Big news on all campuses in the world of sports today!
First off, lower school:
Our grade 5 JVB1 boys basketball team took the championship last night in what turned out to be a tight game. The boys led most of the game, but Pinewood closed the gap to three points near the finish. Harker pulled it out, though, winning 31-28. The team finished 8-0. Congrats to coach Walid Fahmy and players McCoy Buchsteiner, Brandon Coulter, Nicholas Coulter, Gowtham Irrinki, Michael Mitchell, Jr., James Pflaging, Srinath Somasundaram, Levi Sutton, Dario Tzeng and Eric Zhu.
Middle school:
The grade 6 JVB6 boys basketball team lost in the championship game last night to Sacred Heart after enjoying a fantastic season. The team finished as tri-league champs based on their regular season record of 7-1. The team finished with an overall record of 8-2.
Grade 6 JVA boys basketball team defeated Pinewood, 37-16, to finish the season as third place tournament champs. The team finished with an overall record of 5-5.
In the upper school, two cross country runners were honored by the San Jose Mercury News yesterday: freshman Niki Iyer made first team All-Mercury News for cross country and junior Corey Gonzales made All-Mercury News honorable mention for boys. This is one of the highest honors for high school athletes in CCS. Congratulations to both runners!
Harker kicked off the basketball season with an eight-win day! On Thursday, all eight Harker basketball teams that played won their games. That includes the upper school varsity girls, varsity boys, junior varsity boys and freshman boys, as well as the middle school varsity A boys, varsity B boys, varsity B2 boys and junior varsity A boys.
The upper school varsity girls opened the season with three wins and a tournament championship as they beat KIPP San Jose, Point Arena and Alma Heights at Pescadero High School. Senior Nithya Vemireddy made the all-tournament team and freshman Jordan Thompson scored 16 points in the championship game. The girls head into another tournament Thursday night, facing Santa Clara in the opening round.
The varsity and JV boys each opened the season with two wins over Gunn High and Monta Vista High School. For the varsity team, senior Will Deng was 7-9 in shooting and a perfect 2-2 from the free throw line against Gunn, while junior Eric Holt had a double-double against Monta Vista, scoring 16 points with 19 rebounds. The freshman boys went 1-2, including a dramatic 27-25 victory over Woodside. Varsity plays Homestead in the Lynbrook Tournament on Thursday.
Soccer:
Girls soccer won twice last week, outscoring their opponents 14-0 after a 5-0 victory against Andrew Hill and a 9-0 blowout against Redwood Christian. Against Redwood Christian, Kailee Gifford, grade 9, led the offense with four goals. Julia Fink, grade 12, and Joelle Anderson, grade 9, put up two apiece, while Safia Khouja, grade 11, scored one. Goalies Alicia Clark, grade 12, and Sadhika Malladi, grade 10, combined for the shutout, with Clark saving four shots in the first half and Malladi saving three in the second half. The team’s schedule gets tougher this week as it faces off against Wilcox High today and Pacific Collegiate on Thursday.
The boys varsity team kicked off its season on a high note, defeating KIPP Collegiate 6-2 in the season opener Wednesday. Nikhil Kishore, grade 11, and Omar Hamade, grade 10, each netted two goals, while Jeff Hanke, grade 12, and Alan Guo, grade 11, also scored. The boys play Terra Nova today. The JV team lost to KIPP 3-1 on Wednesday, with Joseph Krackeler scoring Harker’s lone goal.
Wrestling:
Harker’s wrestlers compete against Fremont High on Saturday.
When the “Secrets of Silicon Valley: What Everyone Else Can Learn from the Innovation Capital of the World” hit the bookshelves earlier this year, The Harker School was honored to be included in a chapter about the competitive advantage of being raised in the area.
Written by locally based entrepreneur and author Deborah Perry Piscione, the now national bestseller (published on April 2 by Palgrave-Macmillan) offers an inside look at Silicon Valley’s history and uniquely innovative culture, exploring how the region may hold the key to revitalizing global prosperity.
Harker is profiled in the book, along with the some of the area’s leading companies, tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The school’s section appears in chapter 12, which is titled “The Bench,” and includes quotes from interviews with both Jennifer Gargano, Harker’s assistant head of school for academic affairs, and Anita Chetty, an upper school biology teacher and science department chair.
