Cross Country The cross country team continues to stomp on old Harker history; just about every week, an existing school record falls, replaced by a faster time from this year. At the league’s second meet at Sacred Heart, Sophomore Cheryl Liu broke a Harker record by running an 18.74 in the 100-meter hurdles, two seconds better than her best of the year so far and one second better than the previous record. Just three minutes later, however, Freshman Nadia Palte ran an 18.48 in that very same contest, breaking the record Liu had just set! Michael Cheng, grade 12, then stepped up for the discus competition and broke the old mark by one foot after having hurled his discus 130’5″. Cheng’s mark now leads the entire league.
At that same meet at Sacred Heart, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, ran 52.93 in the 300m hurdles. Sumit Minocha ran 50.94 in the 400-meter. Matt Giammona set a personal record with a 111’5″. Arjun Kumar moved to the top 10 board with a personal record in the discus throw of 89’10”. Julia Wang improved on her second place standing in discus with a toss of 71’1″. Finally, the boys 400-meter relay team improved to their season-best mark at 45.32. That time, naturally, now leads the entire league.
Some days later, the team met again for a WBAL track meet. It will perhaps not be suprising that Sumit Minocha, grade 12, improved on his CCS-leading mark in the 100-meter with a 10.80, setting, what else, a new Harker record. Isabelle Connell, grade 12, who already had the Harker record for her 100m, advanced her time with a 12.22, moving from #7 to #3 overall in the CCS. Freshman Nadia Palte also topped her existing school record — this time in hurdles. Palte had an 18.20 in the 100-meter hurdles.
Congratulations to all of Harker’s track and field athletes as they continue to break records at breakneck speeds!
Golf
Harker’s cross country team does not have the media all to themselves, however. Two of Harker’s golfers, Ryan Vaughan, grade 8, and Katherine Zhu, grade 7, are making some waves on the junior circuit. Competing in the Spring Series IV at Deer Ridge / Shadow Lakes Golf Course in Brentwood, Zhu narrowly missed out on the championship, finishing as the runner-up for the second time this year while shooting rounds of 73 and 75. Vaughan came in third place amongst the boys with rounds of 74 and 78. He had earlier this year been a first flight winner. Both Zhu and Vaughan were competing in the Junior Tour of Northern California. Zhu’s current ranking is in the top three of the Junior Tour. Already this year, she has won the Junior World Golf Champion Tournament Qualifier and finished as a runner-up in the Girl Champion Flight at the Nor Cal Golf Junior Tournament.
On Monday, May 20th, Zhu will play in the US Women’s Open Golf Qualifier Tournament at Lake Merced Golf Course and two days later will play in the US Women’s Amateur Golf Qualifier Tournament at the Reserve in Spanos Park Golf Course. This July, she will play in the Junior Golf Champion Tournament in San Diego. Wish her luck!
Swimming
Both Harker’s Varsity and JV swim teams beat our four opponents this last Wednesday. Harker came in first in every relay, including an exciting race with Priory in the Varsity girls 200 Free Relay which ended in a tie for first at 1:48.44. Our Varsity girls swept the 500 Free with Manon Audebert, grade 11, taking first, Amie Chien, grade 12, second, and Anika Mohindra, grade 9, third. The Varsity boys, meanwhile, took the 100 Fly with Aaron Huang, grade 10, first, Craig Neubieser, grade 10, second, and Kenneth Zhang, grade 11, third. Other CCS qualifying times include: Audebert 50 Free (25.93), Grace Guan, grade 9, 100 Back (1:04.04), Kimmy Ma, grade 11, 200 IM (2:20.58), Huang 100 Fly (56.07) and 500 Free (5:02.54).
Sophomore Stacey Chao, Harker’s lone diver, entered the first high school meet of her career and won, coming in first place in the JV meet. Chao defeated 7 other divers — 5 from Presentation and 2 from St. Ignatius. Congratulations, Stacey! Softball
Harker blew out Alma Heights yesterday to the tune of 11-1. Alison Rugar, grade 12, threw a great game, striking out 11 opponents. Ashley Del Alto, grade 12, led the offense, going 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s, a double, and a triple. Alisa Wakita, grade 9, added three more hits, and Laura Thacker, grade 10; Brianna Liang, grade 10; Tong Wu, grade 9; and Alana Shamlou, grade 11, also had a hit apiece. After the win, the girls’ record stands at 9-6 overall. They are undefeated in league play, 6-0. The girls travel to King’s Academy on Friday.
