The 2017 Winterfest water polo tournament took place in Orange County in mid-February, and many Harker athletes brought home hardware for their club teams.
Riyaa Randhawa, grade 7, and Cassandra Ruedy, grade 9, competed with the bronze-winning 14U Girls West Valley Water Polo Club. In addition, the 10U San Jose Express team coached by Victor Adler and Ted Ujifusa, also took third place. That team included Harker students Summer Adler, Marcus Blennemann, Angelina Burrows, Julia Ernsting, Robert Fields, Theodore Kratter, Stefan Maxim, Adam Pawlinger, Melody Yin, all grade 4, Alejandro Cheline, Jasmine Hansra, both grade 3, and Ian Cheline, grade 2.
Lower and middle school update provided by Theresa “Smitty” Smith
The lower and middle school winter sports season is split into two seasons, early and late winter. This past winter was one of the most successful lower and middle school winter sports seasons we’ve had in a very long time! We started off with boys basketball and girls soccer and finished with girls basketball and boys soccer, as well as wrestling.
Please take a moment to read through the accomplishments of our student-athletes and their coaches from this past winter!
Early Winter
VA (Grade 8) Boys Basketball: The varsity A team, coached by Josh Miller and Richard Amarillas, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 4-1 and went 8-3 overall. Team awards went to Jonathan Chao and Ray Wang (co-MVPs), Arjun Virmani (Eagle) and Marcus Anderson (Coaches).
VB (Grade 7) Boys Basketball: The varsity B team, coached by Edward LeGrand-Sawyer, finished in third place in the WBAL with a 5-2 record and went 7-2 overall. Despite not winning the league, the VB team did come back to win the WBAL tournament! Team awards went to Luke Wancewicz (MVP), Alexander Zhang (Eagle) and Gowtham Irrinki (Coaches).
VB2 (Grade 7) Boys Basketball: The varsity B2 team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in 10th place in the WBAL with a 0-7 record. Team awards went to Jack Hayashi (MVP), Kaden Kapadia (Eagle) and Marcus Page (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Mike Delfino, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-1 record and won the WBAL tournament, finishing with a 9-1 record overall. Team awards went to Matthew Chen (MVP), Zeke Weng (Eagle) and Brandon Wang (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B6 team, coached by Matt Arensberg, finished in third place in the WBAL with a 5-2 record. Team awards went to Rahul Santhanam (MVP), Michael Pflaging (Eagle) and Nicholas Delfino (Coaches).
MS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Zachary Clark, grade 7 (MVP), Dyllan Han, grade 6 (Eagle) and Rohan Rashingkar, grade 7 (Coaches). The team was coached by Jeff Martarano and Raul Rios.
JVB1 (Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Dan Pringle, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and took second place in the WBAL tournament, finishing with an 8-1 record overall. Team awards went to Om Tandon and Dean Pakel (co-MVPs), Kai Stinson (Eagle) and Justin Chao (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B2 team, coached by Kristian Tiopo, finished in 10th place in the WBAL with a 1-6 record. Team awards went to Nathan Liu (MVP), Kyle Leung (Eagle) and Zachary Blue (Coaches).
JVC (Grade 4) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity C team, coached by Jeff Paull, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record! Team awards went to Camp Lacorazza (MVP), Drew Diffenderfer (Eagle) and Liam Jeffers (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Caleb Tang, grade 4 (MVP), Max Zhai, grade 4 (Eagle) and Nathan Wilcox, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Ken Allen and Karriem Stinson.
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Soccer: The varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 1-5. Team awards went to Aria Wong, grade 8, and Dylan Williams, grade 8 (co-MVPs), Hannah Grannis, grade 8 (Eagle) and Ashley Barth, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity A team, coached by Dan Williams and Dini Wong, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-2. Team awards went to Lexi Wong (MVP), Divya Sivakumar (Eagle), and Maya Hernandez and Haley Hernandez (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity B team, coached by Justin Sullivan, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 4-2. Team awards went to Kate Grannis (MVP), Katie Reed (Eagle) and Anya Chauhan (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Soccer: Team awards went to Kylie Anderson, grade 4 (MVP), Claire Anderson, grade 4 (Eagle) and Sophia Roufas, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Brittney Moseley.
Late Winter
VA (Grade 8) Girls Basketball: The varsity A team, coached by Josh Miller and Dan Pringle, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 6-1 record and won the WBAL tournament, finishing 8-1 overall. Team awards went to Courtni Thompson and Hunter Hernandez (co-MVPs), Mariamma Vazhaeparambil (Eagle) and Arya Tandon (Coaches).
