Junior Veyd Patil ran well at the State Cross Country Championships over the weekend in Fresno, placing 67th out of 201 runners while setting a new personal record. Congratulations!
Frosh, junior varsity and varsity boys basketball all won their season openers last week. The frosh defeated Stratford with a score of 45-18 while JV and varsity each had wins against Yerba Buena with scores of 61-14 and 83-28, respectively.
Girls soccer’s season starts tomorrow against Scotts Valley on Davis Field at 4 p.m. The team returns to Davis Field on Friday at 5:30 p.m. to face James Lick. Also this week, boys soccer will visit Half Moon Bay tomorrow and play at home on Thursday against San Francisco International. Girls basketball will be playing in the Sandi Stober Classic tournament this week, hosted by Lynbrook High School. Their first game is scheduled for Thursday at 4:45 p.m.
At the Central Coast Section cross country meet on Nov. 12, individual runner Kara Kister, grade 12, finished 36th among 101 runners in girls division 4. Boys cross country finished a respectable seventh place, with junior Veyd Patil finishing in seventh individually, posting a personal best time of 16:15 and qualifying for the state championship on Nov. 26. Junior Andrew Smith and freshman Robinson Xiang also had strong performances, as Xiang posted the best time of any competing ninth grader.
Girls water polo came up short against Stevenson in the division 2 final this past weekend, which ended with a score of 12-15. The team nevertheless had a historically strong season, going 22-8 overall. Congratulations!
Another Harker season came to an end on Saturday, as girls tennis was defeated in the CCS semifinals 2-5 by Monta Vista, which would go on to be the CCS champions. The team finished another stellar season with its third consecutive league title and an overall record of 10-2.
Cross country’s season opener took place Saturday at the De La Salle Invitational in Concord, where junior Veyd Patil and senior Kara Kister were Harker’s top runners, finishing with times of 16:36 and 20:37, respectively, on a three-mile course. The runners’ next event will be the Artichoke Invitational in Half Moon Bay on Oct. 1.
Girls golf has played quite well in its last three outings, winning yesterday against Mercy High, defeating both Castilleja and Crystal Springs at Bay View and finishing second behind CCS champions Valley Christian at last week’s Helen Lengfeld Tournament. The team will face Notre Dame Belmont at Moffett Field on Monday.
Varsity football continued its strong start with a convincing 58-0 victory over Burton last Friday. At 3-1, the team will play at home against Crystal Springs this Friday. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Boys water polo won two straight games last week, defeating Lynbrook and Gunn. The team went into last weekend’s St. Francis tournament undefeated in league play and posted a 3-1 record with wins against Novato, Palo Alto and Gunn, and a loss to Valley Christian in the opening game. The team will host Los Gatos at the Singh Aquatic Center on Thursday.
Girls water polo is looking to bounce back at home on Thursday against Los Gatos after tough one-point losses this week to Castilleja (14-13) and Gunn (8-7) following that same week’s win over Lynbrook. Thursday’s contest starts at 4:30 p.m.
Varsity girls volleyball responded to its fifth-set loss to Westmont last week with a victory over Priory on Tuesday. Junior varsity volleyball currently has a 7-5 record after its win at Priory, and the frosh/soph team earned its first win of the season last week against Westmont.
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!
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.
Girls tennis started off the week with a close 4-3 win over the highly ranked Monta Vista on Monday followed by Tuesday’s 7-0 win against Sacred Heart Prep. The Eagles came together on Friday to put on a dominant showing, ending Menlo’s 24-year, 266 straight league match winning streak by the score of 4-3. The team will be at home against Crystal Springs on Tuesday.
Last week, the Eagles ran a 2.34 mile coed race, clinching the top five, with Anna Weirich leading the way at 13:15!
Golf
The girls golf team defeated Mercy Burlingame 214-276 last week with Natalie Vo, grade 12, scoring a 36. The Eagles face off with Notre Dame on Tuesday.
This past weekend, the cross country team opened its season at Golden Gate Park. Arya Maheshwari, grade 9, started the day with an eighth place finish in the freshman race, out of 294 runners. Aditya Singhvi ran an excellent 23rd.
Next up, Anna Weirich, grade 9, took third in her freshman/sophomore race, 2 seconds from winning, in a field of 289 runners. She was 20 seconds behind the leaders with 800 meters left, then sprinted to close the gap to 2 seconds at the finish line.
Senior Gloria Guo, and juniors Lilia Gonzales and Aneesha Kumar, along with Peter Connors, grade 12, and juniors Ryan Adolf and Henry Wong, led the varsity teams.
Rich Dange, grade 10, placed 25th out of 260, leading the sophomore team to a 10th place team finish, out of 32 teams.