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse has a firm grip on first place in the league after defeating Notre Dame on Monday 13-9 and Woodside yesterday 14-1. After the high-scoring games, the girls are now 10-1 overall and 4-0 in league play. Michelle Douglas, grade 12, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, scored six of yesterday’s goals each. Wendy Shwe, grade 12, scored the other two. The girls travel to PAL Stadium on Friday to face off against Notre Dame again.
Baseball
Baseball defeated Trinity Christian by a large margin on Monday,16-6, to improve to 6-8-1 overall. Keanu Forbes, grade 10, had two hits and an RBI. Jacob Hoffman, grade 12, had two RBI’s and Kevin Cali, grade 12, pitched for the win. The boys play away games on Thursday and Friday.
Golf
Boys Golf defeated Kings Monday to improve to 6-3 overall. Maverick McNealy, grade 12, shot a 38 and Shrish Dwivedi, grade 10, shot a 39.
Tennis
Boys Tennis lost to a strong Crystal Springs team yesterday 6-1 with the lone win coming from senior doubles pair of Justing Yang, grade 12, and Rahul Desirazu, grade 12.
Three more school records were broken on Saturday at the St. Francis Invitational! Corey Gonzales, grade 10, set a record in the mile run with a time of 4:31.58. Senior Isabelle Connell set a record in the 400m with a 58.17, and, Sumit Minocha, grade 12, topped the previous Harker mark in the 100m with an 11.05.
These outstanding achievements come on the heels of Harker kicking off their season right with two school records set in the very first league meet of the season! That time, Connoll ran a 12.82 league-leading 100m, and sophomore Julia Wang threw the shot 25’10.5″.
In the rest of that season-opening meet last week, Wang also set a personal record in the discus at 65’1″ to become number two on Harker’s all-time girl’s throw list. Michael Chen, grade 12, moved up his personal best in discus to 121’0″, and Rohan Kapatkar, grade 11, set a personal best with a 96′ 9.5″. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, and Gonzales each ran personal bests in the 400m, with a 65.49 and a 57.40, respectively. The boys relay team of Spenser Quash, Varun Gudapati, Robert Deng and Sumit Michocha, all seniors, ran a league-best 45.45 in the 400m relay. Senior Tyler Yeats had himself a day, winning the mile and the two mile, running the 300m hurdles for a personal best, and anchoring the Harker 4x400m relay. Whew.
That all set the stage for those record-smashing races this past Saturday at St. Francis. When Harker was kind enough to give the record-keepers a breather for a moment, the boys 400m relay team embarked on a great, exciting run: Michocha received the baton in sixth place and sprinted to finish second. Then, Tischler and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, each ran personal bests in the varsity girls 800m, finishing with a 2:27.30 and 2:30.56, respectively. Freshmen Calvin Kocienda and Nadia Palte both set personal records in their frosh/soph hurdle race. It’s an outstanding start to the season for the track and field team, and one which begs the question: are we to expect a new batch of records with every match?
Baseball
Harker’s sluggers defeated University High Friday, 7-2, to even up their record at three wins and three losses. Jacob Hoffman, grade 12, took away honors for the best offensive game on the team with a 3-4 day in which he circled the bases with home runs, twice. Those two dingers helped him to six RBIs for the day out of Harker’s seven runs, and outscoring all of University High’s lineup. Of course, he had some help from Kevin Cali, grade 12, keeping University High bats quiet by pitching the complete game with 10 strikeouts. Want to catch these guys in action? The boys take on Summit Prep this week at Blackford.
Lacrosse
Girl lacrosse bested Christian Brothers – Sacramento on Friday to the tune of 19-13, bumping up their record to a strong 4-1 overall. So, which Eagles put the ball in the net? That would be Michelle Douglas, grade 12, with five goals; Wendy Shwe, grade 12, with six; Hannah Bollar, grade 10, with five; and Tiphaine Delepine, grade 12 with three.
The girls’ 19-point effort comes two days after they put up 18 in an 18-7 trouncing over Santa Catalina last Wednesday. That day, Douglas added four goals, Shwe muscled in eight, Bollar had five, and Delepine had one. Your next chance to see the girls’ surging offense is when they travel to play Stevenson today in an away game.
