This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Read the full Eagle Report in Harker News, with team statistics, and player and coach interviews, at http://wp.me/pOeLQ-7ER.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball started off the season losing eight of its first 10 nonleague games, but dramatically turned things around when they started league play, winning a league title with a perfect 10-0 record and qualifying for CCS. All told, they ended their season with a 16-12 record.
Boys Tennis
It was an exciting year for the boys tennis program. Competing at the California Tennis Classic in Fresno early in the season, the Eagles went 1-2, but there was more to this weekend than just numbers. After winning the division 4 championship in the tournament last year, the Eagles were moved up two divisions to face some of the best teams in the state. Their sole victory came against defending section champ Clovis West, proving that they could play with the big boys. The team then finished the season in third place in the WBAL, which produced a CCS berth. Their season ended in the next round of CCS as Gunn High defeated Harker 5-2.
Swimming
The 2016 swim season was full of amazing individual and team achievements, and led to many All-League selections. In addition to their prowess in the pool, both the boys and girls swim teams were CCS scholastic champions with a 3.5441 and 3.8451 GPA, respectively. “We had a very committed core who were encouraged by their improvements,” said coach Tania Chadwick. “By the end of the season it was great to see swimmers come together showing their team unity and camaraderie as they supported each other during practice and meets.”
Softball
The Harker softball team started the year on fire as it went 4-0 in its first four games, winning each game by an average of nine runs! The Eagles would finish the season tied for fourth in the WBAL with a 6-10 overall record. Read the full Eagle Report in Harker News, with team statistics and player and coach interviews, at http://wp.me/pOeLQ-7ER.
Girls Lacrosse
It was a tough season for the girls lacrosse team as team members played their hearts out through a 2-18 season. In addition to being a CCS scholastic champion, leading all CCS girls lacrosse teams with a 3.9098 GPA, the team also received many All-League awards.
Baseball
The varsity baseball team ended its season with a 9-13 record, but the future looks promising for this team. With only three graduating seniors on a 19-man roster, a solid core of players will return next year.
“Even though we will only have one senior next year, we’ll have eight to nine juniors, all of whom will be beginning their third year on varsity,” said coach Mike Delfino. “So, we’re definitely optimistic about the next few years. I am proud of the efforts each of the players put into the season. These guys worked hard and steadily improved as the season went along.”
Boys Golf
What a year for the boys golf team! They were WBAL champs for the third consecutive year and enjoyed a second-straight undefeated season, which included 22 consecutive league wins. They had a second place finish at CCS, third place finish at NorCals, and sixth place at state. Read the full story on the boys golf team.
Track and Field
It was one of the best years in Harker history for the track and field team! Every meet seemed to produce multiple personal and/or school records. At the WBAL finals, the Eagles had 14 season bests, and five athletes earned trips to the CCS championships. Junior Niki Iyer had a particularly stellar season; read more about Iyer, here!
Lower, Middle School Spring Athletes Finish Strong
By Theresa “Smitty” Smith
It was another great season for lower and middle school athletes!
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Diana Melendez and Stephanie Coleman, finished as league champs in the WBAL with a record of 7-1. Team awards went to Emily Cheng, grade 8 (Eagle), and Julia Yusupov, grade 7, and Lauren Beede, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B team, coached by Xiaofeng Foret, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 5-2. Team awards went to Rachel Abellera, grade 8 (MVP), Hannah Grannis, grade 7 (Eagle) and Anvitha Tummala, grade 7 (Coaches).
VB2 (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B2 team, coached by Josh Miller, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a record of 3-4. Team awards went to Anu Selvaraj, grade 8 (MVP), Aria Wong, grade 7 (Eagle) and Ayla Tanurhan, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Tina Mai, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Tara Ozdemir (MVP), Leyla Artun (Eagle) and Sarah Leafstrand (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B6 team, coached by Sarah Bell, finished as league champs in the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0. Team awards went to Michelle Liu (MVP), Emily Tan (Eagle) and Elizabeth Shchegrov (Coaches).
JVB1 (Grade 5) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B1 team, coached by Ellie Pereria, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-1. Team awards went to Claire Chen (MVP), Shea Bryden (Eagle) and Lexi Nishimura (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 4) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B2 team, coached by Sydney Voss, finished in ninth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-6. Team awards went to Kate Grannis (MVP), Margaret Cartee (Eagle) and Masha Velikhovskaya (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Volleyball: Team awards went to Emily McCartney and Maggie Yan, both grade 4 (Eagle), and Emma Cai, Ceren Erdogan and Cecilia Yang, all grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Maria Maldonado.
