Eagles post season play is coming down to the final games!
Volleyball
Down two games to none in the CCS quarterfinal match at Soquel High Saturday, the girls volleyball team made a dramatic comeback winning the next three games to upset the fourth-seeded Knights 23-25, 21-25, 26-24, 28-26, 15-13. This was certainly one of the most exciting volleyball games in the program’s history in what felt like a home game for the girls, as our crowd was larger and louder than Soquel’s crowd. For the first time since 2007 the girls have reached the semifinals which matches us against #1 seed Harbor High at Menlo School at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The crowd really makes a difference: come cheer on your Harker Eagles! There is a fee: $8 adults, $3 students with ID.
Cross Country
Sophomore Corey Gonzales placed fourth overall at the CCS meet in Salinas Saturday, qualifying him for the state meet which will be held Nov. 24 in Fresno. Senior Tyler Yeats placed 46th out of 108 runners. On the girls side, Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed 23rd overall and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, placed 33rd out of 97 runners.
Tennis
The girls tennis season came to a close Friday as they lost to St. Francis 11-7 in the CCS quarterfinals. The girls closed with a 14-3 overall record and a second place finish in the WBAL. Congratulations on a great season!
The fall sports seasons for cross country, swimming, flag football and softball have come to a close for the lower and middle schools. Here are the final results of what was a very exciting start to the school year!
MS CROSS COUNTRY
The team finished up their season with the WBAL cross country meet at Bayfront Park. In the grade 7-8 boys race Arnav Tandon, grade 8, placed third. In the grade 7-8 girls race, second place went to Niki Iyer, grade 8 and first place to Sarah Savage, grade 7. Both boys and girls grade 7-8 teams took third place in their races.
LS/MS SWIMMING
The team finished up their season with the WBAL swim meet at Sacred Heart Prep High School. In the grade 5-6 boys MR, taking second place were Edwin Su, Arjun Kilaru, Stephan Sokolov and Krish Kapadia, all grade 6; and in third place, Noah Salisbury, Rohan Arora, Kai-Ming Ang and Cole Smitherman, all grade 5.
Grade 5-6 girls MR third place: Angela Li, Sara Min, Anusha Kuppahally, Alexandra Janssen, all grade 6.
Grade 5-6 girls IM first place: Angela Li; Grade 5-6 girls 25 back, first place: Angela Li.
Grade 5-6 boys 100-free third place: Arnav Jain, grade 5.
Grade 5-6 girls 25 breast third place: Sara Min.
Grade 7 boys MR, second place: Victor Shin, Jeffrey Ma, Alexander Wang, Derek Kuo.
Grade 7 boys IM first place and Grade 7 boys 50-free second place: Jeffrey Ma.
Grade 7 boys 50-fly: third place: Adriano Hernandez.
Grade 7 boys 50-breast third place: Aadith Srinivisan.
UPPER SCHOOL Football Quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more in his final game as an Eagle, but Harker dropped their last game of the year, Homecoming, to Lynbrook, 49-35, finishing their season at 3-7 overall and 1-5 in league play. Robert Deng, grade 12, Devonte Smith, grade 10, and Keanu Forbes, grade 10, all caught touchdown passes.
Water Polo
Boys water polo ended their season a high note with two victories last Friday at the league tournament, following a 12-3 victory over Cupertino with an intense 9-8 win over Santa Clara. Karan Das-Grade, grade 12, scored four goals, with Eric Holt, grade 10, adding three, and Ryan Hume, grade 12, netting two against Santa Clara. The boys end the year 12-16 overall and 4-8 in league play.
Girls water polo’s historic season came to a close Tuesday in their first ever CCS appearance. The girls lost to Soquel High 13-3 in the first round game. Keri Clifford, grade 12, scored two goals and Rachel Yanovsky, grade 12, scored one. The girls end the season with a 20-7 record and a league championship! Congratulations on a great season.