Golf
Boys golf has won two in a row, finishing off a busy stretch with victories over Crystal Springs and King’s Academy. When we’d last left our heroes, they were in the midst of dropping a tight game to Menlo 200-205 last Wednesday. But, they followed that up with their 189-229 statement game against Crystal Springs and, now that they’ve topped their week off with the win over King’s Academy for good measure, the boys’ record now stands at 3-2 overall. Maverick McNealy , grade 12, demands attention for two of his outstanding games; he was the low scorer in the Crystal Springs game with a 34 and then shot a 31 against King’s Academy. As this is written, the boys are heading into a big tournament in Marin County.
Volleyball
In their league opener, the boys officially started this season’s race to the playoffs with a win against King’s Academy in four games last Wednesday, which at the time evened up their overall record at 2-2. Since then, the boys lost to Mountain View on Friday, but recovered with a very strong showing at the Aptos Tournament on Saturday. At the tournament, the boys won their pool and qualified for the gold bracket where they would place third overall in a 12-team tournament. Harker slid into the top three by defeating Oak Grove in a dramatic game. Now the boys head home to host Los Gatos at Blackford this Wednesday. Come support ’em!
Tennis
Boys tennis defeated Fremont last Wednesday, but then lost to Crystal Springs. After last week, their record stands at 5-2 overall and 4-2 in league as they prepare to face off against Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep this week.
The JV squad, meanwhile, has improved to a scorching 6-1 after defeating Crystal Springs.
Softball
Softball fell to Silver Creek by a score of 4-0 Wednesday. Briana Liang, grade 10, and Nithya Vemireddy, grade 11, did manage hits in the midst of the shutout, but the Eagles’ record dropped to 2-3 overall. They remain, however, undefeated in league play, with a 1-0 record. The team travels to Menlo and then hosts Mercy this Friday at Blackford.
Swimming
Harker’s swimmers travel to Sacred Heart Prep, today. Happy swimming!
Congratulations to the boys basketball, girls basketball and boys soccer teams for being named as 2013 CCS winter scholastic championship teams for having one of the top grade point averages of all teams competing that season. Boys basketball was in the top five of their league while girls basketball and boys soccer led their leagues.
Softball defeated Menlo-Atherton 4-0 on Wednesday behind a solid performance from senior Alison Rugar. Rugar threw for 16 strikeouts on the mound and went 2-4 at the plate, knocking in three runs. Ashley Del Alto, grade 12, and Alana Shamlou, grade 11, also had hits in the victory.
Girls lacrosse beat Santa Catalina 16-9 under rainy skies last week. Wendy Shwe, Michelle Douglas, Tiphaine Delepine, all grade 12, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, all had goals while Christine Lee, grade 11, had multiple saves.
Boys varsity tennis defeated Priory last week 5-2, then defeated King’s Academy yesterday 6-1 to improve to 4-1 overall. Jason Chu, grade 10, Kilian Burke, grade 11, and John Dobrota, grade 10, won their singles matches. The teams face Fremont and Crystal Springs this week.
Boys volleyball dropped their season opener to Leigh. Despite junior Andrew Zhu’s 14 kills, the boys lost 19-25, 23-25, 23-25; they lost again to Willow Glen in four sets, then, two games down against Westmont High School, stormed back with a dramatic 23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 24-22 fifth-set victory to improve to 1-2 on the season. Zhu led the team in kills and senior setter Josh Tien led in assists. Support the varsity Wednesday night, 5:30 at Blackford, as they host King’s Academy.
Baseball lost to Fremont Christian Friday and Gunderson Monday to drop to 2-3 on the season. Senior Jacob Hoffman had a triple and scored a run against Gunderson. Neil Sadhu, grade 10, had two hits against Fremont Christian. The boys host University High Friday at Blackford.
Track and Field Saturday was a record-breaking day for Harker track and field, as Harker athletes posted three all-time school records at the Willow Glen Track & Field Invitational. First, Corey Gonzales, grade 10, led off with a 9:51:20 time on a 3,200-meter run, netting him fourth place and topping his personal best by 40 seconds. Then, Isabelle Connell, grade 12, won the 200m, breaking her own record with a 25:72. Finally, Michael Chen, grade 12, continued his strong season with a 42’ 5.5”, placing fifth and breaking his own school record in the shot put. Amanda Kalb, grade 12, Nadia Palte, grade 9, Cheryl Lium grade 10, and Calvin Kocienda, grade 9, each ran a personal best in their sprint hurdle races.
