Golfers Win Scholarship and League Champ; Lacrosse Sends Two to Regional Team; Track Breaks Records; More
This report compiled from information provided by Dan Molin, athletic director.
Harker athletes have had a great spring!
Golf
Harker linksman Kyle Roter, grade 12, has received a REACH (Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work) scholarship of $1,500 this week. The REACH Youth Scholarship Program has provided college funds to high school students over the past 17 years who have overcome adversity to excel in academics and sports. Roter suffered from Chiari malformation, a condition in which brain tissue protrudes into the spinal canal. He underwent an operation to correct the problem after headaches became intolerable. His story is told in a video by CalHi Sports: http://bit.ly/132vurc. Roter received the scholarship Wednesday morning at the REACH awards breakfast, chaired by former San Francisco 49er Ronnie Lott, at the San Jose Marriott. All nominees must be high school seniors, maintain a 2.5 GPA, participate in at least one sanctioned high school athletic activity, demonstrate community involvement, and show the ability to overcome adversity or obstacles to reach his or her goals. Nominees also must submit an essay based on his or her experiences.
Senior golfer and Stanford-bound Maverick McNealy once again won the WBAL individual title yesterday, shooting a 71 at the league finals at Half Moon Bay Golf Course. Shrish Dwivedi, grade 10, tied for fourth with a 76. Both McNealy and Dwivedi have qualified for the CCS tournament next week. The team as a whole awaits to see if their at-large application will qualify. The week before, boys golf came in sixth place out of 16 teams in the 40th annual Aptos High Tournament. Dwivedi shot a 74 and McNealy shot a 75 at Seascape Country Club.
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse’s historic run for a league championship came to a halt Tuesday with a 17-14 loss to Notre Dame. This year, the girls recorded a Harker record for the most victories in a season with 12. With heart and determination and senior leadership, the girls finished the season yesterday by defeating rival Mercy Burlingame 18-8. This win was a sweet one, especially after having fallen just shy in their bid to capture a league title. After several years of seeming futility, the lacrosse program now finds itself carrying consecutive winning seasons forward.
There is thrilling news for the girls, however, and for the Harker community. Two of Harker lacrosse players, Christine Lee, grade 11, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, have been named to the regional team for the national tournament.
On April 21, female high school varsity players from all throughout the Bay Area came together to compete for spots on the two Sub-Regional Pacific NorCal teams. The teams will compete in the 2013 U.S. Lacrosse National Tournament in May. 2013 marks the 81st anniversary of the event. It is one of the largest women’s lacrosse events in the nation. The 2013 tournament highlights include division championships, a U.S. team exhibition, and a premier recruiting opportunity for high school players.
In team news last week, the girls went 1-1 with a narrow loss to Mercy Burlingame on Tuesday and a thundering win against Woodside on Friday. Against Woodside, Bollar, seniors Tiphaine Delephine, Michelle Douglas, Wendy Shwe and Apricot Tang, junior Mabel Luo, and Aishu Murari, grade 9, all scored for Harker.
Congratulations to the team on a record-breaking season, and congratulations to Lee and Bollar on their personal achievements!
Track and Field
Track and field took the next step in their outstanding, record-breaking season last week by sending their top runner to the CCS Top 8 meet at San Jose City College last Friday night. With only the best athletes in the CCS competing, Harker had six representatives. Sumit Minocha, grade 12, finished third in the 100m race and then second in the 200m with a 21.65. That mark was the sixth best time in the state this year. Izzy Connell, grade 12, set two new school records, running 57.98 in the 400m and 25.12 in the 200m. She then joined Claudia Tischler, grade 11, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, and freshman Nadia Palte on the mile relay team, where the foursome posted yet another record with a time of 4:13.75. Tischler ran eighth in her 1,600m run with a season-best time of 5:31.65. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, set his third 3,200m school record of the year, moving the mark this time to 9:30.98. At the San Mateo Invitational a day later, Matt Giammona, grade 12, and Arjun Kumar, grade 11, placed second and fourth out of 40 in the shot put with each tossing a personal best. The track and field league trials are this Saturday at Gunn High School and finals next Saturday. Wish them well!