In her book, Perry Piscione noted that Harker was labeled as “The It School for the Next Einsteins” by the San Jose Mercury News,partly based on the number of science winners the school can claim. Indeed, Harker consistently produces semifinalists and finalists in the Siemens Competition and the Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science competition.
Gargano and Chetty attributed the “special sauce” behind Harker’s success to its student body, who they called uniquely motivated to learn and help improve the world. Harker News Online recently caught up with Perry Piscione at Litquake, a local literary event featuring more than 40 popular and upcoming authors. Piscione had just returned from a European book tour and was one of several Litquake speakers asked to appear at special “In Conversation” salons for in-depth discussions during the event, held at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto. The other two noted authors included Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, and Jane Smiley.
During her talk, she explained that in Silicon Valley there is not “one way” of doing things. “Overseas and on the East Coast there is a hunger for knowledge about this place,” said Perry Piscione, who, even before writing her book, was known for her work as a media commentator and public speaker. Perry Piscione is also the co-founder and CEO of Desha Productions, Inc., a multimedia company that owns and operates Alley to the Valley (a networking site for influential career women) and BettyConfidential (an online women’s magazine). Additionally, she is co-founder of Chump Genius, an educational gaming company for kids, whose two main characters are modeled after her twin sons. Moreover, she is the co-author of the book “Unfinished Business: The 10 Most Important Issues Women Face Today.” Before moving to Silicon Valley, Perry Piscione called Washington, D.C. – where she served as a staffer in the U.S. Congress and the White House – home.
While there, she also worked as a media commentator for CNN, MSNBC and FOX News, and as a guest lecturer at American University. The East Coast transplant said she relocated to the Los Altos Hills for a job opportunity her husband, Dino, had as a retail executive.
She conceded that at first she felt somewhat lost upon her arrival here, yet soon settled in and discovered that “there’s something in the air” that brings people in Silicon Valley together. “It matters only if you are smart; it’s not about where you came from. It’s like Oz out here; there is an openness and collaborative feeling,” she explained. Still, she conceded, Silicon Valley is not a perfect place: women are still not found in as strong positions as men, and there is also a dearth of African-American and Hispanic individuals. Meanwhile, elderly people living in the high tech area often feel alienated, and that they have nothing to contribute.
“We have a long way to go,” she said, “but there are organizations working to help change the conversation.” Jane Ganahl, Litquake co-founder, said of choosing Perry Piscione to talk at the literary event: “I was looking for someone with a newish book who could speak to both the present and past of Silicon Valley, and Deborah seemed perfect for that. Her book was a big bestseller, and she is highly thought of in the nonfiction world.” Among the audience applauding Perry Piscione following her discussion were her husband and three children, twin boys Drake and Dominick, and daughter Dayne Alexandria.
The children are now all students at Harker, as after researching the school for her book Perry Piscione decided to enroll them at the lower school. The twins attend grade 3 and their sister is in kindergarten. “We’ve heard her talk a lot of times!” enthused Drake, adding that he is really enjoying being a student at Harker. According to Perry Piscione, transitioning her children to Harker was seamless and made easier by “a like-minded parent community, who are engaged in their children’s lives on many levels.” She added that it was spending time at Singularity University, a learning institution located inside the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, that helped fully persuade her to become a part of the Harker community.
“Singularity University brings together the world’s leading scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs, and explores the future of science and technology. As I learned more about where the future lies, particularly as we will see a great shift in a 21st century workforce, I thought about my children and how we were going to best prepare them,” she said.
Perry Piscione said her next book will focus on risk management, the key to innovation. According to her, while America as a country has become more risk adverse, Silicon Valley has not followed suit. “Out here no idea is crazy … Anything is possible … You can dream big and find someone to back you … Nobody does risk better than Silicon Valley!” she said.
The College Board recently announced that The Harker School earned the distinction this year of having the largest number of perfect scores of any school in the world. Harker had 10 students who earned perfect scores on their AP exams in spring 2013, but they earned a total of 11 perfect scores, as one student had perfect scores on two tests.
That is more than 10 percent of the total worldwide. “This is a tribute to the dedicated teachers and hardworking students at The Harker School,” said Deborah Davis, director of college readiness communications at The College Board. Samuel Lepler was the AP Economics teacher, last year, who guided these students through their studies.
The following students received perfect scores on the AP Microeconomics exam in 2013: Jennifer Dai, Kevin Duraiswamy Angela Ma, Vikram Naidu, Anisha Padwekar, Rahul Sridhar, Brandon Yang, all now seniors; Aaron Huang, Savi Joshi, now juniors; and Ashvin Swaminathan, who graduated in 2013.
