Boys varsity water polo made history this past weekend with the program’s first-ever CCS championship, defeating Archbishop Mitty 9-5. Girls tennis also had a landmark moment, defeating Menlo to become CCS champions for the second consecutive year. With these wins, Harker has a total of 10 CCS championships across all participating sports. Both teams also advanced to their respective CIF Northern California championships. Boys water polo will face Dixon High at the Singh Aquatic Center at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, while girls tennis heads to Sacramento this Friday and Saturday as the top seed for their matches.
Tennis players also will be in CCS competition this week as Audrey Feng, grade 9, participates in singles, and the duo of Rachel Hernandez, grade 10, and Olivia Guo, grade 9, compete in doubles.
Cross country runners Veyd Patil, grade 10, and juniors Rupert Chen, Rigo Gonzales and Kara Kister finished their seasons at Saturday’s CCS championships, with all running well. Patil, Chen and Gonzales placed 31st, 35th and 48th, respectively, out of 93 runners.
Yesterday, senior Tara Ozdemir signed a letter of intent to compete in Division I beach volleyball at Stetson University. A four-year varsity player, Ozdemir was a member of the 2018 team that reached the CCS finals and the 2019 team that won the CCS championship. She was also named to the WBAL’s 2021 first team all-league and had a team-leading 243 digs this season. Congratulations!
Varsity boys and girls water polo have had historic seasons, with both teams recording their first-ever CCS wins. The boys are still in contention after Wednesday’s 13-10 win over Leland in the CCS semifinals. They will face Archbishop Mitty on Saturday in the CCS finals, which will be held at San Benito High School. The girls, meanwhile, are out of the playoffs following Tuesday’s loss to Santa Cruz. Congratulations to them on a great season!
Girls tennis’ success in CCS continued on Tuesday with a 7-0 win over Lynbrook in the second round. They are in action against Monta Vista today in the quarterfinal round. Should they win, they will play in Saturday’s semifinals.
Cross country runners Rupert Chen, Rigo Gonzales and Kara Kister, all juniors, and sophomore Veyd Patil will be competing in CCS this Saturday at Crystal Springs-Hallmark Park. Best of luck!
Girls tennis continues to dominate league play with victories over Menlo last Thursday (5-2) and Crystal Springs on Tuesday (6-1). They play their CCS qualifier on Monday.
Girls golf just won its fourth consecutive league tournament! “As all season long, it required a complete team effort,” said coach Ie-Chen Cheng. Senior Tina Xu led the Eagles with a fifth place finish and a score of 80. She was followed Emi Fujimura, grade 10, with 81, Allison Yang, grade 9, in with 82, senior Esther Wu in 11th with 87, junior Jessica Zhou with 91 and Khanhlinh Tran, grade 9, with 98. They’ve secured an automatic CCS berth for next Tuesday. Wish them luck!
Harker’s water polo squads turned up big on Thursday, winning all of their games against Los Altos. The girls finished the league regular season in fourth place and on Tuesday won their first match of the SCVAL tournament 9-5 against Los Gatos. JV boys have secured a co-league title, while varsity boys finished the regular season in second place and won the Silicon Valley Invitational, which was hosted by Harker, with a 4-0 record. Success for the varsity boys team continued on Tuesday with a 23-4 win in the SCVAL tournament against Los Gatos.
Football won 68-40 over California School for the Deaf on Thursday to end the season with a record of 3-4. Athletic director Dan Molin commended the team “for their hard work and dedication.”
Cross country’s second league meet went well, with the junior varsity boys placing third, led by grade 9 student Kaleb Goldin’s time of 20:14, for which he was named Eagle of the Meet. Varsity boys also finished third, as junior Rigo Gonzales ran for 17:54. Kara Kister led Harker’s girls by running a time of 20:36, which earned her ninth place. Cross country’s final league meet is Nov. 5 and will determine if they qualify for CCS.
Both varsity and JV girls volleyball lost to Notre Dame in their season finishers on Tuesday.
Last week, Harker athletic coaches Ie-Chen Cheng and Theresa Smith were each named Coach of the Year for the Central Coast Section in girls golf and girls volleyball, respectively, by the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coaches Association. The two longtime coaches were recognized for the positive effects they have had on Harker athletes during the 2020-21 school year. They are now eligible to be recognized as top coaches at both the state and national levels. Congratulations to both of these amazing coaches!
After Monday’s win over Sacred Heart, the girls golf team remains undefeated in league play and is currently in first place in the WBAL. The team’s next match is against a strong Castilleja team on Wednesday.
Following victories against Los Gatos last week, JV and varsity boys water polo are both in action tonight against Homestead. They will host Los Altos at the Singh Aquatic Center on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, boys varsity will host the Silicon Valley Invitational.
Girls varsity water polo was defeated by Los Gatos last Tuesday, but rebounded on Thursday to take an 11-1 win over Palo Alto. The team faces Homestead today.
Girls tennis continued its hot streak with last week’s wins over Sacred Heart Prep and Notre Dame-Belmont. The team hopes to remain undefeated today as it faces Castilleja, and on Thursday will play Menlo in another highly anticipated match.
At a trial 5K race in Fresno, cross country athlete Veyd Patil, grade 10, placed in the top 50, running a time of 18:19. Alex Liou, grade 10, and Eric Zhang, grade 9, also had respectable performances, with respective times of 18:52 and 21:44. Junior Kara Kister’s time of 21:46 landed her in the top 40 of her race. In her first 5K, grade 9 runner Sophia Liu finished with a time of 23:56. Cross country’s second WBAL meet will take place Thursday.
JV and varsity girls volleyball, which lost to Sacred Heart Prep and Notre-Dame Belmont last week, play their final home games of the season this week, tonight against Menlo and Friday against Mercy High School.
