really strong season, but there’s a lot of unfortunate things that happened,” said junior goalkeeper Collin Sheeler. “The only thing we can do next year to improve is try to clean up our mistakes.”
Asbury struck first for the first goal of the contest in the 29th minute. The Lions were able to answer back with a goal in the 34th minute by sophomore Davis Knight, his 11th goal of the season. Unfortunately, just four minutes later Asbury found a gap in the Piedmont back line and to go up 2-1.
From there, Asbury continued to add goals, scoring three more times in the second half for the 5-1 win. This marks the second consecutive season in which the Lions have fallen in the first round of the CCS Tournament.
Piedmont concludes the season with a 7-9-2 record, 2-4 in conference play.
—Zach Avila
Volleyball
The Lady Lions volleyball team finished 1-2 on the week, grabbing a win in a sweep against Agnes Scott and dropping the next two against Asbury and Huntington. The weekend was highlighted by senior middle hitter Jessica Sconyers setting a new career high in kills with 18 against Huntington.
“I felt great this past week about the team overall. Everyone worked super hard, and everyone stayed positive,” Sconyers said. “I’m so happy I set a new career high in kills twice in one season. It was my last regular game of the season, and my parents were there in person to watch, so that made me feel good.”
On Wednesday, the Lady Lions traveled to Decatur and defeated Agnes Scott College in three sets. The Lady Lions opened behind 20-15 in the first set, but managed to finish with a 9-0 run to win 25-21. The Lions received assistance from seven mistakes made by the Scotties in the set. In the next set, the Scotties gained an early lead of 7-3, putting the Lions in a position where they had to come from behind again. However, Piedmont fought back to a 22-22 tie before earning the final three points for a 25-22 victory. The Lady Lions dominated the third set with a decisive 25-11 win.
During the weekend the Lions dropped both matches against Asbury University and Huntington College in a tri-match in Birmingham, Alabama. The Asbury Eagles dominated most of the game, but the Lions showed a fight in the first two sets. Asbury came out aggressively, achieving a hitting percentage above .300 in the three sets while maintaining a .354 hitting average for the entire match. Senior Katie Hubbard was the top scorer for Piedmont with 10 kills.
In the second match of the day, Piedmont quickly took an 11-4 lead in the first set and went on to win the set 25-14. Trailing in the second set, Piedmont briefly rallied to take the lead near the end before Huntingdon rallied back to win 25-22, tying the match at 1-1. In a closely contested match, Piedmont extended the game to the fifth set with a score of 26-24 when Manzo’s assist led to a kill by Hubbard. However, the Lions lost momentum in the fifth set, allowing the Hawks to secure a 15-6 victory. In addition to Sconyers’ 18 kills, Hubbard posted 17 kills and Senior Brit Tallevast added 12.
“I feel like we all played well — communication could be a little better but we kept up with Huntingdon and stayed aggressive,”Sconyers said.
Coming up next, the Lions (6-18, 6-10 in the CCS) are set to compete in the Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament, which opens Tuesday in a to-be-determined location.
—Isaiah Jones
