Four members of Harker’s girls lacrosse team were recently named Academic All-Americans by TopLaxRecruits.com. Taylor Iantosca, Aditi Maheshwari, Alayna Richmond and Priyanka Taneja, all rising seniors, earned the title after an impressive season on the field and in the classroom.
It’s summer break for Harker students, but two Eagle athletes are still competing at a high level.
This past season, Niki Iyer, grade 12, was the WBAL and CCS champion in the 3200-meter run, before finishing third in state. This past week she added another title to her impressive resume. On Saturday, Iyer won the Junior Olympic 17-18-year-old 3000m in Sacramento. The win qualifies her for the National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships in July, also in Sacramento. Congrats and good luck, Niki!
Davis Dunaway, grade 12, was a WBAL champion in the pole vault and finished second in the 300m hurdles to earn a ticket to CCS last year. This weekend he will compete in his first decathlon. Dunaway will participate in the 100m, 110m hurdles, 400m, 1500m, shotput, high jump, long jump, discus, pole vault and javelin. Good luck, Davis!
Also this week, the boys water polo team was named as the CIF State Academic Team Champion. Teams with the highest collective grade point average in their respective sport are rewarded with a CIF State Academic Team Champion banner. The Eagles led all boys water polo teams in California with a 3.77 GPA.
The boys volleyball team started off the season losing eight of its first 10 nonleague games, but dramatically turned things around when they started league play, winning a league title with a perfect 10-0 record and qualifying for CCS. It was the fourth league title for the boys volleyball program in school history, and the first since 2009.
In the first round of CCS, the Eagles hosted Westmont in a five-game battle that eventually went to the Warriors. All told, they ended their season with a 16-12 record.
Luke Wu, grade 12, thinks this team is only going to get better. “Next year, I know they will go to greater heights! With so much raw talent and such young players, I know that they will only get better and improve in skill,” he said.
Playing in the SCVAL, Andrew Gu, grade 11, was named league MVP; Ray Song was named Junior of the Year; Chris Gong and Charlie Molin were co-Freshman of the Year; Song, Gong, Molin and Jonathan Schwartz, grade 11, were named to the first team; Wu, Jarrett Anderson, grade 9, and Kurt Schwartz, grade 12, were named to the second team. In addition, the team was a CCS scholastic champion with a 3.6760 GPA.
Boys Tennis
It was an exciting year for the boys tennis program. Competing at the California Tennis Classic in Fresno early in the season, the Eagles went 1-2, but there was more to this weekend than just numbers. After winning the division 4 championship in the tournament last year, the Eagles were moved up two divisions to face some of the best teams in the state. Their sole victory came against defending section champ Clovis West, proving that they could play with the big boys.
The team then finished the season in third place in the WBAL, which produced a CCS berth. In their first-round matchup, the Eagles were able to defeat Santa Cruz 5-2. However, their season ended in the next round of CCS as Gunn High defeated Harker 5-2.
Claiming All-League honors were Ronak Baldua, grade 12, and David Wen, grade 10, making the first team; Edward Tischler, grade 11, and Gary Tsai, grade 10, earning second team honors; and Randy Zhao, grade 10, earning an honorable mention. Coach John Fruttero was enthusiastic about this group, calling them “the closest and hardest-working team that I have coached at the upper school.”
Swimming
The 2016 swim season was full of amazing individual and team achievements. Jack Farnham, grade 11, was the league champ in the 100 backstroke; the girls 200 medley relay and 400 free relay team of sophomores Taylor Kohlmann and Vivian Wang, and seniors Grace Guan and Angela Huang took second at the league finals; Guan took third in the girls 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke; Michael Auld, grade 11, was third in the boys 500 freestyle; and the boys 400 free relay team of Farnham, Auld, Justin Culpepper, grade 11, and Alex Yu, grade 9, was third in league.