As one Harker team celebrates a big win, several others look ahead to Harker Day, during which no fewer than six Harker teams will be competing.
In a highly anticipated contest, Harker girls tennis defeated Menlo 5-2 on Tuesday to improve to 5-0 in league play. The team will host Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday.
Cross country headed to Half Moon Bay High School last Saturday for a successful meet that saw the boys varsity team finish sixth on the strength of runs by junior Rigo Gonzales (13:42) and sophomore Veyd Patil (13:22). The JV team, led by junior Dawson Chen’s 15:50 run, finished fifth. On the varsity girls squad, junior Kara Kister ran for a time of 16:00 to help her team place sixth. The grade 9 team finished in ninth place, with Harris Miller being the team’s top runner with a time of 15:02. Of particular note was sophomore Ethan Liu, who participated in his first-ever cross country race and finished in the top 50.
In an important league match, girls volleyball triumphed over Notre Dame-San Jose last Thursday, improving their record to 6-13.
Football lost a hard-fought game against Priory last Friday that ended in a 44-38 score and saw frequent lead changes. Currently 2-3, the Eagles look to even their record against Marina High at Saturday’s Homecoming game, which will be streamed live on Harker’s YouTube channel.
On Monday, girls golf lost to Los Altos 214-224 in a non-league match, in which senior Tina Xu shot an impressive 39. The team, still undefeated in league play at 7-0, will face another undefeated team, the 8-0 Castilleja, on Monday.
Varsity boys and girls water polo each lost close games to Gunn High on Monday. At press time, both teams still have winning records, with the boys sitting at second place in league play with a record of 6-2 and the girls currently ranking fourth with a record of 5-4. The girls host Castilleja on Thursday evening and Menlo-Atherton on Saturday. The boys, meanwhile, will play Palo Alto High at home on Saturday. Both Saturday games will be streamed live.
In addition to the already mentioned games, JV boys water polo’s matchup against Palo Alto High, JV and varsity volleyball’s games against Castilleja will also be streamed on YouTube. Be sure to catch the action if you’re unable to attend Harker Day!
Harker football won its season opener against San Jose High in a thriller that went into overtime. The Eagles were down by 8 in the third quarter before tying the score at 14, sending the game into overtime, where senior Aaditya Gulati kicked the game-winning field goal. Harker will meet Lynnbrook at Davis Field this Friday.
Girls golf fell to a strong Palo Alto team in non-league play on Thursday, but rebounded to win its league opener against Notre Dame-San Jose the following day.
In its Thursday season opener, girls volleyball lost to Branham High and had a 2-3 record in Saturday’s Spikefest Tournament, defeating Silver Creek and Christopher. The team faces Harbor at home on Tuesday and will host Santa Cruz on Friday.
Several Harker teams have upcoming season openers. Boys water polo will open its season in a Wednesday away game at Valley Christian, while girls water polo starts its season Sept. 7 against Los Altos High. Opening its season that same day will be girls tennis, which will face Monta Vista. Cross country is hard at work preparing for its Sept. 11 start at the Lowell Invitational, held at Golden Gate Park.
Last weekend, Harker football players participated in a seven-on-seven passing tournament with six other area high schools. Harker took second place overall, narrowly falling to host team Harbor High after a pass for a two-point conversion that would have sealed the game was batted away, leaving the final score at 12-13.
In passing leagues, explained Harker head football coach Loren Powers, teams focus on scoring with (and defending against) passing plays. Before the playoff tournament, Harker played four pre-seeding games.
“We were so proud of our football players today!” said assistant coach Juston Glass, who also directs Harker’s business and entrepreneurial programs. “Went into this tournament with just a few scrimmages under our belt and a half-summer of pretty intense and well-executed training and practice.”
The team celebrated its strong performance with a meetup at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz.
After over a year without sports, our Harker Eagles returned to the fields, courts, pools and tracks to compete in a historic season. Five varsity teams won CCS championships, four of which were firsts in school history. Varsity baseball performed an upset for the ages, coming back from a 14-5 deficit against Stevenson to win it all with an 11-run comeback. The varsity boys and girls golf teams swept the CCS tournament, each winning their first titles, while varsity girls tennis battled through a difficult season, first by upsetting Menlo’s 24-year league win streak, then by beating Menlo at home to win its first CCS championship. Last but not least, varsity boys volleyball won its second CCS title with a victory over Prospect High.
This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the incredible individual accomplishments by Harker athletes. With an impressive display of resilience and perseverance, track and field long jumper and rising junior Andrew Fu battled through a foot injury to win CCS with a jump of 21’ 8.25”. Varsity swimmer and recent graduate Matthew Chung won CCS in both the 100-meter butterfly and 200 IM. Varsity baseball pitcher and rising senior Mark Hu threw the first perfect game in school history, tying the CCS record of 18 strikeouts.
Take a scroll through this selection of the past year’s best athletics photos.
Harker baseball won a thriller on Saturday to take its first ever CCS title. The Eagles were trailing top-seeded Stevenson 14-5 with two outs in the final inning when a string of batters, 12 in all, reached the bases. The incredible 11-run comeback was “mainly walks and singles,” coach Mike Delfino told the Mercury News, with a two-run double from recent graduate Andrew Chavez giving Harker the lead. Pitcher Ian Williamson ’21 earned the winning strikeout after Stevenson rallied to within one run of Harker with the bases loaded.
Harker track and field athletes also had a great weekend. Long jumper Andrew Fu, grade 10, won the first place medal with a 21’ 8” jump on his final attempt, his first CCS title. In her final meet as a Harker competitor, Anna Weirich ’21 finished second in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs, and the boys took fifth place in the 4×100 relay.