Tennis Varsity boys tennis lost to Sacred Heart last week, but roared back with a convincing 7-0 victory over King’s Academy and 6-1 win over Pinewood. In the loss, Harker’s number 1 singles player Jason Chu, grade 10, defeated Sacred Heart Prep’s number 1 in the third set. This week, varsity faces off against Pinewood and Priory. JV has also begun its season, winning three of their first four games. Capping the strong start was a resounding victory against Kehillah in which the boys routed their way to a 7-0 win. At third doubles, freshmen Nikita Kosolobov and Evan Lohn made their debut, efficiently beating their opponents. Vivek Sriram, grade 10, continued his early season excellence at third singles and is now 4-0 on the year. Kevin Ke, grade 9, and Nathan Dalal, grade 10, also won their second match of the season. The team is now 2-1 overall.
Lacrosse Girls lacrosse owns a 1-1 record after losing their opening game against Pioneer 9-7 and then rebounding to defeat Tamalpais 18-6. Thus far, Michelle Douglas, grade 12, Hannah Bollar, grade 10, and Wendy Shwe, grade 12, have led the team in scoring. The girls travel to Santa Catalina on Thursday.
Softball Softball opened its season with a 7-4 loss against Cupertino on Friday. Brianna Liang, grade 10, went 2-3 with a triple and an RBI. Laura Thacker, grade 11, drove in the rest of the runs, going 1-3 with a home run and three RBIs. On the mound, pitcher Allison Rugar, grade 12, struck out 10. After an away game on Wednesday, the girls return to Harker to host Notre Dame-Belmont on Friday.
Baseball After dropping their opener to Terra Nova on Friday, the boys defeated Pescadero in a 12-0 blowout to earn their first win of the year, then followed it up with a 10-6 victory over St. Lawrence. Against Pescadero, senior Kevin Cali got on base in each of his four trips to the plate, walking three times and homering while knocking in a game-high four RBIs and adding three steals in three attempts. Cali then topped that effort on the mound and at the plate in the St. Lawrence game, pitching seven innings, striking out 11 and going 4-4 with a triple and a grand slam. Freshman Arthur Goldstein also impressed in his first start for the Eagles, going 2-3. The boys are in the midst of a stretch of home games this week.
Golf The boys golf team kicked off the season with a 195-201 victory over Gunn at San Jose Country Club. In the first match of his Harker career, freshman Dakota McNealy took medalist honors with a one over par 34. Not far behind were senior Maverick McNealy with a 35 and sophomore Shrish Dwivedi with a 38. The Eagles play Pinewood next Monday in their league opener.
Volleyball The boys host Leigh on Wednesday and travel to Willow Glen on Friday.
The boys’ march through the playoffs has come to an end after a 53-46 loss against league-rival Menlo last Saturday at Menlo. The teams had rocketed into their quarterfinal showdown after splitting their two matchups during the regular season. The loss marks a tough end to a very strong run by the the team. The boys had advanced to the playoffs after earning a #6 seed with a 17-7 overall record and an 11-3 record in league play. Their sterling play earned the team a first-round bye as they waited to play the winner of a first-round matchup between Stevenson and Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove defeated Stevenson, setting into motion a second-round game between Pacific Grove and Harker last Thursday at Blackford. There, Harker muscled through to a 64-56 victory. Senior Nikhil Panu led the way with a team-high 21 points and sophomore Nic Nguyen played well on all sides of the ball, delivering 13 points, five assists, and seven steals. That win set up the final game of the season against Menlo. Thanks to all of the fans for their support, and congratulations to the boys on their season!
The girls dropped their second-round game against Monte Vista Christian, 53-35, to cap off a season that saw them go 17-6 overall and 7-3 in league play, good for a third-place finish in the WBAL. The girls won their postseason game against 11th-seeded Ocean High School 51-40, setting up the challenge against #6-seeded Monte Vista Christian. Please congratulate the girls for their strong play, especially graduating seniors Daniza Rodriguez, Priscilla Auyueng, Emily Chu, Shreya Vemuri and Rebecca Liu.