And then there was Vivian Wang! Wang was the league champion in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, as well as second in CCS in the 200 individual medley (IM) and 100 freestyle, which sent her to the state finals, where she placed fourth in the 200 IM and seventh in the 100 freestyle! Swimming at state was “such an experience to remember because it was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking,” said Wang. “I made so many new friends and created so many fun memories that I will never forget.”
All these amazing performances led to many All-League selections as well. Wang was named WBAL Girls Most Outstanding Swimmer, Guan was a first team selection, and Huang and Kohlmann earned second team honors. On the boys side, Auld and Farnham were named to the first team, Yu to the second team and Culpepper received an honorable mention. In addition to their prowess in the pool, both the boys and girls swim teams were CCS scholastic champions with a 3.5441 and 3.8451 GPA, respectively. “We had a very committed core who were encouraged by their improvements,” said coach Tania Chadwick. “By the end of the season it was great to see swimmers come together showing their team unity and camaraderie as they supported each other during practice and meets.”
Softball
The Harker softball team started the year on fire as it went 4-0 in its first four games, winning each game by an average of nine runs! The Eagles would finish the season tied for fourth in the WBAL with a 6-10 overall record. Leading the team offensively were Grace Park, grade 11, and Kristin LeBlanc, grade 10. Park led the Eagles in RBIs (15), doubles (6) and home runs (2). LeBlanc led the team in hits (22), runs (17) and batting average (.537). “I’m already excited for next year and I think that we have a very good shot of making CCS,” said LeBlanc.
Harker softball was well represented on the WBAL All-League Team as LeBlanc and Anika Rajamani, grade 9, were named to the first team, Park and Marti Sutton, grade 11, to the second team, and Alisa Wakita, grade 12, received an honorable mention.
Girls Lacrosse
It was a tough season for the girls lacrosse team as team members played their hearts out through a 2-18 season. After coaching the team for nine years, Andrew Irvine took on an assistant coach role with the birth of his daughter. “I am so proud of the all the girls for pulling the team together during this transition and keeping the program moving forward,” said Irvine.
In addition to being a CCS scholastic champion, leading all CCS girls lacrosse teams with a 3.9098 GPA, the team also received many All-League awards. Alayna Richmond, grade 11, was the Defender of the Year in the WBAL Skyline Division; Elise Mayer, grade 9, received second team honors; and Taylor Iantosca, grade 11, and Natasha Mayor, grade 12, received honorable mentions.
Baseball
The varsity baseball team ended its season with a 9-13 record, but the future looks promising for this team. With only three graduating seniors on a 19-man roster, a solid core of players will return next year. “Even though we will only have one senior next year, we’ll have eight to nine juniors, all of whom will be beginning their third year on varsity,” said coach Mike Delfino. “So, we’re definitely optimistic about the next few years.” Miles DeWitt is one of the seniors leaving the team this year. He led the team in RBIs. “I would always give an extra effort because I knew I wanted to finish my last year playing hard,” said DeWitt.
The team was a CCS scholastic champion this year, leading all CCS baseball teams with a 3.7519 GPA. Also, there were many Eagles on the PAL All-League team. Nate Kelly, grade 10, and DeWitt were first team selections, while Dominic Cea, grade 10, Varun Haltore, grade 11, and Matt Kennedy, grade 10, were named to the second team. “I am proud of the efforts each of the players put into the season,” said Delfino. “These guys worked hard and steadily improved as the season went along.”
Track and Field
It was one of the best years in Harker history for the track and field team! Every meet seemed to produce multiple personal and/or school records. At the WBAL finals, the Eagles had 14 season bests, and five athletes earned trips to the CCS championships. Davis Dunaway, grade 11, took first in the pole vault and second in the 300-meter hurdles in the WBAL finals. At CCS, Dunaway cleared his opening vault and placed seventh in his 300-meter hurdle heat. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, took first in the WBAL in the shot put and was the only freshman thrower at CCS, where he finished 28 out of 34 athletes, setting the school record in the process. Kevin Wang, grade 12, finished second in the WBAL in the discus, earning a trip to CCS. Anthony Contreras, grade 10, finished second in both the 200 and 400 at the league finals, and placed fifth and sixth respectively in his heats in each event, but did not make the cut for the finals. The boys team finished the year with a 3.4807 GPA, making it a top five scholastic champion. Finally, Niki Iyer, grade 11, continued her amazing career as she won both the 1600 and 3200 league finals. She went on to compete in the 3200 at CCS and the state finals, winning at CCS and placing third at state.
