Boys golf in State Championship; postseason awards announced

Boys Golf

Congratulations to the boys golf team for reaching the CIF State Championship for the second year in a row. More than 1,500 California schools compete every year in boys golf, and Harker ended the season fifth in the state. The top scorer for Harker was Daulet Tuleubayev, grade 11, shooting a 2-under-par 69 at Poppy Hills Golf Course. Congratulations on another great year!

Spring League and CCS Awards

Spring season All-League teams and CCS Scholastic Championship Teams were recently announced, and Harker was well represented!

The state finalist boys golf team once again produced the WBAL MVP, this year with Daulet Tuleubayev, grade 11. Seniors Avi Khemani and Ryan Vaughan earned first team honors, while Shaan Gagneja, Jin Kim, Victor Shin, all grade 11, and Sandip Nirmel, grade 12, earned second team awards.

The lacrosse team had an impressive season and it showed with their postseason accolades. In the classroom, the team was a Top 5 Scholastic Champion with a team GPA of 3.6358. On the field, Elise Mayer, grade 10, and Alayna Richmond, grade 12, were named to the first team, while Mahlet Demissachew and Aditi Maheshwari, both grade 12, were named to the second team. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, earned an honorable mention.

The softball team narrowly missed the playoffs this season, but many Eagles were honored for their notable individual years. Kristin LeBlanc, grade 11, and Anika Rajamani, grade 10, each earned first team honors, with Marti Sutton, grade 12, and Cameron Zell, grade 10, being named to the second team, and Grace Park, grade 12, getting an honorable mention.

The Harker swim team swept the MVP category as Ethan Hu, grade 9, and Vivian Wang, grade 11, (co-MVPs) each took home top honors. Michael Auld, grade 12, was named to the first team, with Justin Culpepper, grade 12, Alex Yu, grade 10, Angela Li, grade 10, all being named to the second team, and Yannick Bohbot-Dridi, grade 11, earning an honorable mention. Also, both the boys and girls swim teams were Top 5 Scholastic Champions, with the boys finishing with a 3.6977 GPA and the girls finishing with a 3.8286 GPA.

The boys tennis team set a Harker record for wins in a season this year, and that was thanks to many impressive individual seasons, including Edward Tischler, grade 12, and David Wen, grade 11, each taking home first team honors, with Rishi Dange, grade 9, Mihir Sharma, grade 9, and Randy Zhao, grade 11, earning second team, and Ramanand Vegesna, grade 9, receiving an honorable mention. In addition, the Eagles were also a Top 5 Scholastic Champion with a 3.7536 GPA.

On girls track and field, Niki Iyer, grade 12, was named to the WBAL first team, and Grace Koonmen, grade 11, earning an honorable mention. For the boys track and field team, Davis Dunaway, grade 12, was named to the first team, Davis Howard, grade 12, Anthony Contreras, grade 11, and the members of the boys 4×100 relay team – Dunaway, Contreras, Mitchell Granados, grade 10, and Angel Cervantes, grade 11 – received honorable mentions. The boys track and field team was also a Top 5 Scholastic Champion with a GPA of 3.6598.

The boys volleyball team was a Top 5 Scholastic Champion with a team GPA of 3.5172. In addition,  SCVAL De Anza Division All-League honors went to Jonathan Schwartz, grade 12, who was named to the second team, and Jeffrey Kwan who was named co-Freshman of the Year.

Finally, the Eagle baseball team earned Peninsula Lake All-League honors with Varun Haltore, grade 12, and Tanay Kamat, grade 11, each being named to the first team, Matthew Kennedy and Dominic Cea, both grade 11, being named to the second team, and Max Lee, grade 9, earning an honorable mention. The boys also performed well in the classroom with a team GPA of 3.5275, earning it recognition as a Top 5 Scholastic Championship.

Awards Banquet

The Upper School Athletic Awards Ceremony for the 2016-17 season was held last week with many Eagles receiving recognition for amazing seasons and careers.

The Super Eagle Award is given to the athletes who have participated in three competitive sports at Harker during one school year. Earning the award were Lily Wancewicz, Alycia Cary, Lilia Gonzales, Marcus Tymous, Cameron Zell, all grade 10, and Haley Arena, grade 9. Earning the Drew Goldstein Commitment Award for playing three sports per year for all four years of high school was Davis Howard, grade 12.

