The girls golf team picked up two big wins last week. The Eagles started the week with a 60-stroke win over Mercy Burlingame. Later in the week, the girls defeated The King’s Academy by 103 strokes with Katelyn Vo, grade 10, leading the way with a 36, followed closely by Natalie Vo, grade 9, with a 37. This week, the Eagles take on Castilleja on Monday.
Football
The Eagle football team continues to roll as it traveled to Healdsburg and handed the Greyhounds a 48-0 thrashing. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns; Aaron Smith, grade 11, rushed for 91 yards and a score, with Angel Cervantes, grade 12, also rushing for a score; Floyd Gordon, grade 12, and Jared Anderson, grade 11, each caught a touchdown pass, with Anthony Contreras, grade 12, catching two TDs and adding another on a pick six; and once again the Eagle D came up huge, this time, with Jalen Clark, grade 12, leading the Eagles with nine tackles, and Nemo Yang, grade 11, and Mitch Kole, grade 12, adding sacks. This Saturday, the boys take on Rio Vista for Homecoming. Not able to make it? Check out the live stream here: https://thecube.com/event/745387
Cross Country
Over the weekend, the cross country team traveled to Salinas to compete in the Early Bird Invitational at Toro Regional Park. Peter Connors, grade 12, Gloria Guo, grade 12, Lilia Gonzales, grade 11, Mihir Sharma, grade 10, Delaney Logue, grade 10, Aditya Singhvi, grade 9, and Anna Weirich, grade 9, led their respective classes. This Saturday, the Eagles travel to Stockton for the Pacific Invitational.
Volleyball
Last week, the girls volleyball team dropped a match to Sacred Heart Prep in three games. Lauren Napier, grade 12, led the Eagles with six kills and Emily Cheng, grade 10, added five kills. This week, the girls take on Notre Dame San Jose on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Thursday, both at home.
Girls Water Polo
Last week, the girls water polo team defeated Lynbrook 5-4 behind three goals from Abby Wisdom, grade 11. Later in the week, Harker defeated Cupertino 12-3 with Wisdom once again leading the way, this time with four goals. Alicia Xu, grade 10, added two goals and three assists. This week, the Eagles travel to Fremont on Tuesday and host Monta Vista on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team picked up a 9-8 win over Lynbrook early last week before falling to Homestead 13-8 later in the week. Up next for the Eagles is a trip to Palo Alto on Tuesday and a home match with Monta Vista on Thursday.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team opens up league play on Tuesday as it faces off with Crystal Springs Uplands. Then on Thursday, the Eagles take on Castilleja.
Last week, the boys water polo team lost to Los Gatos 9-3 and Gunn 6-17 before going 1-2 at the Lynbrook Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles’ sole victory at the tournament was an 18-9 win over Half Moon Bay. Next up for the boys are league home games versus Lynbrook on Tuesday and Homestead and Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team is 2-0 after opening the season with wins over Santa Clara and Milpitas. In a 10-4 win over Santa Clara, Cas Ruedy, grade 10, led the offense with four goals, while Sammi Yanovsky, grade 11, stopped 17 shots. Then, in the 11-4 win over Milpitas, Abby Wisdom, grade 11, led the Eagles with five goals. This week, the girls host Lynbrook on Tuesday, Cupertino on Thursday and begin the Lynbrook Tournament on Friday.
Congratulations to Meghana Karinthi, grade 12, who was awarded the Outstanding Academic All-American honor from USA Water Polo for the second year in a row. Karinthi earned the award for having a 4.0 or better GPA while playing in national tournaments with the Stanford and Silicon Valley Outlaws club teams. Great job Meghana!
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team returned from the Central Valley with a second place finish in the Division 3 bracket at the highly competitive California Tennis Classic this past weekend. The Eagles went 4-1 with wins over McClatchy, Clovis, Clovis West and Mitty, with their only loss to eventual champ Simi Valley. The girls open up league play on Tuesday versus Crystal Springs Uplands.
Girls Golf
Last week, the girls golf team took fourth place out of 17 teams at the Helen Lengfeld Memorial Golf Tournament. It was the best finish ever for a Harker girls team at the annual tournament. Katherine Zhu, grade 12, continues to play at a high level as she tied for first place with a 2-over-par 74. Other notable finishers were Natalie Vo, grade 9, who tied for eighth, and Katelyn Vo, grade 10, who tied for 14th. Later in the week, the Eagles suffered a close three-stroke loss to defending league champ Menlo. It’s a busy week for the Eagles as they play Sacred Heart Prep on Monday, Mercy Burlingame on Wednesday and The King’s Academy on Thursday.