Iyer was named the WBAL Girls Track MVP and a first team selection. Dunaway and Aleem also were first team selections, with Wang and Contreras earning second team honors.
Boys Golf
What a year for the boys golf team! They were WBAL champs for the third consecutive year and enjoyed a second-straight undefeated season, which included 22 consecutive league wins. They had a second place finish at CCS, third place finish at NorCals, and sixth place at state. As for individual honors, Ryan Vaughan, grade 11, was named WBAL player of the year; Avi Khemani, grade 11, was named to the WBAL first team; and Dakota McNealy, grade 12, Colt McNealy, grade 11, Scout McNealy, grade 9, and Sandip Nirmel, grade 11, were all named to the second team.
The boys golf team took second place in the CCS finals last week, with Dakota McNealy, grade 12, leading the way for the Eagles as he finished tied for fifth overall. The top three CCS teams moved on to the NorCal Championships at Corral De Tierra Country Club this past Monday, where the Eagles continued their impressive run as they placed third to qualify for the state tournament to be held Wednesday at San Gabriel Country Club in Southern California. Ryan Vaughan, grade 11, led the Eagles, shooting a 1-over-par.
Girls Golf
Katherine Zhu, grade 10, played at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Tournament in Florida this past week. After two days of stroke play, Katherine and her partner shot an 8-under-par, earning the No. 3 ranking out of 64 teams from around the world. We will bring you results of her play on Monday as soon as they come in.
Track and Field
The CCS track semifinals were held this past week with four Harker athletes competing. Anthony Contreras, grade 10, finished fifth in his 200-meter heat and sixth in his 400m heat, but did not qualify for the finals. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, the only freshman competing in the semis, finished 28 out of 32 throwers, setting a school record in the process. Davis Dunaway, grade 11, finished seventh in his 300m hurdle heat. Finally, Niki Iyer, grade 11, took first in the 3200m semifinals, beating the second fastest runner by 13 seconds! She will compete in the CCS finals this Friday at Gilroy High School.
Swimming
Vivian Wang, grade 10, competed at the State Swimming & Diving Championships in Fresno over the weekend and did Harker proud! The sophomore finished fourth in the state in the 200 IM and seventh in the state in the 100 freestyle. Congratulations, Vivian!
It was another great season for lower- and middle school athletes!
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Diana Melendez and Stephanie Coleman, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS in the WBAL with a record of 7-1. Team awards went to Emily Cheng, grade 8 (Eagle), and Julia Yusupov, grade 7, and Laruen Beede, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B team, coached by Xiaofeng Foret, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 5-2. Team awards went to Rachel Abellera, grade 8 (MVP), Hannah Grannis, grade 7 (Eagle) and Anvitha Tummala, grade 7 (Coaches).
VB2 (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B2 team, coached by Josh Miller, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a record of 3-4. Team awards went to Anu Selvaraj, grade 8 (MVP), Aria Wong, grade 7 (Eagle) and Ayla Tanurhan, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Tina Mai, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Tara Ozdemir (MVP), Leyla Artun (Eagle) and Sarah Leafstrand (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B6 team, coached by Sarah Bell, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS in the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0. Team awards went to Michelle Liu (MVP), Emily Tan (Eagle) and Elizabeth Shchegrov (Coaches).
JVB1 (Grade 5) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B1 team, coached by Ellie Pereria, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-1. Team awards went to Clarie Chen (MVP), Shea Bryden (Eagle) and Lexi Nishimura (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 4) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B2 team, coached by Sydney Voss, finished in ninth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-6. Team awards went to Kate Grannis (MVP), Margaret Cartee (Eagle) and Masha Velikhovskaya (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Volleyball: Team awards went to Emily McCartney and Maggie Yan, both grade 4 (Eagle), and Emma Cai, Ceren Erdogan and Cecilia Yang, all grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Maria Maldonado.