VB (Grade 7) Girls Basketball: The varsity B team, coached by Edward LeGrand-Sawyer, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and won the WBAL tournament, finishing 9-0 overall. Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero (MVP), Anya Warrier and Gianna Chan (Co-Eagle), and Ashley Barth (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Basketball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in third place in the WBAL with a 4-2 record and went 5-3 overall. Team awards went to Maya Hernandez and Haley Hernandez (co-MVPs), Sonya He (Eagle) and Avery Olson (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Girls Basketball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Brittney Moseley, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a 1-6 record. Team awards went to Kate Grannis and Aeliya Grover (co-MVPs), Masha Velikhovskaya (Eagle) and Katherine Fields (Coaches).
JVC (Grade 4) Girls Basketball: The junior varsity C team, coached by Sydney Voss and Belle Carley, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record. Team awards went to Gemma Chan (MVP), Angelina Burrows (Eagle) and Isabella Lo (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Basketball: Team awards went to Callie Yuan, grade 5 (MVP), Brittany Tsui, grade 5 (Eagle) and Yasmin Sudarsanam, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Ken Allen and Tobias Wade.
VA (Grade 8) Boys Soccer: The varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood and Adyant Kanakamedala, grade 11, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 4-4. Team awards went to Arya Maheshwari (MVP), Rosh Roy and Marcos Acero (co-Eagle) and Nathan Ohana (Coaches).
VB (Grade 7) Boys Soccer: The varsity B team, coached by Chris Salcido and Dan Williams, finished in first place in the WBAL with a league record of 5-0 and an overall record of 6-0. Team awards went to Ishaan Mantripragada (MVP), Sasvath Ramachandran (Eagle) and Kaden Kapadia (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Boys Soccer: The junior varsity A team, coached by Matt Arensberg and Dini Wong, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 1-6-1. Team awards went to Atri Banerjee and Michael Pflaging (co-Eagle) and Max Pflaging (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Boys Soccer: The junior varsity B team, coached by Justin Sullivan, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 3-2-1. Team awards went to Ryan Barth (MVP), Akshat Mehrotra (Eagle) and Brandon Zau (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Soccer: Team awards went to Advay Monga, grade 4 (MVP), Rahul Yalla, grade 4 (Eagle) and Robert Fields, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Kristian Tiopo and Yvonne Linton.
MS Wrestling: The wrestling team, coached by Karriem Stinson, Charlie Ward and Jeff Paull, did not participate in any wrestling tournaments this season. Team awards went to Dezi Johnsen, grade 7 (MVP) Anish Kilaru, grade 8 (Eagle) and Dylan Parikh, grade 6 (Coaches).
Softball
The softball team picked up two big wins last week, improving to 4-0 on the season. In a 16-1 win over Yerba Buena, Taylor Lam, grade 10, had four hits, with Anika Rajamani, grade 10, and Lily Wancewicz, grade 10, each driving in two runs. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated El Camino 10-0 with Rajamani, Kristin LeBlanc, grade 11, Marti Sutton, grade 12, and Cameron Zell, grade 10, each with two RBIs. LeBlanc and Wancewicz combined for a three-hit shutout on the mound. The Eagles averaged more than 13 runs per game during the first four games of the season. They open league play on Tuesday as they host Castilleja, followed by another home game against St. Francis Watsonville on Thursday.
Track and Field
It was a very nice weekend for Harker track and field, as the Eagles were represented at two meets. Many personal and seasonal bests were shattered at the King’s Track Classic held at The King’s Academy. Angel Cervantes, grade 11, set a personal best in the 100M and 200M; Grace Koonmen, grade 11, placed in the top seven in the 100M, 200M and long jump, setting seasonal bests in all three events; Sameer Prakash, grade 9, won his 100M and 200M heat, before placing fourth overall in the long jump with a 16’4″ leap; Henry Wong, grade 10, set a personal best in the mile with a time of 5:09; Gloria Guo, grade 11, ran a 2:39 800M setting a seasonal best; Rishi Chopra, grade 11, set a personal best time of 2:23 in the 800M; and Ananya Krishnan, grade 11, also set personal bests in the shot put and discus.
Across town at the K-Bell Invitational, Niki Iyer, grade 12, set the current fastest 3200M time of the year for California. She defeated the rest of the field by 20 seconds, winning for the third time in her career at this meet.
This Wednesday, the Eagles compete at their first league meet at The King’s Academy, followed by the St. Francis Invitational on Saturday.
