This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Winter Sports Wrap
The winter sports season was one for the Harker history books! Harker’s teams set scoring records, broke opponents’ streaks and reached new heights in the playoffs. And the Eagles continue to soar as the spring season gets underway.
Girls Basketball
The girls varsity basketball team started the season on fire, winning nine of its first 10 games by an average margin of victory of 31 points. The team finished with an impressive 16-8 regular season record, and third place in the West Bay-Skyline Division.
The Eagles headed into CCS with a No. 10 ranking in the Division 4 tournament, which gave them home court advantage against their first round opponent, Terra Nova. However, injuries and illnesses left the Eagles shorthanded and the team fell to the Tigers 52-44, ending Harker’s season.
Leading the way for the Eagles were Joelle Anderson and Jordan Thompson, both grade 11. Anderson averaged 14.3 points per game, while Thompson averaged an amazing 27.2 points per game, the best in the CCS and fifth in the state, according to MaxPreps.com. Thompson also became Harker’s all-time leading scorer this season, with her senior year still ahead of her.
Thompson was honored with a WBAL first-team selection, Anderson was named to the second team, and Satchi Thockchom and Selin Sayiner, both grade 10, received honorable mentions. Coach Tomas Thompson has his sights set high for the program’s future. “This was a great year for Harker girls basketball. Next year we return all five starters and, if we continue to work hard, we will contend for the league championship and have goals to advance in CCS,” he said. “This is the start of something special, and we can’t wait to get back to practice to get to the next level.”
Boys Basketball
The Eagles opened the year by winning the James Lick Invitational Tournament, the first tournament championship under coach Butch Keller. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, was named tournament MVP, averaging 14 points and 14 rebounds a game.
The Eagles finished the season with a 12-12 record, making the playoffs as the No. 11 seed in the CCS Division 4 playoffs. They traveled to San Lorenzo Valley for their first round game, where the very talented Cougars defeated Harker 67-47, ending the team’s season. Edgehill and Roy Yuan, grade 9, led the Eagles offensively as Edgehill averaged 13.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, while Yuan dropped in a team high 15.2 points per game.
The boys basketball team also racked up accolades. Edgehill was named to the WBAL first team, Rohan Desikan, grade 12, received an honorable mention, and the team shined in the classroom, as it won the CCS scholastic championship with a 3.655 team GPA.
“This group worked really hard all year, from summer league to the Thanksgiving and winter breaks,” stated Keller. “This was a remarkable team.”
Wrestling
Although the varsity wrestling team was winless this year, several of its wrestlers had impressive individual seasons. Davis Howard, grade 11, became only the fourth Harker wrestler in school history to reach the league finals.
Howard finished second in league in his weight class and qualified for the CCS tournament, where he went 3-2 and became just the sixth Harker wrestler to reach the second day of the CCS tournament.
Anthony Contreras, grade 10, placed third in league and also qualified for CCS, where he had a solid 1-2 performance. Meanwhile, Daniel Reidenbach, grade 11, placed eighth in league for his weight class, although he didn’t qualify for CCS. Howard, Contreras and Reidenbach were each named to the all-league team. As a team, the Harker wrestlers were named the CCS scholastic champion with a 3.475 team GPA.
Coach Karriem Stinson said, “I have been working with these guys since middle school. It’s great to see them grow up.”
Girls Soccer
It was a rebuilding year for a very young varsity girls soccer team. They fielded only one senior, lost multiple starters and played up to a higher division. The Eagles went 0-15-1 on the season, but with a team comprising mostly underclassmen, the future looks bright.
The team always worked hard and stayed positive, and it showed as four Eagles were named to the WBAL all- league team. Lyndsey Mitchell, grade 11, was a first team selection, Anuva Mittal, grade 11, was named to the second team, and Layla Walker, grade 12, and Maile Chung, grade 11, were both honorable mentions.
“Throughout the year, we really grew as a team and became more comfortable with each other,” said Mitchell. “I’m really excited for next year.”