Cross Country
The cross country team officially opened its season over the weekend in San Francisco at the Lowell Invitational. Highlights included Anna Weirich, grade 9, placing third in a freshman/sophomore race with 289 runners; Arya Maheshwari, grade 9, finishing eighth out of 294 freshman runners; and Rishi Dange, grade 10, placing 25th out of 260 sophomore runners. Seniors Gloria Guo and Peter Connors led the way for the varsity teams. The Eagles race again this Saturday at the Early Bird Invitational in Salinas.
Volleyball
Last week, the girls volleyball team defeated Saratoga in three games, led by Allison Cartee, grade 11, who had seven kills. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to powerhouse Valley Christian in three close games. Seniors Megan Cardosi and Isabella Spradlin led the Eagles with eight kills each. This week, the girls travel to Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Football
The football team dominated again on Friday night as it defeated Santa Clara High 24-0. The Eagle D picked off three passes and recovered a fumble to pitch another shutout. Anthony Contreras, grade 12, led the Eagles with 12 tackles, followed by James Pauli, grade 12, with 11 tackles and a sack. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw for 282 yards and three scores, while Aaron Smith, grade 11, racked up 170 yards on the ground. The Eagles have started the season 3-0 and have outscored their opponents by an amazing tally of 136-6. This week, the Eagles take the two and a half hour drive north to face Healdsburg High on Friday.
This past weekend, the cross country team opened its season at Golden Gate Park. Arya Maheshwari, grade 9, started the day with an eighth place finish in the freshman race, out of 294 runners. Aditya Singhvi ran an excellent 23rd.
Next up, Anna Weirich, grade 9, took third in her freshman/sophomore race, 2 seconds from winning, in a field of 289 runners. She was 20 seconds behind the leaders with 800 meters left, then sprinted to close the gap to 2 seconds at the finish line.
Senior Gloria Guo, and juniors Lilia Gonzales and Aneesha Kumar, along with Peter Connors, grade 12, and juniors Ryan Adolf and Henry Wong, led the varsity teams.
Rich Dange, grade 10, placed 25th out of 260, leading the sophomore team to a 10th place team finish, out of 32 teams.
The Eagle football team executed another dominating performance Friday as it defeated visiting Cupertino 35-0 in front of a packed Davis Field crowd. Dominic Cea, grade 12, connected on two field goals and hit his three extra points; Nate Kelly, grade 12, rushed for a touchdown and passed another to Floyd Gordon, grade 12; Aaron Smith, grade 11, rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns; and the Harker defense once again played huge! Check out highlights from 49ers Cal-Hi Sports starting at 3:58: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NOhVhkPss
Next up for the 2-0 Eagles is a trip to Santa Clara High this Friday.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team opened its season last week with a 64-stroke win over Notre Dame San Jose. Katherine Zhu, grade 12, led all golfers with a 35, followed closely by Katelyn Vo, grade 10, and Natalie Vo, grade 9. The Eagles travel to San Mateo on Tuesday to compete in the Helen Lengfeld Memorial Tournament, followed by a date with Menlo on Wednesday.
Last month, Zhu traveled to China where she competed in the China LPGA Beijing Heritage Tournament. This was Zhu’s first professional golf tournament as an amateur and she was the only American golfer in the field. After shooting 72-76-74 over the three-day event, Zhu ended in a tie for 41st out of 65 golfers. Congrats, Katherine!
Cross Country
The cross country team took on runners from St. Francis, Palo Alto and Gunn last week, in runs by class. The top Harker runners were seniors Gloria Guo and Peter Connors; juniors Ryan Adolf and Lilia Gonzales; sophomores Rishi Dange and Annabelle Ju; and freshmen Anna Weirich and Arya Maheshwari, with Weirich finishing first overall among freshman. The runners travel to San Francisco this Saturday for the Lowell Invitational.
Girls Volleyball
Last week, the girls volleyball team defeated Lynbrook in four games, led by a 10-kill performance from Lauren Napier, grade 12. Later in the week, Harker defeated Westmont in three games to bring its season record to 4-4. Check out highlights from the Lynbrook game on 49ers Cal-Hi Sports starting at 34:16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NOhVhkPss
Next up, the Eagles travel to Saratoga on Tuesday and host Valley Christian on Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team opens its season on Tuesday as it hosts Santa Clara before traveling to Milpitas on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team hosts Los Gatos Tuesday at the Singh Aquatic Center and travels to Gunn High on Thursday.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team opens up its 2017 season this weekend in the Central Valley by competing in the prestigious California Tennis Classic.
