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.
Football’s 27-16 win over San Jose High at its home opener brought the team to a 2-1 record. Senior Rohan Gorti threw for touchdowns to Zeke Weng and Liam Jeffers, while senior Dylan Parikh scored a running touchdown for the Eagles and junior Kevin Bettencourt notched a defensive touchdown. The Eagles will take on San Francisco’s Burton High this Friday at 7 p.m.
At Saturday’s tournament in Aptos, girls water polo posted a 3-0 record to win the tournament, defeating Aptos 10-7 in the final game. The team faces Lynbrook tomorrow night.
Ninth grade golfer Kimaya Mehta recorded Harker’s first-ever hole-in-one earlier this month at the Bayview Golf Club. In league play, sophomore Allison Yang is currently the league’s leading scorer and has been instrumental in Harker’s strong 3-0 start.
Boys water polo won all three of its league openers against Homestead on Tuesday. The team has two games at home this week, facing Lynbrook on Tuesday and Gunn on Thursday.
JV and varsity girls volleyball were both victorious on Wednesday against Willow Glen. The frosh/soph team came up short against Milpitas after a hard-fought game. On Friday, JV and varsity were defeated by the very tough Santa Cruz High teams. The following day, JV performed respectably at the JV Spikefest, placing 12th out of 32 teams. Each team will play at home on Tuesday against Evergreen Valley and Thursday against Westmont.
Harker’s cross country teams will compete in their first race this Saturday at the De La Salle Invitational, and girls’ tennis’ first match is scheduled for Sept. 27.
Golf enthusiast Julie Hu, grade 6, had a very active and successful summer, taking second place in the Girls 10 category in her first international event, the U.S. Kids Golf European Championship, held May 31-June 2 in Scotland. She also tied for eighth at the Future Champions Golf Callaway World Championship in Palm Springs in July and placed 21st out of nearly 100 competitors at the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship in North Carolina in August. Hu has been golfing competitively for just over two years and regularly competes at local tournaments on weekends.
Football’s season opener at Harbor High on Friday ended with a 44-27 loss. Touchdowns were scored by senior Zeke Weng, senior Rohan Gorti, sophomore Rayan Arya and junior Ryan Barth, who ran back a blocked field goal attempt for his first career touchdown. They face Swett High School Friday.
Girls varsity volleyball lost a tough season opener 3-0 to Branham High on Thursday, while JV was victorious in its match against Branham. The varsity team be at Harbor High tomorrow and compete this Saturday in the Spikefest tournament.
Upcoming games:
The Singh Aquatic Center will be the place to see boys water polo’s season opener on Friday against Skyline High from Utah. JV will play at 6 p.m. and varsity is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Girls golf’s season opener is today, facing Notre Dame at Moffett Field. The team will face Sacred Heart Prep and Mercy in tri-match this Thursday.
With preparations to defend its titles league and section titles ongoing, the girls tennis team will not compete until Sept. 27.
Girls water polo opened its season on Sept. 6, while girls cross country is set to start competition on Sept. 17.
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!
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!
It’s been a busy several days for Harker alumni athletes. Golfer Maverick McNealy ’13, pursuing his first PGA win, took second place at the Fortinet Championship over the weekend with a score of -18, just behind winner Max Homa. Current Harker golfer Allison Yang, grade 9, met McNealy before competition on Sunday. “She wished him good luck and [told him] to play Harker smart,” said Harker golf coach Ie-Chen Cheng. “Allison was stoked that Maverick took the time out to talk to her.”
Meanwhile, Emily Cheng ’20 helped MIT women’s volleyball win the MIT Invitational on Sept. 11. Also playing in that event was Ashley Jezbec ’20, who played for Bowdoin College. Cheng was named the MVP event with 47 assists and 14 digs.
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.
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’s sports successes continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, as the boys and girls golf teams both became CCS champions. The boys team scored 388 to defeat Mitty (393) and Bellarmine (394), while the girls scored 386 to put away Valley Christian (400) and St. Francis (427). Natalie Vo ’21, who committed to play golf for the University of Colorado Boulder, shot a 71 and was named the CCS girls golf individual champion.
Girls basketball made history with its narrow 54-53 win over Carmel High on Tuesday, advancing to the CCS semifinals, the furthest the team has gone in the history of the program. They will play top-seeded Half Moon Bay High School on Thursday.
