diff --git a/.kokoro/build.sh b/.kokoro/build.sh
index 2ffb5ef7f..bcd1e410c 100755
--- a/.kokoro/build.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/build.sh
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ case ${JOB_TYPE} in
 test)
     mvn test -B
     bash ${KOKORO_GFILE_DIR}/codecov.sh
+    bash .kokoro/coerce_logs.sh
     ;;
 lint)
     mvn com.coveo:fmt-maven-plugin:check
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@ javadoc)
     ;;
 integration)
     mvn -B ${INTEGRATION_TEST_ARGS} -DtrimStackTrace=false -fae verify
+    bash .kokoro/coerce_logs.sh
     ;;
 *)
     ;;
diff --git a/.kokoro/coerce_logs.sh b/.kokoro/coerce_logs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..5cf7ba49e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.kokoro/coerce_logs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright 2019 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This script finds and moves sponge logs so that they can be found by placer
+# and are not flagged as flaky by sponge.
+
+set -eo pipefail
+
+## Get the directory of the build script
+scriptDir=$(realpath $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"))
+## cd to the parent directory, i.e. the root of the git repo
+cd ${scriptDir}/..
+
+job=$(basename ${KOKORO_JOB_NAME})
+
+echo "coercing sponge logs..."
+for xml in `find . -name *-sponge_log.xml`
+do
+  echo "processing ${xml}"
+  class=$(basename ${xml} | cut -d- -f2)
+  dir=$(dirname ${xml})/${job}/${class}
+  text=$(dirname ${xml})/${class}-sponge_log.txt
+  mkdir -p ${dir}
+  mv ${xml} ${dir}/sponge_log.xml
+  mv ${text} ${dir}/sponge_log.txt
+done
diff --git a/.kokoro/continuous/common.cfg b/.kokoro/continuous/common.cfg
index c710020cd..f8fd3e46e 100644
--- a/.kokoro/continuous/common.cfg
+++ b/.kokoro/continuous/common.cfg
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 action {
   define_artifacts {
     regex: "**/*sponge_log.xml"
+    regex: "**/*sponge_log.txt"
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/.kokoro/nightly/common.cfg b/.kokoro/nightly/common.cfg
index c710020cd..f8fd3e46e 100644
--- a/.kokoro/nightly/common.cfg
+++ b/.kokoro/nightly/common.cfg
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 action {
   define_artifacts {
     regex: "**/*sponge_log.xml"
+    regex: "**/*sponge_log.txt"
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/.kokoro/presubmit/common.cfg b/.kokoro/presubmit/common.cfg
index cb3713153..60e54db1c 100644
--- a/.kokoro/presubmit/common.cfg
+++ b/.kokoro/presubmit/common.cfg
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 action {
   define_artifacts {
     regex: "**/*sponge_log.xml"
+    regex: "**/*sponge_log.txt"
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/.kokoro/release/stage.sh b/.kokoro/release/stage.sh
index b1b1b01c6..3c482cbc5 100755
--- a/.kokoro/release/stage.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/release/stage.sh
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ create_settings_xml_file "settings.xml"
 
 mvn clean install deploy -B \
   --settings ${MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE} \
+  -DskipTests=true \
   -DperformRelease=true \
   -Dgpg.executable=gpg \
   -Dgpg.passphrase=${GPG_PASSPHRASE} \
diff --git a/synth.metadata b/synth.metadata
index 2f87a2dce..b96efe38f 100644
--- a/synth.metadata
+++ b/synth.metadata
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 {
-  "updateTime": "2019-10-15T08:01:34.848472Z",
+  "updateTime": "2019-10-18T07:51:47.043086Z",
   "sources": [
     {
       "template": {
         "name": "java_library",
         "origin": "synthtool.gcp",
-        "version": "2019.5.2"
+        "version": "2019.10.17"
       }
     }
   ]