Golf
Kristine Lin, grade 11, is the league’s individual golf champion after shooting a 73 at Poplar Creek. She then shot an 85 at CCS, placing 38th out of 90. Patricia Huang, grade 12, shot an 82 at CCS, the best score any Harker golfer has ever achieved at the tournament. The girls end their season in second place in the league with a 7-3 record.
Tennis
Girls tennis doubles team Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, and Katia Miranova, grade 11, won the league championship, and the team is in CCS post season play now. Hosting their second round CCS match, Harker defeated fellow WBAL opponent, Crystal Springs, by a 10-4 margin. Junior Dora Tzeng led Harker, winning her round robin matches by identical 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 scores. Senior Jenny Chen also won by an impressive margin, 6-0, 6-1, and was leading 5-0 before the match was called after Tzeng’s third match which sealed the victory. The team travels to Cuesta Park today for their quarterfinal (final 8) match against #3 St. Francis at 1:30. Bracket: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/12-13/Tennis_G_Team-12.pdf
Volleyball
Girls volleyball rolled through their first round opponent, Carmel, last night in three straight games 25-14, 25-16, 25-18. Divya Kalidindi, grade 11, Shannon Richardson, grade 9, and Shreya Dixit, grade 10, had 11 kills each as the girls advance to the quarterfinal round v. Soquel High School at Soquel Saturday night, 7 p.m. This should be a very exciting game and the girls can really use your support! There is an entry fee, $8 adults, $3 students with ID. Directions: http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=245&locID=428 Bracket: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/12-13/volleyballgirls%20D4%202012.pdf
Cross Country
This Saturday, four Harker runners – Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, Claudia Tischler, grade 11, Corey Gonzalez, grade 10, and Tyler Yeats, grade 12 – compete in the CCS championship in Toro Park, at 11 a.m. in Salinas. Directions: http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=245&locID=344
Fall sports are still in action as teams go into playoffs or wrap up their seasons. The big news today is the Harker varsity girls volleyball team took the CCS championship last night. Watch for the update as details become available!
Football The Fremont Firebirds and Harker Eagles lit up the scoreboard last Friday night in a football game that featured 21 touchdowns as Fremont defeated Harker 90-56. Harker led 50-49 at halftime and finished the game with 571 yards of total offense, led by senior quarterback Spenser Quash’s aerial assault on the Firebird defense. Quash completed 28 of 47 passes for 422 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Kevin Moss, grade 11, and Robert Deng, grade 12, each caught two touchdowns, and Christian Williams, grade 11, caught the fifth. Quash also ran for three touchdowns. Harker plays its final game of the season at Homecoming tonight night versus Lynbrook.
Water Polo
The boys’ water polo team placed fourth at the Homestead Tournament over the weekend, defeating Half Moon Bay but losing to Carlmont and Burlingame. Against Half Moon Bay, Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, netted four goals, with Ryan Hume, grade 12, scoring three. Eric Holt, grade 10, Gilad Nilo, grade 12, and Jeremy Binkley, grade 10, all added a goal apiece. For his efforts, Das-Grande was named first team all-tournament. The boys play in the league tournament starting this Thursday evening against Lynbrook.
The #1-seeded girls water polo team earned their first ever league championship yesterday by defeating Mountain View 9-5 in the semifinal match of the league tournament and improve to 20-5 overall. The league championship qualifies them for the CCS tournament which begins next week. Congratulations, ladies, on your accomplishments and for making Harker history!
Golf
Patricia Huang, grade 12, and Kristine Lin, grade 11, each played in the CCS golf championships this week in Carmel. Huang ended her Harker golf career on a high note, shooting an 82 to finish 30th place at Rancho Canada. It was a record-breaking week for her, as she became the first Harker golfer to qualify for CCS as an individual all four years of her career. Her score of 82 represents the lowest score ever carded by a Harker girls golfer at CCS. In Carmel, Lin followed up with an 85, placing 38 out of 90 participants, and this week became the first female Harker golfer to win the regular season individual title. To cap it off, she won the league championships with an impressive score of 73 at Poplar Creek.
