Cross Country Star Named Athlete of Week; Golfing Phenom Makes Elite Team; Football Overcomes; LS and MS Fall Results
Cross Country
Sophomore Niki Iyer was featured in the San Jose Mercury News last week as the Santa Clara County girls Athlete of the Week in recognition of her 10th place finish and personal-best 18:18 run at the Clovis Invitational, a multi-state championship race.
This week, Iyer and senior Corey Gonzales each placed second in their races at the team’s second WBAL league meet of the year. A number of Eagles posted great marks in the race en route to a sixth-place finish for the girls and a fifth-place finish for the boys. Sophomore Dylan Hwang ran well in his first race of the year, while junior Jack Rothschild ran his best race of the year, his first as a cross country runner for Harker. Junior Alex Dellar, meanwhile, finished 16th and qualified for the CCS championship next month.
Football
After being down 21-0 in the first quarter, the Eagles roared back to capture a 32-28 victory on their final drive of the game when senior Keanu Forbes bolted into the endzone to cap off a magical game. The Eagles also scored on sophomore Will Park’s interception return for a touchdown, two scrambles into the endzone by freshman quarterback Nate Kelly and a 30-yard field goal by senior Alyssa Amick. The team plays Friday at 7pm at home against Emery in their penultimate game of the year.
Golf
Freshman Katherine Zhu was named to the American Junior Golf Association’s Gary Gilchrist All-Star Team, which includes the top 10 girls golfers between 12 and 15 years old. Back at home, the Eagles lost to rival Sacred Heart Prep last week.
Water Polo
Last week was a spectacular one for Eagles water polo as the boys varsity, girls varsity and boys JV teams scored a perfect 6-0 combined against Fremont and Santa Clara. The most exciting contest belonged to the girls varsity club, which, after trailing 7-1 at halftime against Fremont, came roaring back for a stunning 10-9 victory. Senior Anushka Das had the greatest individual game, scoring six goals against Santa Clara. Water polo’s senior night on Oct. 28 will celebrate Das and fellow seniors Delaney Martin, Jackelyn Shen, Sheridan Tobin, Dipam Acharyya, Annirudh Ankola, Aadyot Bhatnagar, Jeremy Binkley, William Bloomquist, Eric Holt, Siddhant Jain, Mohannad Khadr, Hemant Kunda, Ryan Palmer, Alexander Thomas and Harry Xu.
Volleyball
The girls volleyball team crushed both Mercy-SF and rival Sacred Heart Prep last week in straight games. The Eagles hit the road to face Menlo and Notre Dame this week.
Tennis
Girls tennis lost to Menlo last week, then rebounded with a clutch 4-3 victory over Castilleja. This week, the girls take on King’s Academy and Crystal Springs.
Lower and Middle School Fall Wrap-Up
Football
Varsity A flag football (grade 8) went 4-2 in league (third place) and 10-2 overall. The VA team also took first place at the Harker Flag Football tournament! Team awards went to Demonte Aleem (MVP), Jackson Williams (Eagle), and Charlie Molin and Zachary Hoffman (Coaches).
Varsity B flag football (grade 7) went 3-3 in league (fifth place) and 7-5 overall. The VB team also took first place at the Harker Flag Football tournament! Team awards went to James Rugnao and Aaron Featherstone (Co-MVP), Jeffrey Liu (Eagle) and Naveen Mirapuri (Coaches).
Junior varsity A flag football (grade 6) went 5-1 in league (second place) and 6-1 overall. Team awards went to Michael Mitchell (MVP), Srinath Somasundaram (Eagle), and Arjun Virmani and Marcus Anderson (Coaches).
Junior varsity B flag football (grade 5) went 5-1 in league (tied for first place). Team awards went to Eric Bollar (MVP), Rishi Jain and Anquan Boldin Jr. (Eagle), and Raj Patel (Coaches).
Intramural flag football (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. Although they do not compete in games, the boys learned a lot and had fun with their friends. Team awards went to Rohan Gorti (Eagle), and Freddy Hoch and Dylan Parikh (Coaches).
Softball
Varsity A softball (grade 6-8) went 6-1 in league (second place) and 6-2 overall. Team awards went to Lilly Wancewicz and Taylor Lam (Co-MVP), Alaina Valdez (Eagle) and Cameron Zell (Coaches).
Junior varsity A softball (grades 4-6) went 1-5-1 in league (sixth place). Team awards went to Alexandra Baeckler (MVP), Brooklyn Cicero (Eagle) and Emma Crook (Coaches).
Intramural softball (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. They did not play in any games, but the girls learned a lot and had fun. Team awards went to Brooke Baker (MVP), Keesha Gondipalli (Eagle) and Allison Lee (Coaches).
Cross Country
Cross Country (grades 6-8) enjoyed a phenomenal season! The final three meets of the season, the team really turned it on.
The following were first-place finishers at the Harker meet: Julia Amick, Lilia Gonzales, Anika Rajamani, Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar (8th grade girls team); and Gina Partridge, grade 7.
The following were first-place finishers at the Menlo meet: Julia Amick, Lilia Gonzales, Anika Rajamani, Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar (8th grade girls team); and Julia Amick, grade 8.
The following were first-place finishers at the WBAL final meet: Julia Amick, Gina Partridge, Anika Rajamani, Lilia Gonzales and Alycia Cary (grade 7/8 team); and Julia Amick, grade 8.
Team awards went to Mihir Sharma and Julia Amick (top runners), Gina Partridge, Arya Maheshwari and Alex Rule (co-MVP), Anna Weirich, Noah Lincke and Lilia Gonzales (Eagle), and Jasmine Wiese, Aneesha Kumar and Grant Miner (Coaches).
Swimming
The lower and middle school swim team participated in the Harker and Castilleja meets. First-place finishers at the Harker meet were Lorenzo Martinelli, grade 4 , in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ysabel Chen, grade 5, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ethan Hu, grade 7, in the 100 IM and 50 freestyle; Angela Li, grade 8, in the 100 IM and 50 backstroke; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 8, in the 50 freestyle; Rhys Edwards, grade 6, in the 50 breaststroke; and Matthew Hajjar, grade 8, in the 50 breaststroke. First-place finishers in the Castilleja meet were Brandon Wang, grade 4, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ethan Hu, grade 7, in the 100 IM and 50 freestyle; Anh My Tran, grade 7, in the 50 freestyle; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 8, in the 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke; Angela Li, grade 8, in the 50 butterfly and 200 breaststroke; Leland Rossi, grade 6, in the 50 backstroke; Andrew Fox, grade 4, in the 25 breaststroke; and Leon Lu, grade 8, in the 50 breaststroke.
Awards for middle school swimming went to Angela Li, grade 8, MVP; Leah Anderson, grade 6, Eagle Award; and Evan Bourke, grade 6, Coaches Award. Awards for lower school swimming went to Lorenzo Martinelli, grade 4, MVP; Arianna Martinelli, grade 4, Eagle Award; and Daniel Fields, grade 5, Coaches Award.
Tags: Featured Story, Sports, topathletics