[Update] Athletes Make News, Earn Kudos, Stay Active over Break
[Update] The boys varsity basketball team is in first place! On Jan. 12, for the first time in Harker hoop history, the boys varsity team defeated Sacred Heart Prep in their own gym. “The boys remained poised and confident throughout the 55-50 victory which gives them sole possession of first place in the WBAL,” said Dan Molin, athletic director. The JV squad also won 38-36, making it a clean sweep of the Gators last night.
Jan. 11, 2010
Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12, earned Honorable Mention status in the all-county cross country team named Dec. 15 by the San Jose Mercury News.
Jan. 7, 2010
The Mercury News announced their all-county water polo and girls tennis athletes over the break and Harker was represented again. Arthi Padmanabhan, Gr. 12, was selected all-county first team for girls tennis; Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, was chosen all-county honorable mention and co-league MVP for boys water polo, and Tina Ma and Melanie Herscher, both Gr. 12, were both selected all-league in girls water polo.
College Recruits
Colby Rapson, Gr. 12, has been accepted by Cal Berkeley to be the coxswain on the men’s crew team. Congratulations! (Editor’s note: female coxswains on male crews are relatively common.)
While most of our community was on winter break, upper school sports teams were hard at work.
Boys Basketball
Boys basketball coach Jeremiah Brewer took a team of 12 to the St. Anthony Invitational Basketball Tournament in Maui, where they finished second. The team, a combination of JV and varsity players, started out strong, winning their first two games 55-18 against St. Anthony, 67-58 against Hilo (alma mater of Keith Hirota, middle school history and social science teacher), but losing to Mid-Pacific Institute 58-33 in the finals.
Ryan Cali, Gr. 12, was a consistently strong performer, scoring 15, 20 and 11 points, respectively, in the games; Lung Ying Yu, Gr. 12, also performed well, with 10 points in game one and 15 in game two. Greg Plauck, Gr. 12, scored 12 points in game two and three. Partha Mahajani, Gr. 11, also scored 12 points against Hilo.
The team received coverage in the local Maui newspaper, including photos of Plauck. Cali and Yu were named to the all-tournament team. The boys were able to explore the island between games, and Brewer thanks parents Ken Azebu, C.J. Cali, Ajay Chopra, Dan and Tracie Hughes, Deepa and Ashok Krishnamurthi, and Karla Callahan and Darrel Mank for helping to make the trip a great one.
Prior to the Hawaii trip, and on the last day of school before break, the varsity basketball boys also won the Lynbrook Classic. At that tournament, Cali, Yu and Plauck were selected to the all-tournament team. Including a 49-44 win this week against Menlo, where Yu contributed 15 points, Plauck scored 11 and Rohan Shah, Gr. 12, scored 10, the team is now 9-1 – a great start!
Also over break, the JV boys won the Wilcox Tournament championship, defeating Los Altos in the finals. Stephen Hughes, Gr. 10, was named tournament MVP and Gautam Krishnamurthi, Gr. 11, was named all-tournament.
Girls Soccer
Girls soccer traveled to the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival in Bakersfield and went 2-1-1 over the two days. Among the highlights was a 4-2, come-from-behind victory over Taft in their final game of the tournament. Throughout the tournament, goalie Shanthi Rajagopalan, Gr. 12, had 34 saves and goal scorers were Anjali Menon, Gr, 12; Esther Belogolovsky, Gr. 12; Indica Sur, Gr. 9; and Siobhan Cox, Gr. 9.
Girls Basketball
Girls basketball defeated Yerba Buena 54-34 and lost to Live Oak 48-39 over the break. Tanya Rai, Gr. 11, had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Neda Ghaffarian, Gr. 10, had 10 points in the win against YB. After this week’s 31-45 loss to Hillsdale, the girls have a 4-5 record and are putting forth a consistent effort.
Wrestling
Our wrestlers hit the mat over vacation, opening their season at the Lynn Dyche Tournament in mid-December. By far the most impressive was the performance of Chris McCallaCreary, Gr. 11, who won all four of his matches, making Harker history by winning the championship for his weight class. Mark Roh, Gr. 12 and David Wu, Gr. 11, placed sixth, while Jason Mendel, Gr. 11, took seventh in his weight class.
McCallaCreary made school history again when he was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, since no Harker wrestler has received this award at a varsity tournament. Coach Karriem Stinson is proud of McCallaCreary’s accomplishment and acknowledged the work of the wrestlers before him, explaining that it wasn’t long ago that the team wasn’t even invited to varsity tournaments. It took years of strong wrestlers to get the program recognized. He also stressed that this achievement is due in part to the hard work of his teammates, who push McCallaCreary to train hard in practice. Congratulations!
Tags: In the News, topathletics