Tennis
Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, and Katia Mironova, grade 11, defeated Crystal Springs Tuesday in straight sets to win the WBAL doubles championship. With the win, the duo will represent Harker at the CCS Individual Tournament Nov. 19-20 at Courtside Club in Los Gatos. Dora Tzeng, grade 11, also played well, but lost to #1 seed Menlo in the semifinals. Tzeng won the first set, lost the second set in a close tiebreaker, and lost 6-4 in the third set. Tzeng, seeded #3, nearly pulled off the upset despite serving underhand.
Volleyball
Varsity girls volleyball won the league championship, defeating Mercy-Burlingame 25-21, 25-20, 25-15. The team needed the victory to become league tri-champions with a 20-6 overall record and 10-2 in league. By virtue of the league tie-breaking system, Harker receives the first seed from our league into the CCS tournament, which starts next week.
Cross Country The teams did not qualify for the CCS championships, but four individuals did qualify for the Nov. 10 sectional championships at Toro Park in Salinas. Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12 (19:24, third) and Claudia Tischler, grade 11 (19:41, sixth place and cracked the top 10 in the league for the first time) ran their personal bests on the 2.95-mile course. The girls team missed qualifying by .3 seconds. Bhattacharya’s time of 19:24 is a new school record.
On the boys’ side, sophomore Corey Gonzales (second) and senior Tyler Yeats (25th) will run in the CCS meet. Gonzales’ time of 16:12 is a new school record.
Upper School Football Runningback DeVonte Smith, grade 10, ignited the Harker Eagles’ offense on the road against the Los Altos Eagles, rushing 14 times for 160 yards and a touchdown in Harker’s 14-12 win, their first Santa Clara Valley Athletic League victory of the season. Smith led on both sides of the ball, finishing the game with a team-high 10 solo tackles, and a third-quarter three-yard plunge into the endzone by quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, put Harker up for good. Linebacker Ryan Mui, grade 12, had nine solo tackles. Samir Chaudhry, grade 11, and Justin Marion, grade 9, each had a fumble recovery. This Friday is senior night for the team as they host Monta Vista on Davis Field.
Cross Country
In cross country action, both the boys and girls teams ran in the Crystal Springs Center Meet last Thursday. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, continued a fine year, setting a new Harker record with a 16:13 run and finishing in fifth place. Gonzales’ run was 40 seconds faster than his previous personal best, set in the CCS Championships last year, and 1:30 faster than his time at the same meet the year before. Tyler Yeats, grade 12, placed 26th, helping the team to a 12th place finish. Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, ran her best race of the year, placing 10th on a cold and rainy afternoon while running a season-best 20:11. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, was right behind Bhattacharya in 12th, running her personal best on the Crystal course, 20:19. Outstanding freshman Mary Najibi placed 41st with a time of 22:09, a top-five all-time freshman mark for Harker.
Water Polo
Girls water polo went 4-1 this past weekend at the Western State Tournament in Modesto, with their only loss coming in sudden-death overtime to Liberty High. The girls earned fifth place overall with victories over Gregori, West, Notre-Dame-Belmont and Pitman. Keri Clifford, grade 12, had 24 goals over the weekend and goalie Helena Dworak, grade 9, had 28 saves. The tournament success comes on the heels of the girls’ dramatic 6-5 victory over league foe Santa Clara last Thursday. Harker is now an impressive 16-5 overall, the most wins in the program’s history, and tied for first place in the league at 7-2.
Boys water polo suffered two nail-biter losses last week, dropping games to Fremont 6-5 and Santa Clara 12-11. Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, had six goals against Santa Clara and Eric Holt, grade 10, chipped in five. Both the boys and girls play their senior day at home this Thursday.
Golf
The girls golf team dominated Mercy Burlingame with a 249-299 win at Crystal Springs on Friday. Patricia Huang, grade 12, led the Eagles with a five over par 41 performance on a difficult course. Daphne Liang, grade 9, shot her career-best 46. Contributing scores were junior Kristine Lin’s 46, senior Jessica Son’s 48 and junior Connie Li’s 68. Newcomer Madelyn Wang, grade 10, made her debut league performance, having only picked up golf at the beginning of the season. The Eagles remain in sole possession of second place in the WBAL with a 4-1 record, taking on first-place undefeated Castilleja today and Friday of this week.