Baseball
The Eagles upped their record to 4-1 as they defeated Westmoor 5-1 and Pinewood 15-7 last week. In the win over Westmoor, Dominic Cea, grade 11, drove in two runs as Varun Haltore, grade 12, pitched 6.2 innings of one hit, one run ball, striking out five. Later in the week against Pinewood, Cea once again led the offense with three RBIs, with Karan Gupta, grade 10, adding three hits and an RBI, and Max Lee, grade 9, and Mitchell Kole, grade 11, each delivering two hits and two RBIs. This week, the Eagles travel to Mills on Tuesday and host Crystal Springs Uplands on Thursday.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team went 1-1 last week, dropping a 3-0 match to Monta Vista before defeating Los Altos 3-0 later in the week. It’s a busy week for the Eagles as they host Serra on Monday, travel to Mountain View on Wednesday and host Los Gatos on Friday.
Lacrosse
The lacrosse team dropped two games last week bringing its season record to 2-3. In a 13-5 loss to Castilleja, Elise Mayer, grade 10, led the scoring with four goals. Next up for the Eagles is a home game against Sacred Heart Cathedral on Tuesday and another home game on Thursday against Carlmont to start league play.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team stayed undefeated on the season as it took care of Valley Christian and Crystal Springs Uplands last week. In the 204-213 win over VC, Sandip Nirmel, grade 12, led the Eagles with an even par 37. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated CSU 186-240 for their first league win of the season. Over the weekend, the boys traveled to Las Vegas to compete at the Pahrump Invitational. The Eagles took third as a team, with Ryan Vaughan, grade 12, and Jin Kim, grade 11, tying for 11th individually. This week, the boys take on The King’s Academy on Monday and Pinewood on Tuesday.
Boys Tennis
Last week, the boys tennis team defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 7-0 before falling to Menlo 7-0, but it ended the week defeating The King’s Academy 5-2. This week, the Eagles stay busy as they take on Evergreen Valley on Monday, Pinewood on Tuesday, Nueva on Wednesday and Priory on Thursday.
Swim
This Saturday, the Eagle swim team travels to Sacred Heart Prep to compete at the Small School Invitational.
Winter All-League
The 2016-17 winter season recently came to a close, and many Harker athletes and teams were honored with All-League and Scholastic Championship Team accolades.
Girls Basketball: Jordan Thompson, grade 12, was given first team honors, while Selin Sayiner, grade 11, made the second team and Satchi Thockchom, grade 11, received an honorable mention
Boys Basketball: Jordan Goheen, grade 12, and Justin Jia, grade 12, both received honorable mentions for their senior seasons. In addition, the boys were named a top five Scholastic Champion with their 3.7 team GPA.
Boys Soccer: Sparsh Chauhan, grade 11, and Rohit Shah, grade 11, were both named to the first team, with Jared Anderson, grade 10, and Joseph Krackeler, grade 12, each making the second team, and Nick Acero, grade 11, and Kedar Gupta, grade 12, receiving honorable mentions. The boys soccer team was also a top five CCS Scholastic Champion with a 3.6460 team GPA.
Girls Soccer: Joelle Anderson, grade 12, was named the WBAL Skyline Division Forward of the Year, as Maile Chung, grade 12, and Lyndsey Mitchell, grade 12, both received first team recognition. Julia Amick, grade 10, and Anuva Mittal, grade 12, received second team honors, and Stephanie Scaglia, grade 11, and Cameron Zell, grade 10, received honorable mentions. The girls also excelled in the classroom as a top five Scholastic Champion with a 3.7410 team GPA.
Wrestling: Taking the top spot in all of CCS wrestling, the Eagles were named Scholastic Champions with a 3.6286 team GPA. Diego Figueroa, grade 12, Justin Su, grade 11, Anthony Contreras, grade 11, Eric Fang, grade 9, Danny Reidenbach, grade 12, and Davis Howard, grade 12, all earned All-League honors.
Harker Hospital was open for business in Larissa Weaver’s first grade math class to help students learn about graphs. Weaver invited pediatrician and Harker parent Dr. Shefali Shete (Allie and Sasha, both grade 1) to come in and show students how she uses graphs to measure a baby’s progress. The students had a great time measuring the babies!
Cindy Proctor and Larissa Weaver’s grade 1 language arts students participated in a special project in January that had them conjuring up inventions as a tie-in with their literature readings. The project, first conducted three years ago, involves students using items from an Idea Box to invent something that can be used to make everyday life easier or more enjoyable. Students were required to invent items that could be utilized by lots of people, but they could not be used for time travel or violent purposes.
“We read stories in language arts class that highlight the importance of new ideas, the history of real inventions and books that teach the children about inventors, adult and child, fiction and non-fiction,” said Proctor. “We guide the children to understand that inventing is a process and that mistakes are part of this process.”