Harker Recognized by CCS
CCS recently recognized The Harker School Athletic program with a Sportsmanship Citation for having zero sportsmanship infractions for the 2016-17 school year. Way to go Eagles!
Harker students competed in various events over the summer and two attended the 2017 USA Fencing National Championships in Salt Lake City in July.
Nerine Uyanik, grade 10, took a pair of top medals in all-ages events. Her first event was fencing in Division II women’s foil (fencers must be rated C or lower; the scale runs from A, at the top, to E, and U for unclassified), against 147 other women of all ages. Uyanik took the silver medal, improving her rating from a “D” to a highly sought after “B.” She won most elimination bouts decisively, 15-7, 15-9, 7-6 (tough one!), 15-7 and 5-4 (another tough one!). Then a bit of luck, her opponent in the semifinal withdrew, leaving Uyanik fighting in the final, where she succumbed 12-4.
The next day, Uyanik improved on her win to take top honors, the gold medal, in Division III (fencers, age 13 and up, rated D and lower, but Uyanik qualified as a D so was able to fence). In the field of 140 fencers, Uyanik won five out of six pool bouts, had a bye in the first elimination round, then took off, winning 15-5, 15-11, 9-8, 14-12, and, finally, 15-9.
Three days later, Uyanik fenced in the highly competitive Y-14 women’s foil category, and finished No. 59 out of 219 entries. She is ranked No. 54 in the nation in the Y-14 category. Division II and III categories are not nationally ranked.
Meanwhile, Jerrica Liao, grade 12, an A-rated fencer, competed in two tough events, taking 78th out of 185 fencers in junior women’s foil (up to age 19), where she started off winning four out of six pool bouts, earning a bye in the first elimination round, but losing in round two to the eventual 16th place winner.
Two days later, Liao finished her season fencing in Division I (which also requires qualification) among 96 competitors, where Olympians qualify. She finished 78th, a very respectable finish considering the hundreds of fencers who didn’t even qualify for the event. Liao is ranked 66th in the nation in junior women’s foil and 94th in the nation in senior women’s foil. Please congratulate these hard-working swordswomen when you see them!
This year’s National Championships, held July 1-10 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, hosted more than 4,000 fencers from across the United States who competed in more than 80 events.
The grand opening of Harker’s new athletic center drew more than 600 people Friday evening, as members of the Harker community and local media arrived to get an early look at the feature-rich facility.
Many at the event were new visitors, getting a first-time look at the 33,000-square-foot facility’s spectacular gym floor. Measuring 12,000 square feet, the floor is designed to allow two games to be played simultaneously and is situated 14 feet below ground to facilitate temperature control and reduce the building’s profile. The building’s HydroWorx underwater treadmill – the same kind used by orthopedic hospitals and NFL teams – is the first at any U.S. high school. It is situated alongside a HydroWorx 300 therapy pool and Grimm Scientific cryotherm pool.
“It’s the best of everything. It’s gorgeous, the lockers, the training room facilities, top of the line,” said Joe Cea, father of Dominic Cea, grade 12, adding that he “can’t wait to watch the games.”
In addition to its many benefits for Harker athletes and athletic faculty, the building also provides an ideal venue for assemblies and contains a large screen for streaming events. The spectator experience was also crucial to its design, with bleachers situated to enable a great line of sight to the action on the gym floor, a spacious promenade and an easily accessible snack bar. In keeping with Harker’s energy-conscious approach to designing and constructing new facilities, 25 percent of the electricity to both the athletic center and the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (opening in 2018) will be provided by a 140-kilowatt solar array.
“You really see the effort and the vision behind the whole gym,” said Simar Mangat ’13, one of many alumni in attendance. “To see the whole community here, I think there’s a lot of spirit that’s both in the walls of the building and in the people that are here.”
Attendees showed up in the early evening and enjoyed pizza and hot dogs while waiting for the gym to open to visitors. When the time came to open the building at about 7 p.m., ribbons at the entrance were cut by Harker’s Board of Trustees, along with the leaders of the construction effort, and the captains of the boys and girls basketball and volleyball teams. Throngs of people then walked through the entrance and eventually took their seats at the bleachers. Board of Trustees chair and former head of school Diana Nichols then joined faculty, donors and administrators on the gym floor, offering them many thanks for their hard work that made construction of the building possible.