Volleyball Girls volleyball had an excellent showing at the Presentation Tournament on Saturday, considered to be among the toughest tournaments in California. The girls started the day by losing to the 13th ranked team in the nation, Archbishop Mitty, in a very respectable match, then went 1-3 the rest of the day.
Tennis
Girls tennis took nearly three hours to complete their match on Thursday as rain poured down, but as the storm receded, Harker defeated host Crystal Springs 4-2. Harker had leapt out to a swift 3-0 lead before the rain interrupted and caused a long delay. Two other teams lost after the delay, and it was not until Athlete of the Month Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, who played #2, stepped up to defeat her opponent in near darkness that Harker finally sealed the victory. Harker now stands at 8-1 and 5-1 in league. Girls tennis senior day is this Friday v. Notre Dame-San Jose.
Golf Harker girls golfers defeated Menlo with only five girls, 236-242, to remain undefeated. Harker is tied atop the West Bay Athletic League with Castilleja. The girls face tough tests this week against Sacred Heart and then against Mercy-Burlingame on Friday.
Girls Volleyball The girls volleyball team defeated ECP last week, but lost in three tight games to a tough Crystal Springs squad on Thursday, 23-25, 23-25, 25-27. Even after the tough loss, however, the girls’ record remains at 14-2. This week, they hit the road for two games.
Girls Tennis Despite dropping last Thursday’s contest to Menlo 5-2, the girls took a major step toward removing the “Menlo Mystique,” a cloud of invincibility held by Menlo over Harker since joining the West Bay Athletic League.
The match was much closer than the score dictates. Harker had two opportunities to win the match on their service, but Menlo was able to break on those occasions and ultimately came out on top.
“The girls knew they should have won and are eager to play again,” commented coach Craig Pasqua, adding, “This could be the very event that makes us stronger and hungry for the next level.”
Dora Tzeng, grade 11, completely demolished two-time WBAL MVP Giannina Ong at #2, winning 3 and 1. Harker’s #1 doubles team, which features Sat Prakash, grade 11, and Arden Hu, grade 10, also defeated Menlo’s strong #1 team by an equally impressive 2 and 2. Both #2 and #3 doubles teams raced to early leads in their matches, but both came up short. At #1 singles, Jenny Chen, grade 12, lost a close three set match, losing in a third-set tiebreaker. Harker’s other two singles players both went down, losing in straight set matches.
Harker has another chance to lock up the league title when they play Menlo again in a couple of weeks. After Menlo’s victory this week, Harker stands alone in second place with a 3-1 record in league play and a 6-1 record overall.
Upper School Football Eagles quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, passed for 294 yards and rushed for 79, but Harker could not match Gunn High School’s 506 total yards as the Titans defeated the Eagles 49-21. Robert Deng, grade 12, and Kevin Moss, grade 11, each had touchdown catches, and kicker Deniz Celik, grade 12, added two field goals. Harker (2-4, 0-2) travels to Los Altos for a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League game this Saturday.
Cross Country Harker’s cross country teams competed in their first league meet last week. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, placed second overall in the varsity boys race, beating his time from last year by 40 seconds. For the girls, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, placed 10th, and Claudia Tischler, grade 11, ran a solid race, placing 16th. The teams run again this Thursday at Crystal Springs.
Water Polo Both boys and girls water polo lost to Saratoga this past week. The boys lost 16-9 with goals scored by Karan Das-Grande, Gilad Nilo and Ryan Hume, all grade 12. The girls lost 6-3 for only their second league loss with goals by Keri Clifford, grade 12, Anna Levine, grade 11, and Anushka Das, grade 10. The boys also went 1-2 at the Live Oak Tournament over the weekend, defeating Harbor High and losing to Live Oak and Evergreen Valley. Goalie Sean Pan, grade 11, scored in the Evergreen loss, and David Grossman, grade 12, scored his first career goal. Both the boys and the girls host Santa Clara this Thursday.