VA (Grade 8) Boys Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished as league champs in the ADAL with an undefeated record of 8-0 and an overall record of 9-0. Team awards went to Jeffrey Kwan (MVP), Vedanth Sundaram (Eagle) and Vance Hirota (Coaches).
JVA (Grades 6-7) Boys Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished in second place in the ADAL with a record of 6-2. Team awards went to Marcus Page, grade 6 (MVP), Avery Young, grade 7 (Eagle) and Sujith Pakala, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 7-8) Baseball: The Varsity A team, coached by Jeff Paull and Matt Arensberg, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 1-4 and an overall record of 2-4. Team awards went to Nicholas Coulter (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and John Lynch (Coaches), all grade 7.
JVA (Grades 6-7) Baseball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich and Richard Amarillas, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-3-1 and an overall record of 0-5-1. Team awards went to Richard Amarillas, grade 6 (MVP), Chirag Kaushik, grade 6 (Eagle) and George Wehner, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVB (Grades 4-5) Baseball: The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Dan Pringle, Randy LeGris and Kristian Tiopo, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Frederick Hoch, grade 5 (MVP), Tyler Beede, grade 5 (Eagle), and Wyatt Cote, grade 5, and Ashwin Kuppahally, grade 4 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Water Polo: The Varsity A team, coached by Ted Ujifusa and Allie Lamb, finished with a WBAL record of 0-5 and an overall record of 1-6. Team awards went to Cassandra Ruedy, grade 8, and Bayden Yazalina, grade 7 (MVP), Anna Arnaudova, grade 7 (Eagle) and Chloe Affaki, grade 7 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity A team, coached by JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as league champs and tournament champs of the WBAL with a record of 7-0. The team also finished as league champs of the MTP with a record of 4-0. In the MTP playoffs, Harker lost 5-4 to Kennedy in the finals. The Eagles finished the season with an impressive 13-1 record. Team awards went to Mihir Sharma and Ramanand Vegesna (MVP), Simar Bajaj and Gina Partridge (Eagle), and Jack Hansen, Bryan Wang and Rachel Broweleit (Coaches), all grade 8.
VB (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity B team, coached by Matt McGee, JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as league champs and tournament champs of the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0 and an overall record of 8-0. Team awards went to Fonda Hu, grade 7, and Shika Tseitlin, grade 6 (MVP), Dawson Chen, grade 6 (Eagle), and Alexander Liou and Dhruv Saoji, both grade 6 (Coaches).
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Alumna Shatters Records at Pepperdine
It has been a very good year for Izzy Connell ’13! After a break from track while she spent her sophomore year abroad in Florence, Italy, Connell returned as a junior this year to set three Pepperdine University records in indoor track (60-, 200- and 4×400-meter relay) and four school records in outdoor track (100-, 200-, 400- and 4×400-meter relay). Connell actually broke her own record in the 200 three times throughout the season!
“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t focused on the records,” said Connell. “I concentrated on achieving my own goal times in specific events and breaking records was just icing on the cake.” This is the school’s first year competing in indoor track, and Connell had the unique experience of traveling to Arizona with her teammates to race against collegiate and professional runners.
“Racing in between professional women was intimidating but the competition made me faster,” she recalled. Connell, who is studying psychology, has been named a scholar-athlete both seasons that she has competed at Pepperdine. Her secret to success is managing her time well.
“I never procrastinate because that just makes things worse in the long run,” Connell said. “Being a student athlete has definitely taught me to be disciplined when it comes to my studies.” Connell ran varsity track all four years at Harker, qualifying for CCS every year. She also set school records in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 runs and the 4×400 relay, all of which still stand, except the 800, which was broken by Niki Iyer, grade 11.
Niki Iyer Continues Stellar Career
In her time at Harker, Niki Iyer, grade 11, has accomplished a lot. The distance runner has multiple first team and league MVP awards; she holds the Harker record in the 800-meter, the 1600 and the 3200; she has been a top three CCS finisher in cross country and a top five CCS finisher in the 3200 for the past three seasons, with back to back fifth place finishes at the state cross country finals; she briefly held the top high school 3200 time in the country earlier this year; and, most recently, she was the 2016 CCS champ in the 3200 that led to a third place finish at the state finals.
The week before CCS, Iyer was ranked eighth in the state in the 3200, but according to coach Scott Chisam, “She has not pushed a fast race since early April … she will go all out this Friday.” And go all out she did, taking home a CCS championship, outrunning the next runner by 2.5 seconds and earning a trip to the state finals. At state, Iyer ran an incredible race, finishing third, less than a second behind the second place finisher.