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse had three victories in their jamboree on Saturday in Menlo and then won their home opener on Monday against Tamalpais High School at Davis Field, 18-6. Michelle Douglas, grade 12, led the team with six goals, while Hannah Bollar, grade 10, added five and Wendy Shwe, grade 12, scored four. Tiphaine Delepine and Sam Hoffman, both grade 12, also added scores, while Delepine, Allison Kiang, grade 10, and Adrienne Mendel, grade 12, tacked on assists. Christine Lee, grade 11, had 10 saves in net as the girls’ season got off to a strong start.
Track and Field
Track and field competed at the Bellarmine Meet this Saturday with solid performances from sophomores Julia Wang and Corey Gonzales and seniors Sumit Minocha and Michael Chen, among others. They compete at Mitty and Willow Glen this week.
Lower and Middle School Update
Girls basketball
Grade 8 Varsity A team: 5-2, currently in second place in the WBAL. Key performers are Joelle Anderson, Jordan Thompson and Lindsey Trinh.
Grade 7 Varsity B team: 5-0, currently in first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Satchi Thockchom and Tiffany Shou.
Grade 6 JV A team: 0-5, currently tied for eighth place in the WBAL.Key performers are Jennifer Hayashi and Deana Kajmakovic.
Grade 5 JV B team: 2-2, currently in third place in the WBAL. Key performers are Haley Arena and Grace Hajjar.
Grade 4 JV C team: 4-0, currently in first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Courtney Thompson and Sarah Raymond.
Boys soccer
Grade 8 Varsity A team: 0-3, currently tied for sixth place in the WBAL. Key performers are Joseph Krackeler, Zayne Khouja and Quentin Delepine.
Grade 7 Varsity B team: 2-0, currently tied for first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Rohit Shah, Vedant Shah and Neelesh Ramachandran.
Grade 6 JV A team: 2-1-1, currently in third place in the WBAL. Key performers are Jarrett Anderson, Edwin Su, Stephan Sokolov and Brandon Bien.
Grade 5 JV B team: 4-0, currently in first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Darshan Chahal, Andrew Cheplyansky and Asmit Kumar.
San Jose Mercury News , Jan. 23, 2013: Paulomi Bhattacharya, grade 12, is mentioned in an article about Bay Area student finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search
San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 30, 2012: Varun Mohan, grade 11, is featured in a brief story about his exceptional performance at a recent math competition in Mexico.
San Jose Mercury News, Dec. 5, 2012: Seniors and Siemens competition regional finalists Paulomi Bhattacharya, Rohan Chandra, Zareen Choudhury and Ashvin Swaminathan are mentioned in a story about the competition in the paper’s “Around the Valley” section.
Middle School Basketball A great season in middle school basketball is coming to a close!
The varsity A girls soccer team finished 11-0 and took the league title.
The varsity B boys basketball team finished up 8-2 – co-champs – and took second place in the WBAL tournament.
A huge shout out to the middle school basketball teams!
Upper School
Basketball
Girls varsity basketball improved their record to a spectacular 13-2 after defeating Immaculate Conception Academy 52-32 and crushing Mercy-Burlingame in a crucial league game, 60-36. Against ICA, Nithya Vemireddy, grade 11, led the way with 18 points and 13 rebounds. The girls face off against Notre Dame High School on Friday at 7 p.m.
Boys basketball improved to 9-4 overall and 3-0 in league play with their 68-45 win against Woodside Priory. Sophomore Eric Holt had 19 points and 10 rebounds and junior Will Deng had 14 points and 12 rebounds in the victory. The boys traveled to Sacred Heart Prep this Wednesday in a huge league showdown and host Crystal Springs Friday at Blackford at 7:30 p.m.
Soccer
Girls soccer won a blowout 9-0 victory against Latino College Prep this Tuesday to improve their record to 3-5-1 overall. Before facing Latino College Prep, the girls had recently lost to Pinewood 4-0 and tied Mercy-San Francisco 1-1. They host Immaculate Conception Academy on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Boys soccer defeated Woodside Priory 6-1 at Davis Field on Saturday and then edged out Crystal Springs in an away game on Wednesday. Their record now stands at a strong 5-2 overall. Against Woodside Priory, goals were scored by Oisin Coveney, grade 9, Denis Celik, grade 12, Jeremiah Anderson, grade 10, Robert Deng, grade 12, Jeffrey Hanke, grade 11, and David Lindars, grade 12. The boys travel to Sacred Heart Prep this Friday.