Swaminathan received perfect scores on both the AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics exams, the only student in the world to do so; it also makes him one of only four students in the world to earn a perfect score on two AP exams in 2013.
“We started our ‘Perfect Scorer’ campaign last fall,” said Davis, “with the students who earned perfect scores on AP exams in 2012 – with letters to each student (and) their high school principals.”
This year, a total of 109 students worldwide earned a perfect score on an AP exam in 2013. Here is the worldwide breakdown by subject: Calculus AB – 8; Calculus BC – 11; Chemistry –1; Computer Science A – 19; Microeconomics – 33; Macroeconomics – 12; Physics C: Mechanics – 15; Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism – 8; Psychology – 2; Statistics– 2; United States Government and Politics – 2.
Cross country stars Corey Gonzales, grade 11, and Niki Iyer, grade 9, sailed to victories this past week, with each defeating last year’s league champions for their victories. Iyer won plaudits in the San Jose Mercury News for her previous wire-to-wire varsity win at the Serra Invitational at Crystal Springs. The junior varsity football team remains undefeated after a blowout win, and girls golf is preparing for their CCS qualifier this Wednesday. Here are the scores and results from mid-October:
Cross Country:
HUGE WINS FOR GONZALES AND IYER
At Bayland Park last week, Gonzales defeated the previous year’s league champion by 10 seconds, running the fifth best mark in the 5 km course’s history for the win. Gonzales raced to victory by cruising through the early portion of the race, then kicking it into high gear to sprint past the only other runner who had stayed with the leaders on his way to a final time of 16:15.
Iyer continued her hot streak, setting a course record for the 5 km by besting last year’s league champion and winning by a whole minute. Claudia Tischler, grade 12, finished sixth in the varsity race. The runners will compete in the league finals on Thursday.
FRESHMAN PHENOM MAKES THE MERC
Iyer made the San Jose Mercury News just a couple of weeks into her inaugural high school season. She was featured in “After School,” The Merc’s blog for high school sports in Santa Clara and San Mateo, after winning the varsity girls individual race title at the Serra Invitational at Crystal Springs. Despite being “super, super nervous” in anticipation of the race, Iyer leapt out ahead of the pack and lead wire-to-wire, never trailing. Her time was the fifth fastest to-date of all CCS runners this year and the 10th best for any freshman ever in the course’s 70 years of existence. As the San Jose Mercury News’ Darren Sabedra reported, Iyer was simply aiming to finish in the top 10 with a time under 19 minutes. Instead, she finished first with a time of 18 minutes and 3 seconds, trumping the old Harker mark by 50 seconds in a performance that Harker athletic director Dan Molin called “truly elite level.” “Oh man, it was amazing,” Iyer was quoted as saying. “I didn’t expect this at all.”
This fall, Julia Amick, grade 7, took first place in the grade 7/8 division at the WBAL Middle School Cross Country Meet at Hallmark Park, and will complement Iyer’s efforts next year.
Tennis
GIRLS STAY AT .500
The girls’ record in league play now stands at an even 3-3 after a 4-3 loss to Sacred Heart and a 6-1 victory over Notre Dame San Jose last week. This week, the girls go on to play Menlo and Crystal Springs. Their match against Crystal Springs this Thursday is the team’s senior day. A ceremony will follow the game at 5:30 p.m.
Golf
GIRLS DROP ONE PRIOR TO CCS QUALIFIER
Last Tuesday, Lady Eagle golfers dropped their match against Castilleja, despite senior Kristine Lin’s 36. Congratulate Lin and her fellow senior Connie Li on their years at Harker, and wish the team well this Wednesday. The CCS qualifier is today, so wish them luck!
Volleyball
AFTER 1-1 WEEK, GIRLS NOW OWN 10-7 RECORD
Girls volleyball lost to Presentation on Monday in straight games, then bounced back with a three-set victory against Mercy San Francisco on Friday. After the split week, their record now stands at 10-7 overall. The girls will hit this road this week to play Sacred Heart Prep and Castilleja.
Water Polo
BOTH TEAMS LOSE TO FREMONT
Both the girls and boys water polo teams lost to Fremont last week, with the girls dropping their game by a margin of 7-1 and the boys losing 8-6. For the girls, Anushka Das, grade 11, was the only scorer, while Helene Dworak, grade 10, had eight saves in goal. For the gents, Billy Bloomquist, grade 11, led the team with four goals, and Eric Holt, grade 11, added another two. The water polo teams will host Wilcox this Thursday at the Singh Aquatic Center at Harker.
