Athletes on the Road Over Break; Richardson Heads to U.S. Elite Camp; MS Wraps up Seasons
Upper School
Varsity Basketball
Aloha! Both boys and girls varsity basketball teams traveled to Maui over the holiday break and came away undefeated. The girls earned victories over Seabury Hall (twice) and Kamehameha-Maui while the boys defeated Kamehameha, Molokai and Seabury Hall. The girls now hold an impressive 9-1 record
Soccer
Sophomore Jeremiah Anderson had a goal and an assist in the 3-1 boys varsity soccer victory over KIPP Collegiate as the team improved to 2-1 overall. Kiran Arimilli and Kevin Moss also scored for the Eagles. The boys face ECP next Wednesday.
Wrestling
Our wrestlers competed over the holiday break against Milpitas High with Junior Vincent Lin earning his first high school victory. Trailing 9-5 on the scoreboard Vincent got a reversal and pinned his opponent with 30 seconds left on the clock. Junior Darian Edvalson won with a dominating performance leading 8-0 before pinning his opponent in the second period. The team competes at the Cupertino High Tournament this weekend.
Volleyball
Harker freshman Shannon Richardson participated in the USA High Performance Junior Beach Holiday Camp held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista from Jan. 2-5 in the Girls’ A1/A2 Select group. The only players invited were those that had qualified for the High Performance program through rigorous tryouts in June of 2012 and participated in camp and championships last summer. Richardson and her partner took first place in the U15 division of the High Performance Championships. This is Richardson’s fourth invitation and visit to the Olympic Training Center since June of 2011.
Middle School
Soccer
The grade 7-8 varsity A girls soccer team finished the season as league champions with an undefeated 11-0 record. The team finished off the season with exciting, close victories over Castilleja and King’s Academy to preserve the perfect record. Lyndsey Mitchell and Joelle Anderson, both grade 8, went home with the team’s Co-MVP Award, while Anuva Mittal, grade 8, and Anuja Shah, grade 7, each won the Eagle Award and Maile Chung and Stephanie Scaglia, both grade 8, were given the Coaches Award. Congratulations to the whole team, led by coaches Chrissy Chang, CJ Cali and Allison Burzio, on a banner season!
The grade 6 junior varsity A girls soccer team, coached by Cyrus Merrill, Rafeh Akram and Miles Brown, finished the season at 0-7. Despite the lopsided record, the girls made significant improvements to their game as the season progressed, which should bode well for their future soccer careers with Harker. In particular, the girls have developed an excitement for the game, leading to passionate and dynamic play even in defeat. With an eye toward continuing to improve their skills, many on the team have tried out for and plan to play on outside club soccer teams. The team had two very tight games with Nueva and Girls Middle School – their best chances at a victory – and dropped each by the score of 2-1. Team awards went to MVP Lilia Gonzalez, Eagle Award winner Allison Cartee, and Coaches Award winner Alexandra Janssen.
Our grade 5 junior varsity B girls soccer team, coached by Anthony Wood and Jared Ramsey, finished the season just a game below .500 at 2-3. The team enjoyed victories over Castilleja and Girls Middle School; in the latter game, Harker won 5-3 in an exciting home win in front of a raucous crowd. Grace Hajjar and Dylan Williams captured Co-MVP honors from the team, while Grace F. Huang was presented with the Eagle Award and Carissa Nelson received the Coaches Award.
Middle School Basketball
Harker’s grade 7-8 boys basketball teams will resume their season after the close of the holiday break. The grade 8 varsity A team, coached by Joe Mentillo, is at the moment locked at .500 with a 4-4 record in league play. The grade 7-8 varsity B team, coached by Mike Delfino, is at present holding down first place in the league with a sterling 5-1 record. Even better, the team’s sole loss came in overtime in a 39-38 game, so grade 7-8 varsity B has not dropped a game in regulation so far this year. The grade 7 varsity B2 team, coached by Dan Pringle, is currently hanging in there at 3-3 in the league.
The grade 6 junior varsity A boys basketball team, coached by Greg Lawson, finished their year in second place in the league and then won second place a the WBAL tournament. Their final record was an amazing 9-2 with both losses coming at the hands of a tough Sacred Heart team. Over the entire season, Harker won most of its games in dominant fashion, winning by at least 20 points or more. Team MVP went to Jackson Williams. The Eagle Award went to Jason Peetz, and the Coaches Award to Zach Hoffman.
Harker’s grade 6 junior varsity B6 boys basketball team, coached by Steve Carroll, finished the season at 3-5 in league. The boys enjoyed exciting victories over Nueva, Keys and Crystal Springs, and gave well-deserved awards to Surya Gudapati (MVP), Carl Gross (Eagle Award) and Neil Ramaswamy (Coaches Award).
The grade 5 Junior Varsity B1 boys basketball team, coached by Terence Pellum, finished the season as league champs and WBAL Tournament champs with a final record of 9-0. The boys fought hard to win the league championship with a final league game victory over Sacred Heart by a score of 23-20. They played the very same Sacred Heart team in the finals of the WBAL tournament and won 26-21. The team awards went toAditya Gupta ( MVP), Jeffrey Liu (Eagle Award)and Asmit Kumar (Coaches Award).
The grade 5 Junior Varsity B2 boys basketball team, coached by Patrick Hightower, finished the season with a league record of 1-6. The boys had some very close games with Sacred Heart and Pinewood and steadily improved throughout the course of the season. The team awards went to Kevin Chen (MVP), Jai Bahri (Eagle Award ) and Kyle Li (Coaches Award ).
The grade 4 Junior Varsity C boys basketball team, coached by Jim McGovern, finished the season with a league record of 5-1, good enough to earn them Tri-Champions of the league! The boys enjoyed a very exciting season, only losing to a tough Pinewood team in their final game 19-25. The team awards went to Benjamin Soraire (MVP), Anmol Velagapudi (Eagle Award) and Andrew Chavez (Coaches Award).
Congratulations to all the LS/MS Early Winter sports teams for a phenomenal season and good luck to our G7 and G8 boys basketball players still in season!!
Tags: Featured Story, In the News, Sports