Boys Soccer
The boys varsity soccer team played well all season, finishing with a 7-9-1 record and fourth place in the WBAL.
The Eagles started the season off on the right foot with a couple of big wins. First, they defeated Valley Christian 3-0 on Davis Field. Two days later, the Eagles made history as they upended Sacred Heart
Prep 2-1 on their home field. Jared Anderson, grade 9, scored both goals in Harker’s first win at SHP in nearly 10 years and the Gators’ first home loss in five years!
The Eagles were well represented in the WBAL All-League awards as Oisin Coveney, grade 12, was a first-team selection, Omar Hamade, grade 12, was named to the second team, and Rohit Shah, grade 10, and Anderson were both honorable mentions. The boys soccer team also finished third for the CCS scholastic championship with team GPA of 3.680. “We had a really talented group with lots of raw talent,” stated Hamade. “It was super fun working with everyone on the team. We are all a family.”
Lower and Middle School Results
The early winter sports season for grades 4-8 has concluded. Nearly 220 lower and middle school students participated in boys basketball and girls soccer.
Our varsity B and JVB1 boys basketball teams were both league and tournament champs!
Here are the teams’ final results:
VB (Grades 7-8) Boys Basketball: The varsity B team, coached by Josh Miller and Rich Amarillas, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and went 9-0 overall. They were league champs of the south division and tournament champs!
Team awards went to Michael Mitchell, grade 7 (MVP), Vance Vu, grade 8 (Eagle) and Vedanth Sundaram, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB2 (Grade 7) Boys Basketball: The varsity B2 team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a 3-4 record. Team awards went to Levi Sutton (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and Anmol Velagapudi (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Mike Delfino, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 3-3 record and went 3-4 overall. Team awards went to Rishi Jain (MVP), Anquan Boldin Jr. (Eagle) and Alex Zhang (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B6 team, coached by Matt Arensberg, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a 3-4 record. Team awards went to Marcus Page (MVP), Josh Tseitlin (Eagle) and Jack Hayashi (Coaches).
MS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Tuhin Chatterjee, grade 7 (MVP), Alex Shing, grade 8 (Eagle) and Harrison Chang, grade 6, and Akshay Manglik, grade 7 (Coaches). The team was coached by CJ Cali, Jeff Martarano and Raul Rios.
JVB1(Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Dan Pringle and Karriem Stinson, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and went 9-0 overall. They were league champs and tournament champs! Team awards went to Matthew Chen (MVP), Zeke Weng (Eagle), and Michael P aging and Armaan Thakker (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B2 team, coached by Kristian Tiopo, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 4-3 record. Team awards went to Boulus Ajlouny (MVP), Max Pflaging (Eagle) and Pranav Mullappalli (Coaches).
JVC (Grade 4) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity C team, coached by Jim McGovern, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 4-3 record. Team awards went to Om Tandon (MVP), Rohin Bhagat (Eagle) and Spencer Mak (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Panav Gogte, grade 4 (MVP), Jack Ledford and Kyle Leung, both grade 4 (Eagle) and Vivek Nayyar, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Ken Allen and Jeff Paull.
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Soccer: The varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood, Brittney Moseley and Kelcie Lai, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 2-5-0. Team awards went to Aria Wong and Hannah Grannis, both grade 7, (MVP), and Dylan Williams, grade 7, and Delaney Logue, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity A team, coached by Cyrus Merrill and Mandy Schroeder, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-3-1. Team awards went to Ashley Barth (MVP), Angela Jia (Eagle) and Diana Kohr (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity B team, coached by Lisa Lubke and Jared Ramsey, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 2-1- 1 and went 2-3-1 overall. Team awards went to Anya Chauhan (MVP), Anika Muddu (Eagle) and Jia Parikh (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Soccer: Team awards went to Ananya Sriram, grade 4 (Eagle) and Kinnera Mulam, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Randy Le Gris and Maria Maldonado.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Basketball Teams Leave Their Mark; Wrestlers Qualify; Boys Tennis Kicks off Season with a Big Win
Basketball
The gents went 16-10 this year, finishing in fourth place in the league, winning a CCS academic championship and reaching the CCS quarterfinals. Their biggest win of the year, a 71-38 crushing of Del Mar High School at home in front of a raucous crowd in the second round of the CCS championships was punctuated by senior Sriv Irrinki’s 20 points and senior Eric Holt’s breakaway dunk!