Students work on their inventions at home and periodically update their classmates on their progress, including the challenges they’ve faced. Classmates often respond with assistance and encouragement, which teaches the students that invention is often a collaborative endeavor.
The young inventors also learn how to give a presentation on their inventions to their classmates at an Invention Convention, during which grade 2 students who participated the previous year visit the class.
This year, Sam Mazin, who created the technology behind the company RefleXion Medical, made an appearance to speak with the students about the invention process. He also met individually with students to talk about their inventions.
“All the children did an amazing job extending themselves and approaching the task with eagerness, creativity and perseverance,” Proctor said. For example, Augusta Chen devised a machine for students who have trouble remembering to do homework, while Omya Vidyarthi’s “Fly Chair” helps the physically disabled enter and exit their homes. The “Camping Fooder,” invented by Jacob Chung, prepares food for outdoors enthusiasts, while Aarav Mann’s “Rolling Shoes” aim to provide locomotion to those who cannot easily walk.
Over the two-week period from idea to invention to presentation, the students learn important lessons about “ingenuity, perseverance, problem solving and communicating an idea,” Proctor said. “We encourage the children to allow themselves to think, reflect, and make their ideas grow into something tangible. The Invention Convention is a celebration of their thinking process from the abstract to the concrete.”
On Feb. 6, several members of Harker WiSTEM (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) headed to the lower school for a first-ever STEM Buddies event at that campus.
The upper school students set up several stations with chemistry activities, including making silly putty, experimenting with milk and paint, and using a ProScope. “My favorite part of the visit was working with the kids, because I could see how much fun they were having,” said senior Judy Pan, who helped run the silly putty station.
STEM Buddies began in 2014 as a way to increase interest in STEM learning among Harker’s younger students, starting with visits to the preschool. “In the future,” Pan said, “we hope to expand STEM Buddies to have more frequent visits to the lower school and preschool.”
Judge John Owens MS ’85, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and is a member of Harker’s board of trustees, visited the lower school yesterday to speak to third graders at the request of teacher Heidi Gough. Owens discussed his career, told entertaining anecdotes about cases he worked on and took questions from the students. Interestingly, Sarah Leonard, primary division head, was Owens’ teacher while he attended Harker.
Formerly a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP, Owens’ practice focused on representing individuals and corporations in government investigations, and conducting internal investigations into allegations of corporate misconduct, according to the firm’s website. Prior to joining Munger Tolles in 2012, he was a federal prosecutor for 11 years. Owens graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge John Clifford Wallace, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Summer Camp,” this year’s grade 5 show, directed by Kellie Binney-Smart, featured a cast of 132 students performing a series of song and dance numbers about their adventures at Camp Runamok – encountering bugs, bears and camp leaders as they learn to fit in and make new friends. Students worked behind the scenes as well as on stage, with Danny Dunn’s lower school technical theater students serving as the show’s crew. Check out all the great, colorful photos, both in this story and the full set in the Harker Parent Portal!
In mid-December, students in grades 2-3 took the stage at the Bucknall Theater for the annual Grade 2-3 Holiday Show. Performers sang a selection of holiday-themed songs, including “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night” and “Happy Hanukkah!” Grade 2 teachers joined in the festivities during the performance of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and grade 3 teachers had a great time on stage during the students’ rendition of “Here Comes the Snow.”
For many years, Harker’s Future Problem Solving program has proven invaluable to students in grades 6-12 who wish to engage in global issues while also developing their research and critical analysis skills. This year, the program was expanded to the lower school in the form of a grade 5 club to help prepare students for involvement in middle school.
The program is off to a good start, according to lower school English teacher Scott Murphy, who currently advises the lower school’s FPS club.
The club mainly serves to familiarize students with the procedure of FPS competitions. “In club, students practiced the different parts of the procedure and exercised creative and critical thinking skills,” said Murphy. FPS competitions typically deal with real-life or near-future scenarios, such as environmental or economic issues. By contrast, the lower school FPS club is “focused more on fairy tale scenarios, like what would happen if Robin Hood left Sherwood Forest and what becomes of Goldilocks’ reputation after the incident with the three bears,” Murphy said.
These club sessions act as precursors for “practice problem” sessions held on weekends, where the students practice solving problems in an environment simulating a real FPS competition, led by middle and upper school students.
Grade 4 students came up big yet again in this year’s holiday toy drive, collecting a whopping 572 toys for St. Justin’s Community Outreach in Santa Clara, ensuring that many families in need will have a brighter holiday season. According to elementary division head Kristin Giammona, the staff at St. Justin’s is currently sorting through the toys, which will be available for families to pick up next week. Nice work!