Harker Athletes Rack Up Wins, Prepare for Upcoming Matches and Get Excited for Homecoming

Football
In their season opener, JV football beat Yerba Buena 19-8. Freshman Alex Youn reached the end zone on a 17-yard rushing touchdown. Sid Krishnmurthi, grade 11, caught two touchdowns from two different quarterbacks, snagging a 40-yard pass from Jonathan Keller, grade 10, and a 35-yard pass from Keanu Forbes, grade 11. All told, Harker amassed 314 total yards on offense, led by offensive linemen Chirag Aswani, grade 11, Logan Drazovich, grade 10, and Kevin Wang, grade 10. JV plays Irvington High on the road this Thursday.

Harker’s girls tennis squad defeated Homestead 5-2, including a sweep of the doubles matches. On the singles side, Sahithya Prakash, grade 12, and Izzy Gross, grade 10, both played excellently, with each playing their best matches to date, according to Dan Molin, athletic director. “The lady tennis Eagles did more than battle against their toughest opponent yet,” wrote Molin. “They showed drastic improvement in serving and volleying skills, as well as knowledge of court positioning and shot selection.” The team hits the road to play Fremont High on Thursday.

Corey Gonzales, grade 11,  placed second out of 188 at the Lowell Invitational in San Francisco this past Saturday, staving off two of his competitors down the final straight of his run. Then, in her debut race for Harker, freshman Niki Iyer beat her challengers by 30 seconds on her way to best time by a freshman or sophomore out of all 451 runners. Rahul Sridar, Rahul Balakrisnan, Namitha Villian and Raymond Chang all ran great races as well to start the year. The team’s next challenge will be the Westmoor Invitational two weeks from now. Gonzales will run in the championship division of the Stanford Invitational that same weekend.

Water Polo
Boys water polo starts their season this Thursday at Saratoga High School. The boys had their tune-up last weekend at San Benito, winning two games and losing one. Over the weekend, Eric Holt, grade 11, led the team with eight goals. Billy Bloomquist, grade 11, had eight, with Jeremy Binkley, grade 11, Karan Kurber, grade 12, and Alex Thomas, grade 11, netting five, four and two, apiece.

The girls water polo team, meanwhile, played at the Wilcox Tournament, where they went 1-3. Their victory came in thrilling fashion: Delaney Martin, grade 11, scored a triple-overtime goal to give the girls a sudden-death victory against San Lorenzo. League play begins this Thursday at Mountain View.

Volleyball
Girls volleyball improved their record to 2-1 on the year after beating Fremont in straight games last Thursday and had their first match of league play last Friday, opening with a 235-273 victory against Mercy-Burlingame. Kristine Lin, grade 12, shot a 34, earning medalist honors. Then, over the weekend, JV competed in the Milpitas Tournament, winning four and losing just one to earn the bronze championship. The teams play three times this next week. Those wishing to take in a game can catch the team at home on Wednesday for a match against Monta Vista.

Don’t forget, Homecoming is Sept. 27 and Davis Field will be the center of the day’s festivities! For all the info, click here! GO EAGLES!