Harker Girls Tennis
After their 3-0 week against CCS-quality opponents which ended with a rout of rival Sacred Heart Prep, Harker hosts powerhouse Menlo this Thursday at Blackford in a battle for first place. As Dan Molin, athletic director, said, “If you were to watch any girls tennis match, this would be the one!”
Harker Girls Water Polo
In sudden-death overtime last Tuesday, girls water polo snatched a victory over Monta Vista, 8-7, with Keri Clifford, grade 12, scoring 7 goals and Sonia Sidhu, grade 12, picking up the other. Sierra Lincoln, grade 12, made eight stops in goal. The girls play an away game against Saratoga High on Thursday.
Harker Girls Varsity Volleyball
Girls varsity volleyball went 2-0 last week with victories against King’s Academy and Santa Clara, improving to 10-1 overall. Their sterling record will be challenged when the girls hit the road to play two games away from home this week.
Harker Cross Country
At the Ram Invitational at Westmoor High this Saturday, Corey Gonzalez, grade 10, placed eighth out of 211 runners, running the 2.4 mile course in 12:46 and improving his time from last year by a full minute. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed 18th out of 165 runners, and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, set a new personal best with her time. Thursday marks the first league meet for these runners.
Harker Football
Two touchdown passes from quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, to Kevin Moss, grade 11, were not enough as Harker fell to Cupertino this Friday, 40-13. The boys will get a chance to even their record, which now stands at 2-3, when they face off against Gunn this Friday night at Davis Field. There are only three home games, including Homecoming, remaining in Harker’s football season.
Harker Middle School and Lower School Girls Softball
Lower school and middle school girls softball teams are both off to undefeated starts to the season, with the grades 6-8 team standing at 3-0 in league play and the grades 4-5 team at 4-0.
The middle school team was locked in a tie for first place with Castilleja until Kristin LeBlanc, grade 7, knocked in Grace Park, grade 8, for a game-winning run with a base hit to defeat the Castilleja Gators, 6-5, and give Harker sole possession of first place, a game ahead of Castilleja. Meghan Robertson, grade 6, pitched an outstanding game, and Anika Rajamani, grade 6, Marti Sutton, grade 8, Tiffany Shou, grade 7, and Livinia Ding, grade 8, all came up with big plays to contribute to the victory.
The lower school girls team also has on lock on first place in its league after defeating Woodland for the second time this year. Arushi Nety, grade 5, has three doubles and two triples in her last two games, and Haley Arena, grade 5, and Courtni Thompson, grade 4, made important catches to preserve the Eagles’ last victory.
Flag Football
The grade 8 flag football team stands at 2-3 this year. Led by quarterback Alex Youn and wide receivers Nicolas Bean and Nik Weisbloom, Harker pulled off an exciting and tense 9-6 victory against Crystal Springs recently. After a season of close games, the boys are preparing for the Harker flag football tournament this weekend.
The grade 7 flag football team lost a tough 12-0 game to the Menlo Knights last week, dropping to a 1-3 record despite strong defensive play all year. James Shaw, Nirban Bhatia, Chris Smith and Jin Kim have all been standouts and leaders on defense. The highlight of the season so far came in game two, when the Eagles defeated Woodland courtesy of strong play by Dolan Dworak, who ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and Michael Sikand, who ran for a touchdown. The season closes out next week as Harker plays Valley Christian and Sacred Heart.
The grade 6 flag football team is in first place after an undefeated 6-0 run in which they never trailed at a single moment in any game. The team is led by offensive standouts like 1uarterback Bobby Bloomquist, running backs Jackson Williams and Jarrett Anderson, and tight end Charlie Molin. As cornerback, Hasan Awais has snatched four interceptions in just six games, while middle linebacker Jason Peetz has two interceptions and has scored a defensive touchdown. All told, the team has 13 interceptions in only six games and has outscored their opponents 197-36.