“It’s been such a fun experience this past season, because I was blessed by being healthy,” said Iyer. “I’ve never had a full season where I’ve been injury-free, so it was pretty awesome to go out there and actually be able to perform to the best of my ability.” Heading into her senior year, Iyer hopes to leave Harker with a lasting impression of who she is as an athlete.
“I feel like the legacy I’d like to leave is not just one of fanfare and athletic accomplishments, but one in which people remember me as an athlete who just loved the sport,” she said.
The varsity boys water polo team continues its hot streak as it defeated Santa Clara 13-3, Saratoga 13-5 and Heritage 9-7, last week. That’s nine straight non-tournament wins for the Eagles, bringing their season record to 13-4. This week, Harker travels to Cupertino on Tuesday and hosts Milpitas on Thursday.
Girls Golf
The girls varsity golf team went 1-1, last week, picking up a win over Notre Dame San Jose, followed by a loss to Menlo. Freshman sensation Katelyn Vo once again impressed in the win over NDSJ, shooting a par 34 to lead all golfers. This week, the Eagles face Notre Dame Belmont on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Wednesday.
Cross Country
Competing at the first WBAL meet of the year, Peter Connors, grade 11, led the boys with a time of 16:59 for the 2.8 mile course. Leading the way for the girls team was Anika Rajamani, grade 10, and Lilia Gonzales, grade 10. This Saturday, the Eagles compete at the Monterey Bay Invitational at Toro Regional Park.
Girls Volleyball
The varsity girls volleyball team went 1-1 in league play last week, dropping a three-game match to Notre Dame Belmont, followed by a four-game win over Notre Dame San Jose. At 2-3 in league, Harker sits in fourth place in the West Bay Foothill League. Next up for the Eagles is a trip to Menlo on Tuesday, then a home match against Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team dropped a match with Sacred Heart Prep 5-2 last week, but looks to regain some league momentum as it faces off with Menlo on Tuesday and Crystal Springs Uplands on Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team dropped two heart-braking matches last week. In an 8-7 loss to Santa Clara, Meghana Karinthi, grade 11, had three goals. Later in the week, the Eagles lost to Saratoga 5-4. The Eagles travel to Wilcox on Tuesday and host Milpitas on Thursday.
Football
The Eagles come off their bye week ready to travel to Modesto and take on Big Valley Christian on Friday.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
On the day before graduation and immediately following the baccalaureate ceremony, 35 “lifers” – students who attended Harker from kindergarten through their senior year – gathered at the home of Head of School Chris Nikoloff for the annual Lifer Dinner. Upon arriving at the home by bus, the students enjoyed a sumptuous dinner and dessert, the latter of which came in the form of a cake with an edible photo of the lifers on it. The seniors had a lively discussion about their Harker experiences and even broke into an impromptu rendition of “The Harker School Song” to cap things off.
This year’s lifers are: Aashika Balaji, Akshay Battu, Caitlin Benge, Rishabh Chandra, Jonathan Dai, Marita Del Alto, Alexandra Dellar, Emma Doherty, Kaitlyn Gee, Eliot Gruzman, Grace Guan, Suraj Jagadeesh, John Nicolas Jerney, Maya Jeyendran, Kevin Ke, Abhinav Ketineni, Janet Lee, Natasha Mayor, Mary Najibi, Rishi Narain, Selin Ozcelik, Kristen Park, Nikita Ramoji, Shannon Richardson, Kurt Schwartz, Ankita Sharma, Elisabeth Siegel, Natalie Simonian, Gurutam Thockchom, Madison Tomihiro, Allison Wang, Kevin Wang, Helen Woodruff, Aparna Yellapragada and Jonathan Yiu.
This story originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Members of the Class of 2016 and their parents gathered at Graduates’ Grove on the upper school campus in late May for the annual brick ceremony, where dozens of graduating seniors placed bricks in the walkway to commemorate their years at Harker.
Each year, the bricks are laid in the path, which winds through Graduates’ Grove, past a babbling brook and fountain and among towering redwood trees, a tangible reminder of those who’ve come before.
This Harker tradition was started by the parents of the first class of upper school graduates in 2002. It has since become a way for graduating students to preserve the memories of their time at Harker, while serving as a reminder of their legacy for future graduates.