Swimming
Thanks to everyone who came out to support Harker’s senior swimmers! And a big congratulations to seniors Amie Chien, Keri Clifford and Rachel Yanovsky for leading the girls team to victory against Menlo 86-73. In the 100m freestyle, Chien and Anika Mohindra, grade 9, tied for third with a time of 58.81. Grace Guan, grade 9, tied for first place in the 100m backstroke. The JV girls defeated Menlo as well, 66-13. Behind Karen Tu and Yasemin Narin, both grade 9, the girls took first and second in the 50m freestyle.
The varsity boys lost to Menlo, but had some impressive swims along the way. Allen Cheng, grade 11, and Joshua Hung, grade 9, improved their times in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle, respectively. Aaron Huang, grade 10, dominated the 100m breaststroke, winning by nearly 11 seconds!
Last Wednesday, both the girls varsity and JV teams defeated King’s Academy. The varsity girls swept the 50 freestyle placing first through fourth, with Chien, Mohindra, Sandhana Kannan, grade 9, and Jackelyn Shen, grade 10. The JV girls won both relays, with Narin, Tu, Elisabeth Siegel, grade 9, and Sanjana Kaundinya, grade 10. For the boys, the JV won and the varsity lost in a close meet. On the varsity side, Ryan Palmer won the 200m IM, and Aaron Huang and Craig Neubieser went 1-2 in the 100m butterfly. JV’s Anni Ankola swam a season-best 50 freestyle. At her first-ever varsity meet, sophomore Stacey Chao placed 12th out of 35 divers, scoring enough points to qualify for CCS. Congratulations!
Wish our swimmers well in the league championships this Wednesday and Thursday at Sacred Heart!
Volleyball
Earlier this week, the Monta Vista boys volleyball team strutted into the Blackford gym, boasting a 27-4 and arguably one of the top teams in all of CCS.
In a thrilling upset, Harker’s boys defeated Monta Vista 27-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22. Harker is now 16-14 overall. Seniors Josh Tien, Bobby Kahlon and Andre Tran, juniors Andrew Zhu, Sean Youn and Will Deng, and sophomores Shiki Dixit and Matt Ho all had oustanding performances.
This past Friday was the boys’ Senior Night. They lost to Homestead, but had a solid victory against Lynbrook last week. In the win, Zhu had 26 kills, Deng added six and Dixit had two blocks.
The week before that, boys volleyball had to go the distance to defeat Harbor in Santa Cruz 15-12 in their fifth game of the season to improve to 14-13 on the year as the boys continue to play the top teams in the section. Zhu led the way with 26 kills.
The boys travel to King’s on Friday, then await their potential CCS assignment on Saturday morning.
Baseball
On Tuesday, baseball lost to Pinewood 8-3 to drop to 7-13-1 overall. Drew Goldstein, grade 12, had two hits in the loss, including a double and an RBI. Neil Sadhu and David Lin, grade 10, and Kevin Cali, grade 12, also recorded hits.
Last week, the boys dropped a game against King’s Academy, but got a great pitching performance out of Cali. On the mound, Cali pitched for 10 strikeouts; at the plate, he was two for three with a double and a run scored. Jacob Hoffman, grade 12, added a double and an RBI.
The Thursday before, the baseball team defeated Crystal Springs but dropped its game the following day to Sacred Heart. Against Crystal Springs, Hoffman was two for four with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Keanu Forbes, grade 10, added two hits and an RBI. In the Sacred Heart game, Cali went two for three and scored a run.
Softball
Softball continues to roll, defeating Castilleja yesterday 5-2 in an away game. The girls are now 9-1 in their league and in sole possession of first place with two games remaining. Against Castilleja, Alison Rugar, grade 12, pitched for 16 – count ’em, 16 – strikeouts and had two hits at the plate as well. Ashley Del Alto, grade 12, had a triple and two RBIs. Laura Thacker, grade 11, had two hits and Alisa Wakita, grade 9, and Sarah Bean, grade 10, added RBIs as well.
Last week, the girls went 2-0, beating Menlo 6-0 and Mercy-Burlingame 4-1. Once again, Rugar had 16 strikouts – this time in the Mercy game. Del Alto also had a three-run home run.
The girls have their Senior Day tomorrow at 4 p.m., where they’ll face off against King’s Academy. King’s Academy is the only team in the league to beat Harker this year, and won by just one run. See Harker get their revenge on Senior Day!
Tennis
Boys tennis awaits their fate to see if the team will qualify for the CCS tournament. Stay tuned!