Upper School
Varsity Basketball Aloha! Both boys and girls varsity basketball teams traveled to Maui over the holiday break and came away undefeated. The girls earned victories over Seabury Hall (twice) and Kamehameha-Maui while the boys defeated Kamehameha, Molokai and Seabury Hall. The girls now hold an impressive 9-1 record
Soccer
Sophomore Jeremiah Anderson had a goal and an assist in the 3-1 boys varsity soccer victory over KIPP Collegiate as the team improved to 2-1 overall. Kiran Arimilli and Kevin Moss also scored for the Eagles. The boys face ECP next Wednesday.
Wrestling Our wrestlers competed over the holiday break against Milpitas High with Junior Vincent Lin earning his first high school victory. Trailing 9-5 on the scoreboard Vincent got a reversal and pinned his opponent with 30 seconds left on the clock. Junior Darian Edvalson won with a dominating performance leading 8-0 before pinning his opponent in the second period. The team competes at the Cupertino High Tournament this weekend.
Volleyball Harker freshman Shannon Richardson participated in the USA High Performance Junior Beach Holiday Camp held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista from Jan. 2-5 in the Girls’ A1/A2 Select group. The only players invited were those that had qualified for the High Performance program through rigorous tryouts in June of 2012 and participated in camp and championships last summer. Richardson and her partner took first place in the U15 division of the High Performance Championships. This is Richardson’s fourth invitation and visit to the Olympic Training Center since June of 2011.
Middle School
Soccer The grade 7-8 varsity A girls soccer team finished the season as league champions with an undefeated 11-0 record. The team finished off the season with exciting, close victories over Castilleja and King’s Academy to preserve the perfect record. Lyndsey Mitchell and Joelle Anderson, both grade 8, went home with the team’s Co-MVP Award, while Anuva Mittal, grade 8, and Anuja Shah, grade 7, each won the Eagle Award and Maile Chung and Stephanie Scaglia, both grade 8, were given the Coaches Award. Congratulations to the whole team, led by coaches Chrissy Chang, CJ Cali and Allison Burzio, on a banner season!
The grade 6 junior varsity A girls soccer team, coached by Cyrus Merrill, Rafeh Akram and Miles Brown, finished the season at 0-7. Despite the lopsided record, the girls made significant improvements to their game as the season progressed, which should bode well for their future soccer careers with Harker. In particular, the girls have developed an excitement for the game, leading to passionate and dynamic play even in defeat. With an eye toward continuing to improve their skills, many on the team have tried out for and plan to play on outside club soccer teams. The team had two very tight games with Nueva and Girls Middle School – their best chances at a victory – and dropped each by the score of 2-1. Team awards went to MVP Lilia Gonzalez, Eagle Award winner Allison Cartee, and Coaches Award winner Alexandra Janssen.
Our grade 5 junior varsity B girls soccer team, coached by Anthony Wood and Jared Ramsey, finished the season just a game below .500 at 2-3. The team enjoyed victories over Castilleja and Girls Middle School; in the latter game, Harker won 5-3 in an exciting home win in front of a raucous crowd. Grace Hajjar and Dylan Williams captured Co-MVP honors from the team, while Grace F. Huang was presented with the Eagle Award and Carissa Nelson received the Coaches Award.
Middle School Basketball
Harker’s grade 7-8 boys basketball teams will resume their season after the close of the holiday break. The grade 8 varsity A team, coached by Joe Mentillo, is at the moment locked at .500 with a 4-4 record in league play. The grade 7-8 varsity B team, coached by Mike Delfino, is at present holding down first place in the league with a sterling 5-1 record. Even better, the team’s sole loss came in overtime in a 39-38 game, so grade 7-8 varsity B has not dropped a game in regulation so far this year. The grade 7 varsity B2 team, coached by Dan Pringle, is currently hanging in there at 3-3 in the league.
The grade 6 junior varsity A boys basketball team, coached by Greg Lawson, finished their year in second place in the league and then won second place a the WBAL tournament. Their final record was an amazing 9-2 with both losses coming at the hands of a tough Sacred Heart team. Over the entire season, Harker won most of its games in dominant fashion, winning by at least 20 points or more. Team MVP went to Jackson Williams. The Eagle Award went to Jason Peetz, and the Coaches Award to Zach Hoffman.