Holt racked up 315 points and 162 rebounds, averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game. Irrinki, meanwhile, led the team with 330 points, averaging 13.2 points and a team-high nine rebounds per game. He also was named the San Jose Mercury News’ Santa Clara County Boys Athlete of the Week earlier in the year for his 35-point performance against King’s Academy, which included eight 3-pointers and a perfect record from the free-throw line. Senior Dylan Patel led the team with 80 assists, while junior Elijah Edgehill averaged 10.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
The girls also reached the CCS playoffs after finishing with a 12-12 record, losing in the first round. They also had a Senior Night for the ages; when Crystal Springs forfeited, the girls played an intrasquad scrimmage in which Team Green defeated Team White!
Jordan Thompson, grade 10, led the team with 451 points, 20.5 points per game, seven rebounds per game and a free-throw percentage of 66. She also was honored by the San Jose Mercury News after she scored 38 points with 11 rebounds against Woodside Priory and then followed that performance up with 28 points against Crystal Springs. Senior Lekha Chirala led team with 53 assists.
Wrestling
For the second year in a row, Davis Howard, grade 10, qualified for CCS after finishing in fifth place at the league wrestling championships. He represented Harker with two tough loss against talented opponents. Anthony Contreras, grade 9, finished in eight place at the league wrestling championships and was named a second alternate for CCS. Contreras is only the fourth freshman in Harker history to place at the varsity level in league finals. Senior Ryan Palmer had one of the most memorable weeks of the year, going 2-0 by winning by pin against Homestead on his Senior Night and then winning again by pin against Lynbrook on their Senior Night.
Soccer
The girls just missed qualifying for the playoffs after finishing 7-8-1 overall. Sophomore Joelle Anderson had an amazing season, racking up 31 goals with 12 assists. She was recognized in the San Jose Mercury News twice: once for scoring five goals with two assists in an 8-3 win over Priory, and once for scoring three goals against Mercy-Burlingame and then three again versus Crystal Springs. Kailee Gifford, grade 10, scored 14 goals and led the team with 13 assists this year.
For just the second time in school history, the boys soccer team defeated Menlo this season, beating them 3-1 on Harker’s Senior Day. They finished with a 10-4-2 record. Overall, junior Omar Hamade led the team with 15 goals. Senior Jeremiah Anderson had seven goals and seven assists, while senior Alan Guo tied for the team lead with seven assists.
Volleyball
This winter, senior Shreya Dixit was named to the All-Mercury News second volleyball team for her performance in the fall. This recognition honors her as one of the best players in the section.
Tennis
Harker’s varsity boys tennis team went an amazing 5-0 (6-0, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1) to earn the Division 4 championship at the California Tennis Classic. It is “the most prestigious preseason tennis tournament in the state,” according to Dan Molin, upper school athletic director.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Girls Volleyball
Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Stephanie Coleman and Diana Melen- dez, went 7-2 overall and took third place in the WBAL. MVP: Lauren Napier, grade 8; Eagle Award: Melissa Kwan, grade 8; Coaches Award: Megan Cardosi and Kristen LeBlanc, both grade 8.
Varsity B (grades 7-8), coached by Therese Wunnenberg, went 5-2 overall and took second place in the WBAL. MVP Allison Cartee, grade 7; Eagle Award: Laura Wu, grade 7; Coaches Award: Catherine Wang, grade 7.
Varsity B2 (grades 7-8), coached by Candace Silva-Martin, went 6-0 and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Uttara Saha, grade 8; Eagle Award: Danya Zhang, grade 8; Coaches Award: Nicole Selvaggio, grade 7.