Football
JV STAYS UNDEFEATED
The junior varsity football squad crushed Lynbrook on Friday 34-8 to remain undefeated through three games. This Saturday, they’ll look to extend that streak to four against North Monterey County High School.
Coming Up:
On Thursday, varsity cross country runs in league finals at Crystal Springs Cross Country Park. Girls varsity tennis plays their senior day against Crystal Springs at 3:30 p.m. at the Decathlon Club, followed by a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Both girls volleyball teams play Castilleja School, with junior varsity playing at 4:30 and varsity playing at 5:45 p.m. All three water polo are also in action against Wilcox High School at the Singh Aquatic Center. The girls varsity water polo team leads off at 4:30 p.m., followed by the junior varsity boys at 5:45 p.m., and the boys varsity water polo team at 6:45 p.m. All teams are off on Friday, but Saturday, junior varsity football has an away game at North Monterey County High School.
This story originally appeared in the fall 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA) graduate William Mathews Brooks ’67 found something unique scuba diving in the Indonesian seas: a new species of coral reef fish. The discovery was the cover story in the April edition of the International Journal of Ichthyology.
“The fish is specifically of the goby (Gobiidae) genus,” explained Brooks, who named the species – a brightly colored orange and pink fish with a distinctive bright yellow mid-lateral stripe that runs horizontally down the side of its body – Eviota pamae.
This new species is named pamae in honor of Pamela Scott Rorke, Brooks’ wife and diving companion on the expedition that uncovered the fish.
A successful businessman and entrepreneur, Brooks is well known in adventuring circles for his passion for the outdoors. An avid climber, mountaineer and alpinist, he is a certified international mountain guide and founder of Brooks-Range Mountaineering Equipment Co. He is also a longtime certified scuba diving instructor who began diving in college in the early 1970s.
Brooks was twice decorated by the American Mountain Guides Association, once in 2010 and again in 2012. He collected that organization’s two most prestigious awards, the Presidential Gold Medal and Lifetime Achievement Award, and is its honorary past-president.
He credits Harker with giving him the tools he needed early on to able to lead such a successful life. “PAMA provided me with a wonderful academic and moral base. When I first entered the school I was a struggling student …. By the time I left I excelled and became a merit scholar,” he recalled.
San Jose Mercury News, August 1, 2013: A short article in the “Around the Valley” section covers the opening of Harker Preschool.
San Jose Mercury News, July 20, 2013: Rising freshman Venkat Sankar is one of five Bay Area students mentioned in a story about the Google Science in Action competition. Sankar is a finalist in the competition.
San Jose Mercury News, July 27, 2013: Rising freshmen Andrew Jin, David Lin, Cindy Liu, Steven Wang, Rachel Wu, Stanley Xie, Leo Yu and Andrew Zhang are recognized for their first-place win at the national Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition.
This acceptance marked the first time Lin had ever sold a story, which was recently featured in the prestigious magazine’s special section for science fiction short stories called “Futures.”
“I still feel like I’m dreaming,” she said of the story acceptance, the best birthday present any young writer could ask for. Lin is double majoring in comparative literature and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Lin said she got the idea for the short story several years ago when she went on a “Wikipedia tangent” and discovered Sarajevo roses, which are deformations in the concrete caused by mortar shell explosions that are later filled with red resin as a memorial to the dead.
“As the concrete is being replaced in Sarajevo, these roses are disappearing. When I read that, I was immediately struck by the enigma of how they came to be, and I thought it was a terrible loss that they were being wiped out by construction. Three years later, I still hadn’t forgotten about them! It occurred to me that I could weave these two ideas together. Immediately, I had this vision of a flower boy in a fantastical war-torn city,” she said.
Ever since her days at Harker, Lin’s writing career has been on a fast track for success. Back in 2011 and 2012 she was recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers when she won two annual Scholastic Art & Writing awards (both national silver medals) in the novel writing category. The second one she accepted at Carnegie Hall in New York City last June.
Lin recalled that during the awards ceremony, “Whoopi Goldberg and Meryl Streep gave very inspiring presentations about the importance of art and its impact on society. I will always remember something Meryl Streep said, which was that the gift of writers is to express the things that we all feel, but are unable to put into words.”