VA (Grade 8) Boys Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS in the ADAL with an undefeated record of 8-0 and an overall record of 9-0. Team awards went to Jeffrey Kwan (MVP), Vedanth Sundaram (Eagle) and Vance Hirota (Coaches).
JVA (Grades 6-7) Boys Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished in second place in the ADAL with a record of 6-2. Team awards went to Marcus Page, grade 6 (MVP), Avery Young, grade 7 (Eagle) and Sujith Pakala, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 7-8) Baseball: The Varsity A team, coached by Jeff Paull and Matt Arensberg, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 1-4 and an overall record of 2-4. Team awards went to Nicholas Coulter (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and John Lynch (Coaches), all grade 7.
JVA (Grades 6-7) Baseball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich and Richard Amarillas, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-3-1 and an overall record of 0-5-1. Team awards went to Richard Amarillas, grade 6 (MVP), Chirag Kaushik, grade 6 (Eagle) and George Wehner, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVB (Grades 4-5) Baseball: The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Dan Pringle, Randy LeGris and Kristian Tiopo, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Frederick Hoch, grade 5 (MVP), Tyler Beede, grade 5 (Eagle), and Wyatt Cote, grade 5, and Ashwin Kuppahally, grade 4 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Water Polo: The Varsity A team, coached by Ted Ujifusa and Allie Lamb, finished with a WBAL record of 0-5 and an overall record of 1-6. Team awards went to Cassandra Ruedy, grade 8, and Bayden Yazalina, grade 7 (MVP), Anna Arnaudova, grade 7 (Eagle) and Chloe Affaki, grade 7 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity A team, coached by JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS and TOURNAMENT CHAMPS of the WBAL with a record of 7-0. The team also finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS of the MTP with a record of 4-0. In the MTP playoffs, Harker lost 5-4 to Kennedy in the finals. The Eagles finished the season with an impressive 13-1 record. Team awards went to Mihir Sharma and Ramanand Vegesna (MVP), Simar Bajaj and Gina Partridge (Eagle), and Jack Hansen, Bryan Wang and Rachel Broweleit (Coaches), all grade 8.
VB (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity B team, coached by Matt McGee, JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS and TOURNAMENT CHAMPS of the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0 and an overall record of 8-0. Team awards went to Fonda Hu, grade 7, and Shika Tseitlin, grade 6 (MVP), Dawson Chen, grade 6 (Eagle) and Alexander Liou and Dhruv Saoji, both grade 6 (Coaches).
Harker’s baseball and girls lacrosse teams took top honors, with GPAs of 3.7519 and 3.9098, respectively, in the spring 2016 CCS Scholastic Team Awards. Five more Harker teams were in the top five in their sport: boys golf (3.7100 GPA), boys swimming (3.5441), girls swimming (3.8451), boys track and field (3.4807) and boys volleyball (3.6760). Each team had a collective GPA that was among the top five in their sport for the season.
Five fall teams and three winter teams also received Scholastic Team Awards, making for an impressive 2015-16 season. Congratulations to all the hard-working Harker student athletes!
The boys tennis team won its CCS opening round match against Santa Cruz 5-2 last week. They travel to Gunn High School today at 3 p.m. for their second round match. Good luck, Eagles!
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team defeated The King’s Academy in four games last week to win its fourth league championship in school history and its first since 2008, going 10-0 in league play this season. The Eagles earned an 11th seed and host Westmont on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the opening round of CCS. Good luck!