Junior Varsity A (grade 6), coached by Vonda Reid, went 6-1 overall and took second place in the WBAL. Eagle Award: Grace Hajjar, Anna Gert and Emily Cheng.
Junior Varsity B6 (grade 6), coached by Alyssa Glascott, went 6-1 overall and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Michelle Kwan; Eagle Award: Rashmi Iyer; Coaches Award: Annabelle Ju.
Baseball
Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Jeff Paul, Matt Arensberg and Carl Yaffe, went 1-4-1 overall and took fifth place in the WBAL. MVP: Chris Smith, grade 8; Eagle Award: Zach Hoffman, grade 7; Coaches Award: Tanay Kamat, grade 8.
Junior Varsity A (grades 6-7), coached by Dan Pringle, Gustavo Cordova and Joe Newman, went 1-5-1 overall and took sixth place in the WBAL. MVP: Logan Frank, grade 7; Eagle Award: Jack Dawson, grade 7 and Asmit Kumar, grade 6; Coaches Award: Henry Cuningham, grade 6 and Trevor Thompson, grade 7.
Boys Volleyball
Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Pete Anderson, went 8-1 overall and were league champs of the ADAL – their second league championship in a row! MVP: Derek Jones, grade 8 and Chris Gong, grade 7; Eagle Award: Jeffrey Kwan, grade 6.
Junior Varsity A (grades 6-7), coached by Travis Jones, went 5-4 overall and took second place in the ADAL. MVP: Rahul Goyal, grade 7; Eagle Award: Henry Wiese, grade 6; Coaches Award: Neal Sidhu, grade 6.
Tennis
Varsity A (grades 6-8), coached by John Fruttero and JP Fruttero, went 7-0 and were league champs of the WBAL! They also went 5-0 and were league champs of the MTP! They finished 15-1 overall, winning the WBAL tournament and taking second place in the MTP tournament. MVP: Brandon Mo, grade 8, Neil Ramaswamy, grade 7 and Joshua Valluru, grade 6; Eagle Award: Neil Bai and David Wen, both grade 8; Coaches Award: Elizabeth Schick, grade 8.
Varsity B (grades 6-8), coached by John Fruttero and JP Fruttero. All matches were exhibition matches and, therefore, were not scored. MVP: Jerry Chen, grade 8; Eagle Award: Alex Wang, grade 8.
Water Polo
Varsity B (grades 6-8), coached by Ted Ujifusa and Peter Blume, went 6-0 and were league champs of the WBAL, becoming the first Harker middle school water polo team to win a league title! MVP: Emma Brezoczky, grade 8; Eagle Award: Bobby Bloomquist, grade 7; Coaches Award: Cassandra Ruedy and Alicia Xu, both grade 6.
Golf
Middle School (grades 6-8), coached by Ie-Chen Cheng, shot a 180 (top five golfers’ scores) and were league champs of the WBAL spring golf tournament! This is the middle school golf team’s fifth WBAL league title in a row in the last three years (they play fall and spring each year)!
Theresa Smith and Karriem Stinson would like to thank all who have supported the Harker middle school sports program over the 2013-14 school year. GO EAGLES!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
What a spring for Harker sports! Harker’s hard-working athletes excelled on the field this spring, with amazing streaks, playoff competition and some jaw-dropping results! On the academic front, Harker had 10 – count ’em, 10! – top five varsity spring 2014 CCS scholastic championship teams. Those 10 teams had the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in their sport. Harker’s teams finished in the top five for every spring sport in which we field a team, an amazing accomplishment. Together, the athletic and academic accomplishments are a strong testament to Harker’s ability to foster highly competitive athletes and great minds!
What a spring for Harker sports! Harker’s hard-working athletes excelled on the field this spring, with amazing streaks, playoff competition and some jaw-dropping results! On the academic front, Harker had 10 – count ’em, 10! – top five varsity spring 2014 CCS scholastic championship teams. Those 10 teams had the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in their sport. Harker’s teams finished in the top five for every spring sport in which we field a team, an amazing accomplishment. Together, the athletic and academic accomplishments are a strong testament to Harker’s ability to foster highly competitive athletes and great minds!