The grade 5 flag football team, coached by Tobias Wade and Patrick Hightower, is currently 2-1. The team is led by 1uarterback Darshan Chahal, who had a crucial punt return for a touchdown against Woodland. Safety Henry Weise has also made some stellar defensive plays by knocking the ball out of the receivers’ hands and getting crucial stops on third down.
Swimming
Harker’s lower school and middle school swim team, coached by Alisha Garcia, Andrew Booth, Jennifer Deasy and Ruth Hegedus, participated in the Castilleja meet earlier this season. The results were as follows:
Grade 6 Boys
25 Fly – first Edwin Su, second Stephan Sokolov, third Noah Salisbury
25 Breaststroke – first Leon Lu, second Jerry Peng, third Mihir Dixit
Grade 6 Girls
Medley Relay Team – third place
25 Back – first Angel Li
25 Breaststroke – second Sara Min
Grade 7 Boys
100 IM – first Derek Kou, second Alexander Wang, third Victor Shin
200 Free – first Jeffery Ma, third Aadith Srinvasan
Grade 7 Girls
50 Breaststroke – second Emma Brezoczky
Grade 8 Boys
50 Free – first Matthew Cheng, second Kayvon Solaimanpour, third Austin Zhang
50 Fly – third Justin Culpepper
Harker is hosting their own league meet on Tues., Oct. 9.
Cross Country
The middle school cross country team, coached by Scott Graham, Margaret Huntley and Jessica Sykora, is off to a great start. In the Crystal Spring Meet, a relay, Akshaya Vemuri, Sharon Yan, Gloria Guo and Sarah Savage, all grade 7, took second place. At the Priory Meet, Julia Amick, grade 6, took first place in her race. Savage did the same, while Niki Iyer, grade 8, took second in hers. The grade 6 boys took fourth place while the grade 7 and 8 girls took third and the grade 7 and 8 boys took second place. At Miller Meet, Savage again placed first in her race, with Amick placing fourth in hers, Iyer placing third in hers, and Arnav Tandon, grade 8, placing ninth in his. Harker hosts its own league meet on Wed., Oct. 10.
Middle School Softball
The team is off to a 3-1 start putting them in first place in league with 3-0 record. The team is led by the strong pitching of Meghan Robertson, grade 6, and timely hitting from Kristin LeBlanc, grade 7 and Marti Sutton, grade 8. Strong contributions have come from Lavinia Ding and Grace Park, both grade 8, and Tiffany Shou, grade 7. The team has received strong catching support from Anika Rajamani, grade 6, and some clutch play from Taylor Lam, also grade 6.
Girls Tennis
Girls tennis went 3-0 this week against CCS-quality opponents, wrapping up their strong showing with a dominant 7-0 victory on the road against archrival Sacred Heart Prep. Co-captain Jenny Chen, grade 12, faced off against Sacred Heart’s number one and walked away with the win in two sets 6-2, 6-2. Dora Tzeng, grade 11, extended her streak of outstanding play by blanking her opponent (6-0, 6-0) despite a lingering shoulder injury which forced her to serve underhand for the match. Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, won in straight sets, giving her an undefeated 8-0 record in September. On her way to a perfect month, Karakoulka lost nary a set.
In doubles matches, each of Harker’s teams captured victories as well – a meaningful rout against a foe in Sacred Heart whose doubles lineups had emerged as some of Harker’s strongest competition. Number one team Sat Prakash, grade 11, and Arden Hu, grade 10, won 6-4, 6-3. Number two team Izzy Gross, grade 9, and Sylvie Dobrota, grade 12, won 4-6, 6-1 (10-8). Finally, number three team Indica Sur, grade 12, and Ariana Shulman, grade 11, won 6-4, 6-4.
The team now stands at 5-0 and is 2-0 in the WBAL. Harker plays Notre Dame next Wednesday and then, on Thursday, has an important showdown with league co-leader Menlo at Blackford.
Girls Water Polo
Girls water polo pulled off a great win a couple of weeks ago against Santa Clara High School; check out the writeup in the Santa Clara Weekly.
