Eagle Sports: US Girls Tennis Hammers Rival, MS and LS Softball Teams and Grade 6 Flag Football Undefeated
Harker Girls Tennis
After their 3-0 week against CCS-quality opponents which ended with a rout of rival Sacred Heart Prep, Harker hosts powerhouse Menlo this Thursday at Blackford in a battle for first place. As Dan Molin, athletic director, said, “If you were to watch any girls tennis match, this would be the one!”
Harker Girls Water Polo
In sudden-death overtime last Tuesday, girls water polo snatched a victory over Monta Vista, 8-7, with Keri Clifford, grade 12, scoring 7 goals and Sonia Sidhu, grade 12, picking up the other. Sierra Lincoln, grade 12, made eight stops in goal. The girls play an away game against Saratoga High on Thursday.
Harker Girls Varsity Volleyball
Girls varsity volleyball went 2-0 last week with victories against King’s Academy and Santa Clara, improving to 10-1 overall. Their sterling record will be challenged when the girls hit the road to play two games away from home this week.
Harker Cross Country
At the Ram Invitational at Westmoor High this Saturday, Corey Gonzalez, grade 10, placed eighth out of 211 runners, running the 2.4 mile course in 12:46 and improving his time from last year by a full minute. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed 18th out of 165 runners, and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, set a new personal best with her time. Thursday marks the first league meet for these runners.
Harker Football
Two touchdown passes from quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, to Kevin Moss, grade 11, were not enough as Harker fell to Cupertino this Friday, 40-13. The boys will get a chance to even their record, which now stands at 2-3, when they face off against Gunn this Friday night at Davis Field. There are only three home games, including Homecoming, remaining in Harker’s football season.
Harker Middle School and Lower School Girls Softball
Lower school and middle school girls softball teams are both off to undefeated starts to the season, with the grades 6-8 team standing at 3-0 in league play and the grades 4-5 team at 4-0.
The middle school team was locked in a tie for first place with Castilleja until Kristin LeBlanc, grade 7, knocked in Grace Park, grade 8, for a game-winning run with a base hit to defeat the Castilleja Gators, 6-5, and give Harker sole possession of first place, a game ahead of Castilleja. Meghan Robertson, grade 6, pitched an outstanding game, and Anika Rajamani, grade 6, Marti Sutton, grade 8, Tiffany Shou, grade 7, and Livinia Ding, grade 8, all came up with big plays to contribute to the victory.
The lower school girls team also has on lock on first place in its league after defeating Woodland for the second time this year. Arushi Nety, grade 5, has three doubles and two triples in her last two games, and Haley Arena, grade 5, and Courtni Thompson, grade 4, made important catches to preserve the Eagles’ last victory.
Flag Football
The grade 8 flag football team stands at 2-3 this year. Led by quarterback Alex Youn and wide receivers Nicolas Bean and Nik Weisbloom, Harker pulled off an exciting and tense 9-6 victory against Crystal Springs recently. After a season of close games, the boys are preparing for the Harker flag football tournament this weekend.
The grade 7 flag football team lost a tough 12-0 game to the Menlo Knights last week, dropping to a 1-3 record despite strong defensive play all year. James Shaw, Nirban Bhatia, Chris Smith and Jin Kim have all been standouts and leaders on defense. The highlight of the season so far came in game two, when the Eagles defeated Woodland courtesy of strong play by Dolan Dworak, who ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and Michael Sikand, who ran for a touchdown. The season closes out next week as Harker plays Valley Christian and Sacred Heart.
The grade 6 flag football team is in first place after an undefeated 6-0 run in which they never trailed at a single moment in any game. The team is led by offensive standouts like 1uarterback Bobby Bloomquist, running backs Jackson Williams and Jarrett Anderson, and tight end Charlie Molin. As cornerback, Hasan Awais has snatched four interceptions in just six games, while middle linebacker Jason Peetz has two interceptions and has scored a defensive touchdown. All told, the team has 13 interceptions in only six games and has outscored their opponents 197-36.
The grade 5 flag football team, coached by Tobias Wade and Patrick Hightower, is currently 2-1. The team is led by 1uarterback Darshan Chahal, who had a crucial punt return for a touchdown against Woodland. Safety Henry Weise has also made some stellar defensive plays by knocking the ball out of the receivers’ hands and getting crucial stops on third down.
Swimming
Harker’s lower school and middle school swim team, coached by Alisha Garcia, Andrew Booth, Jennifer Deasy and Ruth Hegedus, participated in the Castilleja meet earlier this season. The results were as follows:
Grade 6 Boys
- 25 Fly – first Edwin Su, second Stephan Sokolov, third Noah Salisbury
- 25 Breaststroke – first Leon Lu, second Jerry Peng, third Mihir Dixit
Grade 6 Girls
- Medley Relay Team – third place
- 25 Back – first Angel Li
- 25 Breaststroke – second Sara Min
Grade 7 Boys
- 100 IM – first Derek Kou, second Alexander Wang, third Victor Shin
- 200 Free – first Jeffery Ma, third Aadith Srinvasan
Grade 7 Girls
- 50 Breaststroke – second Emma Brezoczky
Grade 8 Boys
- 50 Free – first Matthew Cheng, second Kayvon Solaimanpour, third Austin Zhang
- 50 Fly – third Justin Culpepper
Harker is hosting their own league meet on Tues., Oct. 9.
Cross Country
The middle school cross country team, coached by Scott Graham, Margaret Huntley and Jessica Sykora, is off to a great start. In the Crystal Spring Meet, a relay, Akshaya Vemuri, Sharon Yan, Gloria Guo and Sarah Savage, all grade 7, took second place. At the Priory Meet, Julia Amick, grade 6, took first place in her race. Savage did the same, while Niki Iyer, grade 8, took second in hers. The grade 6 boys took fourth place while the grade 7 and 8 girls took third and the grade 7 and 8 boys took second place. At Miller Meet, Savage again placed first in her race, with Amick placing fourth in hers, Iyer placing third in hers, and Arnav Tandon, grade 8, placing ninth in his. Harker hosts its own league meet on Wed., Oct. 10.