Golf The boys varsity golfers had a historic run this year, finishing third in the CCS regional tournament and sixth in their first-ever appearance in the CCS championships, ahead of league-rival Sacred Heart Prep! The future of Harker golf looks exceptionally bright as well, as the entire boys team will return next year, and the middle school golf team won its fifth consecutive WBAL tournament! Golfer Shrish Dwivedi, grade 11, was among the athletes who best exemplified the combination of athletic and academic achievement. After becoming co-league MVP, Dwivedi traveled to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to compete in the Future Collegians World Tour (FCWT) Championship, where he brought home a top three finish trophy in an international field of about 140 players, was named to the FCWT All-Academic Team and was awarded the First Team All-FCWT Award, becoming the only male to receive both academic and athletic honors.
Track and Field The track and field team competed in the league finals on May 17, where freshman phenom Niki Iyer became the new league champion in both the 1,600m and 3,200m runs! Meanwhile, senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner became the league champion in the high jump, setting a new Harker record of 5’9” – a foot better than the previous record. At the junior varsity championships, freshman Davis Dunaway won four events, while freshman Misha Ivkov placed in the top six in four events en route to the JV boys winning the team championship! These performances catapulted Harker’s athletes into the CCS preliminaries, where Iyer finished second and set a new Harker record.
In late-breaking news, Iyer placed fifth overall in the CCS 3,200m run, breaking her own week-old school record with a time of 10:51.14!
Swimming The swim team qualified for all CCS relays and sent a solid half of its swimmers and divers to the championships!
In a late-breaking update we are glad to report junior Aaron Huang made CCS finals, placing 14th in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 breaststroke; senior Kimberly Ma placed 14th in the 500 freestyle and junior Stacey Chao placed 35th out of 51 1-meter divers.
Volleyball The boys went 20-14 this season, reaching the CCS quarterfinals after crushing Sobrato in their first-round matchup in straight sets. The team averaged 10 kills and 11.7 digs per set on the year, while also racking up 121 aces and 157 total blocks in its 34 games. Senior Andrew Zhu led the team in kills per set with 3.7, while junior Matt Ho led the team in kill percentage (59.7 percent) among players who played more than 50 sets. Zhu also led the team with 33 aces and an ace percentage of 13.2. Senior Will Deng led the team with 48 blocks.
The future of Harker volleyball looks bright as well, as the middle school squad won 53 of 54 games over the past three years, including winning the last 35 straight!
Baseball It was a rebuilding year for the team as the young squad faced off against varsity competition and finished 3-22 overall and 0-12 in league. As a whole, the team hit .248 with an excellent .355 on base percentage but a less-than-optimal .318 slugging percentage. In 25 games, the team scored 112 runs and hit 32 doubles, four triples and two homers. The speedsters also stole 62 bases, and were only thrown out three times all year! Pitching will be a key area of improvement for the team next year, as it finished with a 9.09 earned run average in 156 1/3 innings pitched.
Softball The softball team also is in the midst of a rebuilding year, going 1-15 and 0-8 in league. Overall, the team hit .238 with a .352 on base percentage and .298 slugging percentage for a total .650 on base plus slugging. The team also scored 90 runs with the help of 15 doubles, three triples and a homer. On the mound, the team finished with an 8.52 earned run average in 92 innings pitched.
Lacrosse The girls finished in second place in league this year with a 5-3 record, ending the year by avenging an earlier loss to Sacred Heart Prep with a 13-7 trumping.
Tennis Big news in middle school tennis! Harker’s varsity A team, comprising students in grades 6-8, went 20-0 this year and swept both the public and private league championships! That makes this the first time the team has ever gone undefeated and the first time it has won both titles. Winning, however, is not new to these players; the team is 36-2 over the past two years and has won three of the last four division titles!