Spring Sports Defy Rain: Swimmers are in their Element; Golf and Track Rack Up Wins
Accolades from the winter season: in early March, girls basketball player Daniza Rodriguez, grade 10, was named West Bay Athletic League-Skyline Division Most Valuable Player.
Spring Sports
Swimming
Harker varsity swimming had a dominating win over Mercy Burlingame last week, winning all eleven events to post a 129-36 win. The girls team has yet to lose a single event this season and are now 2-0 and in first place in the WBAL. Double event winners were Jessica Khojasteh, grade 12 and Manon Audebert, grade 9.
Other event winners were Rachelle Koch, Lucy Cheng, Katie Siegel and Tiffany Wong, all grade 11, as well as all three relays: Harker had 1-2-3 sweeps in the 50 freestyle, the 500 freestyle, and the 100 breaststroke. Cheng had her first CCS qualifying swim of the year in the 200 IM. Of special note from the boys’ scrimmage: Kevin Khojasteh, grade 11, had a spectacular swim in the 200 freestyle, breaking now-junior Daryl Neubieser’s school record, set last May, by .11 of a second, going 1:46.79.
Golf
Our boys golfers opened league play in early March with a victory over King’s Academy 207-237 at Los Lagos. Co-medalist honors went to sophomores Kyle Roter and Maverick McNealy, shooting 2 over par at 36. In mid-March, linksmen defeated Pinewood and lost to SHP. McNealy earned medalist honors against Prep.
Track and Field
The track and field team had an outstanding display at the Willow Glen Invitational in early March. Isabelle Connell, grade 10, placed first in both the 200m and 400m races, and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 10, took fourth in both the 1600m and 3200m races. On the boys team, Charles Levine, grade 10, placed eighth in the 800m, Krish Chandani, grade 9, finished eighth for the freshman-sophomore (FS) boys 400m. Matthew Giammona, grade 10, threw to place fifth in the boys FS discus, while classmate Michael Chen finished seventh.
In their first league meet, in mid-March, track and field had some notable moments. Individual highlights include Claudia Tischler, grade 9, who took first place in both the mile (1600m) and the 2 mile (3200m), running a 5:39 and 12:34, respectively. Connell took first place in both the 400 meter and the 200 meter dashes, running a 1:01.48 and a 26.95, respectively. Sonya Chalaka, grade 11, took first place in the triple jump, jumping 29 feet and 9 and one half inches, and second place in the long jump, jumping 13 feet and 8 inches.
For the boys, Jonny Yet, grade 11, ran the 100 meter dash in 12.71 seconds, placing second. Giammona took second place in the discus, throwing 88 feet and 5 inches, and Chen took third place in both the shot put and the discus, throwing 37 feet and one half inches and 87 feet and six inches, respectively.
Softball
Softball started the season 1-1 in early March, defeating San Jose High 14-1 in their opener and losing to Independence High the week before. Against San Jose, Ashley Del Alto, grade 10, had a triple with three RBIs, Tracey Chan, grade 12, hit a home run, and Alison Rugar, grade 10, pitched eight strikeouts. The following week the team defeated Yerba Buena 18-3 and Alma Heights 7-3. Against Alma Heights, Del Alto pitched 15 strikeouts, Rugar hit a triple and we had hits from Chan, Victoria Liang, Aileen Wen and Trisha Basu, all seniors, and Sonia Gupta, grade 10.
Baseball
Varsity baseball started the season 0-3. The junior varsity team lost 6-5 in early March in 10 innings against Santa Clara. Noah Levy, grade 11, had three hits, Drew Goldstein, grade 10, had a hit, and Kevin Cali, grade 10, pitched 13 strikeouts.
Volleyball
Boys volleyball went 4-1 at the Aptos Tournament in early March, placing second behind Mt. Madonna. In mid-March, they lost first to St. Ignatius and then a nail-biter to Mt. Madonna last week to drop to 5-5 on the season. Jacob Chappell, grade 12, had 22 kills against Mt. Madonna.
Tennis
Boys tennis started out 2-0 after victories over Piedmont Hills and Priory. Against Priory, Derek Tzeng, grade 11, played #1 singles and didn’t drop a game, winning 6-0, 6-0. Sophmore Chris Chang played #2 singles and was almost as impressive, winning 6-0, 6-1. Senior Nick Parth won a tiebreaker at #3, 8-7. Nikhil Narayen, grade 10, played his first singles match, winning at #4, 6-1, 6-2. In doubles, the #1 team of Adarsh Ranganathan, grade 12 and freshman Killian Burke won 6-1, 6-1. Also impressive was #2 doubles team of Sachin Jain, grade 11 and Justin Yang, grade 10, who also won 6-1, 6-1. Finally, Revanth Kosaraju, grade 11 and Simar Mangat, grade 10, won 6-2, 6-3 at #3 doubles. In mid-March the boys defeated Crystal Springs but lost to Cupertino and Sacred Heart Prep. The boys take their 5-2 record against national power Menlo and Monte Vista this week.
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse lost their home opener in early March and the team has been fighting for their first win. They get two more chances before spring break, with home games against Mercy and Stevenson March 23 and 24 at 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.