The Eagle Award is given to an athlete in each sport who displays enthusiasm at all times, supports the team and individuals throughout the season, hustles in every task, shows positive role modeling and has a selfless giving approach to the program. This award is voted on by the team members of each sport. Receiving this award were Stephanie Xiao, grade 10, in cheerleading; Peter Connors, grade 11, in boys cross country; Gloria Guo, grade 11, in girls cross country; Will Park, grade 12, in football; Vienna Wang, grade 12, in girls golf; Connie Miao, grade 12, in girls tennis; Lindsey Trinh, grade 12, in girls volleyball; Arnav Tandon, grade 12, in boys water polo; Sarah de Vegvar, grade 12, in girls water polo; Justin Jia, grade 12, in boys basketball; Satchi Thockchom, grade 11, in girls basketball; Joseph Krackeler, grade 12, in boys soccer; Maile Chung, grade 12, in girls soccer; Shikhar Solanki, grade 11, in wrestling; Varun Haltore, grade 12, in baseball; Avi Khemani, grade 12 in boys golf; Alayna Richmond, grade 12, in lacrosse; Kristin LeBlanc, grade 11, in softball; Jack Farnham, grade 12, in boys swimming; Clarissa Wang, grade 10, in girls swimming; Ed Tischler, grade 12, in boys tennis; Angel Cervantes, grade 11, in boys track and field; Grace Koonmen, grade 11, in girls track and field; and Jonathan Schwartz, grade 12, in boys volleyball

The Iron Eagle Award is awarded to the male and female athletes who demonstrate the highest level of commitment to their school, teammates and their sport(s) throughout the entire year, including off-season, preseason, and in-season. Winners were Jordan Thompson and Will Park, both grade 12.

The Athletic Commitment Award is given to seniors who have played four years of at least one sport at Harker and exhibited characteristics such as commitment, positive leadership, good sportsmanship and a strong work ethic. Earning this award were Chelsie Alexander, Steven Cao, Anthony Crook, Justin Culpepper, Sarah de Vegvar, Mahlet Demissachew, Alexis Gauba, Jordan Goheen, Sarah Gonzalez, Kedar Gupta, Taylor Iantosca, Justin Jia, Joseph Krackeler, Nina Levy, Aditi Maheshwari, Connie Miao, Anuva Mittal, Rishabh Nijhawan, Grace Park, Parth Pendurkar, Andrew Rule, Marti Sutton, Priyanka Taneja, Lindsey Trinh, Michael Tseitlin, Abhay Varmaraja and Melinda Wisdom.

The League Achievement Award is given to seniors who played four years of athletics at Harker, achieved first team All-League honors, and exhibited characteristics such as commitment, positive leadership, good sportsmanship and a strong work ethic. This year’s winners were Michael Auld, Maile Chung, Kailee Gifford, Saketh Gurram, Varun Haltore, Avi Khemani, Lyndsey Mitchell, Sandip Nirmel, Jonathan Schwartz, Will Park, Daniel Reidenbach and Davis Howard.

The Director’s Award is given to seniors who played four years of Harker athlet­ics and achieved at least one of the following: was awarded first team All-League, was recognized at the state or section level, or achieved league MVP honors. Recipients also much have exhibited characteristics such as commitment, positive leadership, good sportsmanship and a strong work ethic. This year the award was given to Ryan Vaughan, Joelle Anderson, Rachel Cheng, Davis Dunaway, Jack Farnham, Arben Gutierrez-Bujari, Misha Ivkov, Niki Iyer, Alayna Richmond, Arnav Tandon, Jordan Thompson and Edward Tischler.

Congratulations to all the amazing Harker athletes!

Alumni

Check out this article on Izzy Connell ’13, who is still working hard on the track and in the classroom:

http://www.pepperdinewaves.com/sports/c-xc/spec-rel/052517aaa.html

Plus, a really nice piece on Maverick McNealy ’13 and the end of his golf career at Stanford:

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/25/end-of-the-road-for-golf-prodigy-maverick-mcnealy-at-stanford/

June 1, 2017Tags: express, Sports