Forbes published an article in mid-May on entrepreneurship in higher education. The author talked to entrepreneurial students at some of the top universities in the country – and to one from Harker, Sameer Vij, grade 11. Read on! http://onforb.es/15MVsme. Harker’s own entrepreneur program is coming on line in August. Here are some useful links:
This report compiled from information provided by Dan Molin, athletic director.
Harker athletes have had a great spring!
Golf
Harker linksman Kyle Roter, grade 12, has received a REACH (Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work) scholarship of $1,500 this week. The REACH Youth Scholarship Program has provided college funds to high school students over the past 17 years who have overcome adversity to excel in academics and sports. Roter suffered from Chiari malformation, a condition in which brain tissue protrudes into the spinal canal. He underwent an operation to correct the problem after headaches became intolerable. His story is told in a video by CalHi Sports: http://bit.ly/132vurc. Roter received the scholarship Wednesday morning at the REACH awards breakfast, chaired by former San Francisco 49er Ronnie Lott, at the San Jose Marriott. All nominees must be high school seniors, maintain a 2.5 GPA, participate in at least one sanctioned high school athletic activity, demonstrate community involvement, and show the ability to overcome adversity or obstacles to reach his or her goals. Nominees also must submit an essay based on his or her experiences.
Senior golfer and Stanford-bound Maverick McNealy once again won the WBAL individual title yesterday, shooting a 71 at the league finals at Half Moon Bay Golf Course. Shrish Dwivedi, grade 10, tied for fourth with a 76. Both McNealy and Dwivedi have qualified for the CCS tournament next week. The team as a whole awaits to see if their at-large application will qualify. The week before, boys golf came in sixth place out of 16 teams in the 40th annual Aptos High Tournament. Dwivedi shot a 74 and McNealy shot a 75 at Seascape Country Club.
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse’s historic run for a league championship came to a halt Tuesday with a 17-14 loss to Notre Dame. This year, the girls recorded a Harker record for the most victories in a season with 12. With heart and determination and senior leadership, the girls finished the season yesterday by defeating rival Mercy Burlingame 18-8. This win was a sweet one, especially after having fallen just shy in their bid to capture a league title. After several years of seeming futility, the lacrosse program now finds itself carrying consecutive winning seasons forward.
There is thrilling news for the girls, however, and for the Harker community. Two of Harker lacrosse players, Christine Lee, grade 11, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, have been named to the regional team for the national tournament.
On April 21, female high school varsity players from all throughout the Bay Area came together to compete for spots on the two Sub-Regional Pacific NorCal teams. The teams will compete in the 2013 U.S. Lacrosse National Tournament in May. 2013 marks the 81st anniversary of the event. It is one of the largest women’s lacrosse events in the nation. The 2013 tournament highlights include division championships, a U.S. team exhibition, and a premier recruiting opportunity for high school players.
In team news last week, the girls went 1-1 with a narrow loss to Mercy Burlingame on Tuesday and a thundering win against Woodside on Friday. Against Woodside, Bollar, seniors Tiphaine Delephine, Michelle Douglas, Wendy Shwe and Apricot Tang, junior Mabel Luo, and Aishu Murari, grade 9, all scored for Harker.
Congratulations to the team on a record-breaking season, and congratulations to Lee and Bollar on their personal achievements!
Track and Field
Track and field took the next step in their outstanding, record-breaking season last week by sending their top runner to the CCS Top 8 meet at San Jose City College last Friday night. With only the best athletes in the CCS competing, Harker had six representatives. Sumit Minocha, grade 12, finished third in the 100m race and then second in the 200m with a 21.65. That mark was the sixth best time in the state this year. Izzy Connell, grade 12, set two new school records, running 57.98 in the 400m and 25.12 in the 200m. She then joined Claudia Tischler, grade 11, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, and freshman Nadia Palte on the mile relay team, where the foursome posted yet another record with a time of 4:13.75. Tischler ran eighth in her 1,600m run with a season-best time of 5:31.65. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, set his third 3,200m school record of the year, moving the mark this time to 9:30.98. At the San Mateo Invitational a day later, Matt Giammona, grade 12, and Arjun Kumar, grade 11, placed second and fourth out of 40 in the shot put with each tossing a personal best. The track and field league trials are this Saturday at Gunn High School and finals next Saturday. Wish them well!