Placing bricks in the grove at this year’s ceremony were: Sachit Agarwal, Shalini Arimilli, Sorjo Banerjee, Akshay Battu, Jonathan Dai, Victoria Ding, Emma Doherty, Elizabeth Anne Edwards, Kaitlyn Gee, Arthur Wolff Goldstein, Prithvi Gudapati, Cynthia Vivian Hao, Jonathan Hochberg, Shannon Hong, Kevin Hu, Kaylan Huang, Raghav Jain, John Nicolas Jerney, Kevin Ke, Johnathon Keller, Malvika Khanna, Mehul Khetrapal, Philip Krause, Lawrence Li, Lisa Liu, Sophia Y. Luo, Alex Lyon, Dhanush Madabusi, Sadhika Malladi, Shreya Mathur, Natasha Mayor, Dakota McNealy, Michael Moncton, Melina Nakos, Kristen Park, Shannon Richardson, Jackiel Rothschild, Edward Y. Sheu, Elisabeth Siegel, Ameek Singh, Surya Solanki, Sai Shreya Sunkara, Chandini Thakur, Allison Wang, Tong Wu, Kevina Xiao, Daphne Yang, Richard Yi, Jonathan Yiu, Michael Zhao and Ashley Zhong.
HELM, the upper school’s literary magazine, was recently named a finalist in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2017 Crown Awards competition. These awards are presented annually to the top publications from CSPA-member schools. The 1,100 publications eligible for the awards included magazines, yearbooks, newspapers and online outlets.
As a finalist, HELM will receive either a Gold Crown or Silver Crown award. The winners will be announced at the CSPA Spring Scholastic Convention, to be held in March in New York City.
More than 664 rounds of debate occurred during the Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational speech and debate tournament, held Oct. 1-2. The event was attended by more than 20 schools, who took part in policy, Lincoln-Douglas and public forum debate contests. On hand to help with the tournament were more than 50 Harker student volunteers, who assisted competitors with finding rooms, helped the event run on time and made sure the upper school campus was kept clean. Speech and debate chair Jenny Alme reported that the visiting students were appreciative of the food provided by Harker’s kitchen staff.
Our very own Ted Ujifusa was recently named the 2016 CCS Boys Water Polo Honor Coach. CCS honors one coach per sport each year for “his/her contribution to that sport at the interscholastic level,” according to the CCS website. Coaches are selected based on their coaching accomplishments, contributions to their school and community, and inspiration to others, among other criteria.
Coach Ujifusa will receive his award at the CCS Water Polo Championships on Nov. 12 at Independence High School. The Harker boys water polo team was the CIF State Academic Team Champion for the 2015-16 year and is currently 11-4 under Coach Ujifusa. Congratulations, Coach! Go Eagles!
Last week, the girls tennis team picked up a 4-3 win over rival Castilleja. Freshmen Rachel Broweleit, Srivani Vegesna and Amanda Cheung won their singles matches, with Connie Miao, grade 12, and Kathleen Cheng, grade 11, winning their doubles match. Later in the week, however, the Eagles lost to Pinewood 4-3. The Eagles will take on Sacred Heart Prep this Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys varsity water polo team stayed red hot, picking up a 16-6 win over Fremont High last week. It was the Eagles’ sixth straight league win, bringing their season record to 10-4. The boys team travels to Santa Clara on Tuesday and hosts Saratoga on Thursday.
Cross Country
The cross country team competed at the prestigious Stanford Invitational over the weekend, and both the boys and girls teams performed very well. Peter Connors, grade 11, and Andy Koonmen, grade 10, led the boys team. Niki Iyer, grade 12, led the girls team with a fourth place finish and a personal best. Lilia Gonzales, grade 10, and Aneesha Kumar, grade 10, each set personal bests. The Eagles’ team time was a school record for the Stanford course. Next up for the Eagles is a WBAL meet on Thursday at San Bruno Mountain Park, followed by the Serra Invitational this Saturday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team dropped a tight 3-2 match with Homestead before picking up a 5-3 win over Monta Vista last week. This week, the Eagles travel to Santa Clara on Tuesday before hosting Saratoga on Thursday.
Football
The Eagles traveled to Vallejo last week to face off with Saint Patrick-Saint Vincent. Unfortunately, the Eagles left with a 54-7 loss. Leading the way for the Harker was Anthony Contreras, grade 11, with 50 receiving yards and a touchdown, and James Pauli, grade 11, who picked off two passes on defense. The Eagles will take a week off before heading up to Modesto to face off with Big Valley Christian on Oct. 14.
Girls Volleyball
The girls varsity volleyball team defeated Mercy San Francisco last week in three games. This week the Eagles face off with Notre Dame Belmont at Harker on Tuesday, then travel to Notre Dame San Jose on Thursday.
Girls Golf
The girls varsity golf team hosts Notre Dame San Jose today at Los Lagos Golf Course at 4 p.m., then travels to Palo Alto Hills Country Club to take on Menlo on Wednesday. Go Eagles!