Girls Water Polo
Girls water polo went 3-0 at the Sequoia High Tournament last Saturday with wins over Notre Dame-Belmont, Aragon and Sequoia. Freshman Helena Dworak had 21 saves in goal over the three games and Keri Clifford, grade 12, scored 19 goals for the day.
Boys Water Polo
Boys water polo had an impressive victory over Santa Clara last week and take their 2-2 record to Lynbrook tomorrow. Both boys and girls teams host Cupertino Thursday.
Girls Volleyball
Girls volleyball went 5-0 Saturday to win the silver bracket at the Cupertino Tournament. The girls have improved to 10-1 on the season as they host King’s Academy tonight and Santa Clara tomorrow.
Football
Football dropped to 2-2 on the season with their loss at Mills High School Saturday. Senior JP Doherty caught two touchdown passes on offense and recovered a fumble on defense. Junior Sravan Rajathilak caught a touchdown pass for Harker’s first score of the game. Sophomore Keanu Forbes powered through the Mills defense to run for the first varsity touchdown of his career. Please support them Friday night, 6:30 at Cupertino High for the opening of league play.
Cross Country
Wish our cross country runners well this Saturday at Westmoor High.
Middle School
Girls Softball
Harker 7 – Menlo 0! Our dynamic duo of Meghan Robertson and Anika Rajamani, both grade 6, played a great game Sept. 18 against Menlo. Robertson pitched and brings great control and speed to the team; Rajamani is the catcher and is like a wall behind the plate, said Raul Rios, coach. “We had great defensive plays by Marti Sutton, grade 8, Taylor Lam, grade 6, and Grace Park, grade 8. We have a very young but strong team this year; if they stay together and keep playing they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming years.” The team is now 2-0.
Upper School
Varsity Football
Varsity football now stands at 2-1, having won Sept. 7 and lost Sept. 14. First, the gridiron guys took down Andrew Hill High School 23-16. One highlight was senior Deniz Celik’s 32-yard field goal which, coupled with quarterback senior Spenser Quash’s pair of second-half touchdown passes kept Harker in the lead to help survive a late Andrew Hill drive. Trailing 16-11 in the third quarter, Quash connected with Adarsh Battu, grade 11, on a 10-yard score to put the Eagles ahead 17-16. Another TD pass, on a screen to Ryan Mui, grade 12, provided insurance and Harker needed every bit of it. The game ended with Hill inside the Harker five-yard line, so a bit closer than desired!
The following week, Sept 14. against San Jose High School, with the score 8-8 late in the fourth quarter, SJHS’ Bulldogs drove the ball 60 yards and kicked a field goal with only seconds remaining to seal the 11-8 victory. Robert Deng, grade 12, scored a one-yard touchdown pass from Quash and Keanu Forbes, grade 10, scored the two-point conversion for the Eagles. The 2-1 Eagles are away at Mills High School Saturday afternoon this week.
Girls Tennis
Girls tennis didn’t lose a set in the Sept. 6 7-0 rout of Fremont, played on Fremont’s home courts. Sophomore Arden Hu, playing #4 singles, had the closest match, and was pushed to a first set tiebreaker before prevailing 7-6, 6-0, making the team 2-0. Then, over the weekend, varsity girls had an excellent performance at the Santa Catalina tournament, winning second place out of 16 teams. The standings were very close, with the team just one win away from tying for first place.
Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, was the #3 singles champion and did not drop a single set throughout the tournament. Number 2 doubles team Chau Nguyen, grade 12, and Izzy Gross, grade 9, won first place and remain undefeated this season with six wins. Katia Mironova, grade 11, was a finalist at #4 singles, and Indica Sur, grade 12, and Ariana Shulman, grade 11, were finalists at #3 doubles. Jenny Chen, grade 12, reached the semifinals at #1 singles, and #1 doubles team Sylvie Dobrota, grade 12, and Hu made it to the quarterfinals. Adding to the team’s total, Sahithya Prakash, grade 11, also reached consolation finals at #2 singles. The girls open league play next week.