Harker’s grade 6 junior varsity B6 boys basketball team, coached by Steve Carroll, finished the season at 3-5 in league. The boys enjoyed exciting victories over Nueva, Keys and Crystal Springs, and gave well-deserved awards to Surya Gudapati (MVP), Carl Gross (Eagle Award) and Neil Ramaswamy (Coaches Award).
The grade 5 Junior Varsity B1 boys basketball team, coached by Terence Pellum, finished the season as league champs and WBAL Tournament champs with a final record of 9-0. The boys fought hard to win the league championship with a final league game victory over Sacred Heart by a score of 23-20. They played the very same Sacred Heart team in the finals of the WBAL tournament and won 26-21. The team awards went toAditya Gupta ( MVP), Jeffrey Liu (Eagle Award)and Asmit Kumar (Coaches Award).
The grade 5 Junior Varsity B2 boys basketball team, coached by Patrick Hightower, finished the season with a league record of 1-6. The boys had some very close games with Sacred Heart and Pinewood and steadily improved throughout the course of the season. The team awards went to Kevin Chen (MVP), Jai Bahri (Eagle Award ) and Kyle Li (Coaches Award ).
The grade 4 Junior Varsity C boys basketball team, coached by Jim McGovern, finished the season with a league record of 5-1, good enough to earn them Tri-Champions of the league! The boys enjoyed a very exciting season, only losing to a tough Pinewood team in their final game 19-25. The team awards went to Benjamin Soraire (MVP), Anmol Velagapudi (Eagle Award) and Andrew Chavez (Coaches Award).
Congratulations to all the LS/MS Early Winter sports teams for a phenomenal season and good luck to our G7 and G8 boys basketball players still in season!!
Basketball The grade 5 junior varsity B1 boys basketball team beat Sacred Heart in the Championship game of the WBAL tournament 26-21 Wednesday. They won the league with a 7-0 record and also won the championship tournament to finish at 9-0 overall.
The JVA boys basketball team took second in their WBAL bracket, losing to Sacred Heart in the Championship game 10-18. They finished 8-1 in league play and second in the tournament to finish at 9-2.
Basketball Boys varsity basketball went 1-2 in the Lynbrook Tournament last week, scoring a blowout 72-28 victory over Lynbrook to salve the pain of two nail-biter losses to Mills and Santa Teresa; the boys fell to Santa Teresa 41-40 on a last-minute shot as time expired.
Girls varsity basketball opened their season by cruising to the finals of the King’s Academy Tournament with victories over Prospect 48-32 and Lincoln 61-31. In the final round, the girls fell to Burlingame High 85-52 despite senior Priscilla Auyeung’s 21 points.
Soccer Boys varsity soccer blanked Gunderson in their season opener last week, 3-0, behind goals from Omar Hamade, Oisin Coveney, both grade 9, and Sumit Minocha, grade 12. The JV squad defeated SLV 6-1 to even their record at 1-1, as Neil Kishore, grade 10, scored a goal and had four assists.
Girls soccer went 1-1 last week after picking up a 2-0 shutout victory over Pacific Collegiate, with goals by Nikita Parulkar, grade 10, and Sondra Leal Da Costa, grade 12. Days before, the girls had dropped their season opener by a margin of 2-1 against Notre Dame, with Parulkar scoring the lone goal for the Eagles on a Leal Da Costa assist. Next, the team faces Mills High this Saturday in the Burlingame Tournament.
Wrestling
At the Fremont High Tournament on Saturday, wrestlers Danny Wang, grade 12, and Darian Edvalson, grade 11, earned a victory and two losses apiece. They face Milpitas High next week.
Water Polo
Congratulations to water polo players Keri Clifford and Karan Das-Grande, both seniors. Clifford was selected as a first team, division II All-CCS honoree and a second team division I honoree. Das-Grande recieved honorable mention on the second team for the boys, division II. This is a tremendous honor and excellent way to cap off their Harker water polo careers.
Tennis doubles team Katia Miranova, grade 11, and Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, compete in the CCS doubles tournament Monday and Tuesday. Runner Corey Gonzales, grade 10, runs in the state cross country meet on the Nov. 24.
The girls volleyball season came to a close Wednesday night at the CCS semifinals versus Harbor High School. The girls were able to take one game in the best of five match but ultimately lost against the #1 seed 25-18, 21-25, 25-18, 25-14. On behalf of the girls, thank you to everyone in attendance … it was a fun, supportive Eagle crowd, and congratulations to the ladies on an outstanding season.