Swimming
Thanks to everyone who came out to support Harker’s senior swimmers! And a big congratulations to seniors Amie Chien, Keri Clifford and Rachel Yanovsky for leading the girls team to victory against Menlo 86-73. In the 100m freestyle, Chien and Anika Mohindra, grade 9, tied for third with a time of 58.81. Grace Guan, grade 9, tied for first place in the 100m backstroke. The JV girls defeated Menlo as well, 66-13. Behind Karen Tu and Yasemin Narin, both grade 9, the girls took first and second in the 50m freestyle.
The varsity boys lost to Menlo, but had some impressive swims along the way. Allen Cheng, grade 11, and Joshua Hung, grade 9, improved their times in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle, respectively. Aaron Huang, grade 10, dominated the 100m breaststroke, winning by nearly 11 seconds!
Last Wednesday, both the girls varsity and JV teams defeated King’s Academy. The varsity girls swept the 50 freestyle placing first through fourth, with Chien, Mohindra, Sandhana Kannan, grade 9, and Jackelyn Shen, grade 10. The JV girls won both relays, with Narin, Tu, Elisabeth Siegel, grade 9, and Sanjana Kaundinya, grade 10. For the boys, the JV won and the varsity lost in a close meet. On the varsity side, Ryan Palmer won the 200m IM, and Aaron Huang and Craig Neubieser went 1-2 in the 100m butterfly. JV’s Anni Ankola swam a season-best 50 freestyle. At her first-ever varsity meet, sophomore Stacey Chao placed 12th out of 35 divers, scoring enough points to qualify for CCS. Congratulations!
Wish our swimmers well in the league championships this Wednesday and Thursday at Sacred Heart!
Volleyball
Earlier this week, the Monta Vista boys volleyball team strutted into the Blackford gym, boasting a 27-4 and arguably one of the top teams in all of CCS.
In a thrilling upset, Harker’s boys defeated Monta Vista 27-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22. Harker is now 16-14 overall. Seniors Josh Tien, Bobby Kahlon and Andre Tran, juniors Andrew Zhu, Sean Youn and Will Deng, and sophomores Shiki Dixit and Matt Ho all had oustanding performances.
This past Friday was the boys’ Senior Night. They lost to Homestead, but had a solid victory against Lynbrook last week. In the win, Zhu had 26 kills, Deng added six and Dixit had two blocks.
The week before that, boys volleyball had to go the distance to defeat Harbor in Santa Cruz 15-12 in their fifth game of the season to improve to 14-13 on the year as the boys continue to play the top teams in the section. Zhu led the way with 26 kills.
The boys travel to King’s on Friday, then await their potential CCS assignment on Saturday morning.
Baseball
On Tuesday, baseball lost to Pinewood 8-3 to drop to 7-13-1 overall. Drew Goldstein, grade 12, had two hits in the loss, including a double and an RBI. Neil Sadhu and David Lin, grade 10, and Kevin Cali, grade 12, also recorded hits.
Last week, the boys dropped a game against King’s Academy, but got a great pitching performance out of Cali. On the mound, Cali pitched for 10 strikeouts; at the plate, he was two for three with a double and a run scored. Jacob Hoffman, grade 12, added a double and an RBI.
The Thursday before, the baseball team defeated Crystal Springs but dropped its game the following day to Sacred Heart. Against Crystal Springs, Hoffman was two for four with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Keanu Forbes, grade 10, added two hits and an RBI. In the Sacred Heart game, Cali went two for three and scored a run.
Softball
Softball continues to roll, defeating Castilleja yesterday 5-2 in an away game. The girls are now 9-1 in their league and in sole possession of first place with two games remaining. Against Castilleja, Alison Rugar, grade 12, pitched for 16 – count ’em, 16 – strikeouts and had two hits at the plate as well. Ashley Del Alto, grade 12, had a triple and two RBIs. Laura Thacker, grade 11, had two hits and Alisa Wakita, grade 9, and Sarah Bean, grade 10, added RBIs as well.
Last week, the girls went 2-0, beating Menlo 6-0 and Mercy-Burlingame 4-1. Once again, Rugar had 16 strikouts – this time in the Mercy game. Del Alto also had a three-run home run.
The girls have their Senior Day tomorrow at 4 p.m., where they’ll face off against King’s Academy. King’s Academy is the only team in the league to beat Harker this year, and won by just one run. See Harker get their revenge on Senior Day!
Tennis
Boys tennis awaits their fate to see if the team will qualify for the CCS tournament. Stay tuned!