Track and Field
The track and field team will be well represented in the league finals next Friday at Palo Alto, as the Eagles had 29 season bests at the league trials last week. Qualifying for the league finals are: Sara Min, grade 9, in the JV 100m; Alycia Cary, grade 9, in the JV 200m and JV 800m; Gloria Guo, grade 10, and Niki Iyer, grade 11, in the varsity 800m; Demonte Aleem, grade 9, in the varsity 100m and shot put; Anthony Contreras, grade 10, in the 200m and 400m; Aashish Jain, grade 11, in the JV long jump; Jain, Mitch Granados, grade 9, and Jonathan Yiu, grade 12, in the JV 100m; Arthur Ye, grade 12, in the JV shot put; Davis Dunaway, grade 11, and Kevin Kim, grade 12, in the varsity 300m hurdles; and Dunaway in the varsity pole vault, where he also qualified for the CCS championships. Good luck, Harker track and field!
Softball
The varsity softball team dropped an 8-4 game to Mercy Burlingame last week, but Tong Wu, grade 12, had two hits and three RBIs. The 6-8 Eagles finish their regular season this week as they travel to Notre Dame San Jose on Tuesday, and host The King’s Academy on Wednesday.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team was upset in the league championship tournament as it took home a second place finish last week. This Wednesday the Eagles will begin their CCS journey at Rancho Cañada Golf Club in Carmel. Good luck, Eagles!
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team dropped two games last week – a 13-3 loss to Aragon and a 15-5 loss to Woodside. The Eagles finish off their season on Tuesday as they travel to Notre Dame San Jose.
Baseball
The boys baseball team swept a two game-series with Pinewood last week. In a 16-9 victory over the Panthers early in the week, Miles DeWitt, grade 12, had two hits and six RBIs, including a grand slam, to make it a very memorable Senior Day. In the 6-2 win over Pinewood later in the week, Matthew Kennedy, grade 10, had two hits and two RBIs to lead the way for the Eagles. Harker traveled to Menlo to end the week, but lost 11-3. Trenton Thomas and Arthur Wolff Goldstein, both grade 12, each drove in a run in the defeat. The 8-12 Eagles finish off the regular season this week with a game today at Blackford versus San Jose High and then travel to Jefferson on Tuesday.
Swim
Last week, the Harker swim team competed in the league championships. Highlights included a second place finish for the girls 200 medley relay team of Vivian Wang, grade 10, Taylor Kohlmann, grade 10, Grace Guan, grade 12, and Angela Huang, grade 12; Guan placing third in the girls 100 fly; Wang taking first and Guan taking third in the girls 100 back; Jack Farnham, grade 11, winning the boys 100 back; the girls 400 free relay team of Wang, Kohlmann, Guan and Huang placing second; the boys 400 free relay team of Farnham, Michael Auld, grade 11, Justin Culpepper, grade 11, and Alex Yu, grade 9, placing third; and Wang winning the girls 200 free, while breaking the Harker and league record!
Swimmers competing in CCS events starting this Friday are Wang, Kohlmann, Guan, Huang, Yu, Culpepper, Farnham, Auld, Angela Li, grade 9, Justan Su, grade 10, Karen Tu, grade 12, Ihita Mandal, grade 9, Kevin Tzeng, grade 10, and Clarissa Wang, grade 9.
The middle school Quiz Bowl team took fifth place at nationals in Atlanta this past weekend. “They performed incredibly well and earned a fifth place finish overall out of 160 teams that qualified for and attended nationals,” said advisor Jonathan Brusco. “Keep in mind that there were hundreds of other teams around the nation that didn’t qualify to even attend, so this makes their finish even more impressive.
“They were one very close game away from making the semifinals. In addition to this finish, Kyle Li, grade 8, also ranked as the 25th highest individual score out of the 600-plus students in the competition.” Team members are Li; Jin Tuan, grade 8; Jeffrey Fung, grade 8; Aksay Manglik, grade 7; and Arun Sundaresan, grade 8. Sankar Sundaresan, Arun’s father, was instrumental in coaching the team at nationals.
The Acorn Cottage at Harker Preschool raised a swarm of Painted Lady butterflies over the past few weeks, patiently observing and documenting their progress as they went through the life cycle: larva, caterpillar, resting caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. The activity came to a wonderful ending, as students cheered each of the five butterflies as they flew off to find nectar and continue their journey.