Girls Volleyball
Girls volleyball lost to a strong Homestead High team Sept. 12, but rebounded against Fremont two days later in a three-game sweep. Shreya Dixit, grade 10, led the team with 12 kills to make the team 2-1. Sept. 13, the team defeated Saratoga High three games to one to improve to 3-1 on the season. Divya Kalidindi, grade 11, and Dixit had 11 kills each. Sept. 17 the girls hosted Immaculate Conception Academy. They face Pinewood High School tonight so come on out and cheer!
Boys Water Polo
Varsity lost the first game of the Wilcox Tournament Sept. 8-9 against Pioneer, but had solid victories over Willow Glen and Santa Clara 18-10 and 15-10, respectively. Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, scored 11 goals over the three games; Ryan Hume, grade 12, got 10; Eric Holt, grade 10, and Gilad Nilo, grade 12, had six each; Stephan Pellissier, grade 11, had four; and Albert Chu, grade 11, put one in.
The boys went on to a solid 8-6 victory over Fremont Sept. 13 to improve to 5-3 on the season. Hume had three goals, Holt added two. Sean Pan, grade 11, was stellar in goal. On Sept. 18, the boys beat Santa Clara High School 18-11 and they host Wilcox High Thurs., Sept. 20.
Girls Water Polo
Girls water polo opened the season last week with a pair of victories over league opponents. On Sept 11, they defeated Saratoga 9-7; and two days later they worked over Fremont 8-5. Senior Keri Clifford, grade 12, led the way with eight goals over the two games. Sierra Lincoln, grade 12, had 13 saves in goal against Saratoga. The girls then went 2-2 in the Wilcox Lady Chargers seventh annual Girls Varsity Water Polo Tournament over the weekend. In that tournament, Clifford had eight goals in three games, and freshman Helena Dworak had seven saves in a very close loss to Lynbrook.
Scores
Harker-7, SCHS-10, with goals by Anushka Das, grade 10; Clifford, Daphne Millard, grade 12; Anna Levine, grade 12 ( three); and Sonia Sidhu. Eight blocks by Lincoln.
Harker-5, Fremont-2 with goals by Clifford (two), Yanovsky and Levine (two); Lincoln, five blocks.
Harker-8, Lynbrook-10, with goals by Clifford (five), Levine (two) and Sidhu; seven blocks by Helena Dworak, grade 9.
Harker-5, Saratoga-0: Saratoga forfeit.
On Sept. 18, the girls beat Santa Clara High School 8-7 and they face Mountain View High School Thurs., Sept. 20.
Girls Golf
Girls golf lost to Notre Dame-Belmont Sept. 7 at Los Lagos in a non-league matchup 240-231. Kristine Lin, grade 11, led all golfers with a 38. They beat Menlo School Sept. 17 221-232 and Lin earned medalist honors, shooting four over par 38. Senior Jessica Son’s timely career best 42 helped the team notch this very important win. Also contributing her personal best was junior Connie Li with a 50. Freshman Daphne Liang debuted with a steady 47 while senior Patricia Huang shot a 44. Late breaking news: Triumph over Sacred Heart Prep Sept. 18, in a close one, 223-227.
Cross Country
Cross country competed at Toro Park in Salinas Sept. 15, and sophomore Corey Gonzales placed 17th in the varsity boys race. His time of 17:07 is a personal best by 30 seconds on the Toro course; the time is second on the all-time Harker list, and also sets a sophomore school record, breaking the old one by two minutes. Freshman Mary Najibi placed ninth in the frosh-soph race, leading her team to a fourth place finish. Najibi’s time of 22:49 is the third all-time freshman time. Another freshman, Connor O’Neill, ran a 19:55, which is the second fastest freshman time in Harker history.
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 6, 2012: Usua Amanam ’09, now in his junior year at Stanford, is featured in a story about his role on the Cardinal football team.
Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, Sept. 10, 2012: A news update mentions the visit to Harker by Olympians Rowdy Gaines, Cullen Jones and Anne Warner Cribs, who came for an event to support the USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash program. Gaines and Jones spoke to Harker athletes prior to the event.