Theresa “Smitty” Smith, longtime volleyball coach and lower and middle school athletic director, later stood on the court, flanked by members of the Nichols family and the upper school girls volleyball team. After Smith delivered a heartfelt dedication to former president Howard Nichols, the members of the volleyball team revealed that the 12,000-square-foot court had been named in Howard’s honor. The Nichols’ grandchildren then had the honor of being the first to dribble basketballs across the length of the court.
Harker facility director Mike Bassoni also had the chance to speak, giving the many in attendance a brief breakdown of the gym’s features while the girls volleyball team set up on the court. The team then played a practice game to the crowd’s delight.
“It is truly amazing, and I’m so glad that we came out as alumni,” said Sumit Minocha ’13. “Everybody seems so happy, I can really just sense the Harker spirit skyrocketing.”
The girls volleyball team made history as it played the first official game in the new gym. Unfortunately, Branham High defeated the Eagles in three hard-fought games. Then over the weekend, Harker went 1-3 at the Milpitas Spikefest with the team’s sole win coming against Homestead. This week, the Eagles host Lynbrook on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and Westmont on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.
Football
The Harker football team got off to a fast start as it cruised to a 77-6 win over James Lick on Friday night. Among the many highlights was a defense that allowed only 55 yards and scored three touchdowns and an offensive line that allowed zero sacks and led the way for 171 rushing yards. Individually, Anthony Contreras, grade 12, had a kickoff return touchdown, a receiving touchdown and an interception return touchdown, and Nate Kelly, grade 12, rushed for a touchdown and threw three touchdown passes, two to Floyd Gordon, grade 12. This week, the Eagles host Cupertino High at Davis Field at 7 p.m.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team started the season on the right note as it took third place at the Wilcox Tournament over the weekend. Highlights included a 23-11 win over Carlmont and a 9-7 win over Santa Teresa in the third-place game. Next Tuesday, the Eagles open up league play as they host Los Gatos at 4 p.m.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team opens its season on Tuesday against Notre Dame San Jose at Los Lagos Golf Course.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team opens its 2017 season in the Central Valley, competing in the prestigious California Tennis Classic. Last year, the Eagles went 5-0 over the two-day tournament and finished with the Division 6 championship.
Cross Country
The cross country team will be off and running on Sept. 9 as it starts the season at the Lowell Invitational.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team opens its season next Tuesday as it hosts Santa Clara High at 6:15 p.m. at the Singh Aquatic Center.
In June and July, rising senior Lizzy Schick went on a 25-day European tennis trip with 12 other high school students from across the United States and three coaches from around the world. The 13 high schoolers were scheduled to play in five tournaments in three cities (Amsterdam, Barcelona and Prague) and train for two to six hours each day on clay courts.
The group started its journey just outside of Amsterdam in a small town called Hilversum, where they learned to play on clay courts (a first for most of the players). In the Tulip Open, the team’s first tournament, Schick competed in both singles and doubles, and won the doubles tournament with her partner, Katie Wolber, a senior from Michigan. While in Amsterdam, the team was fortunate to view the beautiful canals, and visit both the Rijksmuseum art and history museum and Anne Frank’s house.
After the first week in Amsterdam, the team traveled to Barcelona, where Schick competed in her first professional tournament, held at a Spanish national training center. While in Barcelona the players visited the famous market and La Sagrada Familia, a large church that has been under construction since 1882.
During the last week and a half of the trip, the team traveled from Barcelona to Prague where it competed in three tournaments in eight days. Schick was a doubles finalist in the first tournament, and both a singles and doubles finalist in the last tournament. The castle in Prague, John Lennon’s wall, the Charles Bridge, and the Jewish Quarter were among the sights the players toured before leaving the city.
This trip was an exceptional training and learning experience both on and off the court, and helped teach Schick many life skills necessary for her not-so-distant college life. An added bonus of the trip was the special insight Schick received about Amsterdam and Prague, prior to starting her senior year elective history and literature courses.
Andrew Zhu ’14, a junior at NYU, was recently recognized with All-Academic honors by the United Volleyball Conference. This is the second year in a row that Zhu has received this award. This season, his team won its first UVC title, as well as made its first trip to the NCAA D3 volleyball tournament and finished the season ranked No. 7 in the nation. While at Harker, Zhu was a three-time captain and MVP. Congrats Andrew!
Congratulations to Izzy Connell ’13 on being named a CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) third team Academic All-American this week. Connell graduated from Pepperdine University this spring as a psychology major with a 3.96 GPA. She also was the school’s top female sprinter in the program’s history, holding nine school records, and was named Pepperdine’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2016-17 season. Check out the full story here: