What a week it was for the boys water polo team! The Eagles soared through their first two games of the SCVAL-El Camino Tournament, picking up a 20-4 win over Milpitas and a 14-5 win over Fremont, setting up a championship match against league rival Lynbrook. The Vikings had defeated Harker three times during the year, but the Eagles came through with a 12-11 overtime win in the title match. The victory gave the Eagles the co-league championship and a berth to CCS, both firsts for the Harker boys water polo program. On Tuesday, the Eagles faced off with Half Moon Bay in the opening round of CCS, but fell 14-5 to end their season. Congrats on a great run this year!
Girls Varsity Volleyball
The Eagles were defeated last week 3-0 by Notre Dame Belmont, but finished their season on a high note with a 3-1 victory over Notre Dame San Jose on Senior Night. Harker finished the season with a 7-18 record.
Girls Golf
Last week, the girls golf team qualified for CCS with a strong second place finish at the WBAL tournament, in which Katherine Zhu, grade 11, won her third straight individual league title. CCS was held on Tuesday and Zhu was the top Harker golfer, finishing in 15th place out of 99 competitors, with Katelyn Vo, grade 9, finishing 28th. As a team, the Eagles finished ninth out of 13th teams competing at CCS. Congrats on a great year!
Girls Tennis
Last week, the girls tennis team had 6-1 victories over Presentation and Pinewood. Earlier this week, Rachel Broweleit, grade 9, Srivani Vegesna, grade 9, and the doubles teams of Lizzy Schick, grade 11, and Gina Partridge, grade 9, and Connie Miao, grade 12, and Kathleen Cheng, grade 11, represented Harker at the WBAL tournament. Broweleit played very well and finished in fourth place in the singles bracket. Schick and Partridge took second in doubles. The Eagles play their final regular season match of the year on Thursday against Sacred Heart Prep. The girls will find out this weekend if they will make CCS as a wildcard.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team lost in its first two rounds of the SCVAL tournament last week, 7-1 to Saratoga and 10-2 to Lynbrook. But the season ended on a high note with a 7-1 victory over Milpitas. The girls finished 7-18 on the season.
Football
The football team picked up a victory by forfeit versus Emery Friday. The Eagles are back in action this Saturday for Homecoming as they take on Stellar Prep.
Cross Country
The cross country team takes on the rest of the league in the WBAL championships this Friday at Crystal Springs Cross Country Park.
The WBAL finals were held last week and Niki Iyer, grade 12, won the third title of her high school career. She heads into CCS as one of the favorites for a championship. Lilia Gonzales, grade 10, also earned a spot at CCS with her qualifying time. The CCS championships will be held this Saturday at Crystal Springs Cross Country Course.
Football
The football team fought hard on Homecoming night, but fell to Stellar Prep 42-7. Even with the loss, the Eagles qualified for the NCS playoffs for just the third time in school history. Harker will take on Moreau Catholic on Friday in Hayward. Good luck, Eagles!
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team earned its way into the CCS playoffs and will travel to Carlmont High on Monday. The doubles team of Lizzie Schick, grade 11, and Gina Partridge, grade 9, also qualified for CCS and will play the doubles team from Mitty on Nov. 15 at the Bay Club Courtside.
Throngs of Harker community members headed to the upper school campus on the clear autumn night of Nov. 5 for the 2016 Homecoming celebration, during which the Harker Eagles faced off against the Stellar Prep Thunder. Although Stellar won 42-7, the crowd had a great time as Harker pushed for every yard and, for just the third time in the program’s history, the football team qualified for and will compete in the NCS playoffs. The team travels Friday to Moreau Catholic in Hayward for a first round matchup at 7 p.m.
Prior to the game, attendees enjoyed food from Ms. Carly’s Café, prepared by the Harker kitchen staff, as well as pizza and sodas sold by grade 9 students to raise funds for class events. Students and parents circulated between the tailgating and recreation area near Manzanita Hall, and the food court and Davis Field on the other side of the new theater and gym construction site. A gelato truck also was on hand, serving tasty treats for the duration of the event.
As in years past, a small cluster of bounce houses were set up on the upper school campus, this year in the quad, keeping the younger folks in attendance entertained. “The food and the bouncy houses!” exclaimed Meona Khetrapal, grade 8, when asked what she enjoyed about Homecoming. “You’re never too old!”
Visiting alumni reunited with old friends and teachers at the special alumni area, a yearly tradition. “It’s an opportunity to visit with students and their families in other kinds of circumstances,” said Dan Hudkins, director of information technology service and support. “I love running into the alumni and hearing how their lives are going. I wouldn’t miss it.”
Prior to the game, lower and middle school cheerleaders treated the crowd to an upbeat dance routine, just before grade 2 Harker Eaglets took the field for one Homecoming’s most cherished traditions, the Eaglets Fly-By. The Chris Florio-led Harker Pep Band, positioned in the bleachers at Davis Field, provided music throughout the evening. Onlookers also enjoyed a tug-of-war between the freshmen and sophomores, to determine the third-place winner in this year’s spirit competition. The 10th graders ended up victorious.
Just before kickoff, the Harker Choir, consisting of lower, middle and upper school vocal groups, offered spirited renditions of “The Harker School Song” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The anticipation built to a fever pitch as the Harker Eagles marched along the Gauntlet of Spirit toward Davis Field. As they appeared, the crowd roared its encouragement. The game started off with a bang when Harker scored the first touchdown, but Stellar bent to its task, taking the lead, 14-7, at the half.
Halftime brought more excitement with energetic performances by the Harker cheer squad and varsity dance troupe. The juniors and seniors also faced off in another tug-of-war for the spirit championship, with the juniors winning after a tense contest.
This year’s Homecoming court then took the field, joined by Head of School Chris Nikoloff, who thanked the community for the net that recently went up behind Davis Field’s eastern goal post, preventing “all those Eagles field goals” from going into the construction area. Seniors Ryan Vaughan and Kailee Gifford, who was also place-kicking for the Eagles, were then named as Homecoming king and queen.
The second half was tough, with Stellar scoring on some fine plays and Harker fighting valiantly to stop them. The core crowd remained to the end, cheering every effort by Harker. The weather was great, with just a nip in the air by the end of the game, and it was clear the crowd enjoyed the atmosphere and community at yet another great Harker Homecoming! Go Eagles!
The fall sports season was a huge success! We had more than 300 participants in grades 4-8.
We are very appreciative of all the parental support we received this season. So many parents stepped up to provide snacks and support for the coaches. We also appreciate the hard work and dedication of our athletes and coaches.
Here are the final West Bay Athletic League standings, team records and award winners for the lower and middle school fall sports teams.
Varsity A (Grade 8) Flag Football: Finished in fourth place in the WBAL at 2-6, 6-8 overall. Team awards went to Srinath Somasundaram (MVP), Nicholas Coulter and Marcus Anderson (Eagle), and Rosh Roy (Coaches).
Varsity B (Grade 7) Flag Football: Finished in fourth place in the WBAL at 3-3, 4-7-1 overall. Team awards went to Richard Amarillas (Eagle), Dezi Johnson and Marcus Page (Coaches).
Junior Varsity A (Grade 6) Flag Football: Finished in third place in the WBAL at 2-4, 4-4 overall. Team awards went to Rohan Gorti (MVP), Drake Piscione (Eagle), and Dylan Parikh and Tyler Beede (Coaches).
Junior Varsity B (Grade 5) Flag Football: Finished in fifth place in the WBAL at 1-4. Team awards went to Om Tandon (MVP), Kai Stinson (Eagle) and Vivek Nayyar (Coaches).
Intramural (Grade 4) Flag Football: Team awards went Liam Jeffers (MVP), Nathan Wilcox (Eagle) and Ori Muramatsu (Coaches).
Varsity A (Grade 7-8) Softball: Finished in a three-way tie for first place in the WBAL at 5-1, 6-1 overall. Team awards went to Alaina Valdez, grade 8, and Hunter Hernandez, grade 8 (MVP) and Renee Page, grade 8 (Eagle).
Junior Varsity A (Grade 4-6) Softball: Finished in first place in the WBAL at 5-1, 6-1 overall. Team awards went to Saira Ramakrishnan, grade 4 (MVP), Katelyn Abellera, grade 6 (Eagle) and Ariya Reddy, grade 6 (Coaches).
Intramural (Grade 4-5) Softball: Team awards went to Charlotte Folk, grade 4 (MVP), Elisa Grothe, grade 4 (Eagle) and Cecilia Yang, grade 5 (Coaches).
MS cross country: Team awards went to Anna Weirich, grade 8 (Top Runner), Arya Maheshwari, grade 8, and Bayden Yazalina, grade 8 (MVP), Olivia Guo, grade 8, and James Pflaging, grade 8 (Eagle) and Arianna Martinelli, grade 6, and Clarice Wang, grade 7 (Coaches).
First place finishers:
Grade 7-8 boys team (Seal Point Meet): Arya Maheshwari, Bayden Yazalina, Ray Wang and James Pflaging, all grade 8; and Saurav Tewari, grade 7,
Grade 8 boys team (Hallmark Park Meet): Arya Maheshwari, Bayden Yazalina, Ray Wang and James Pflaging, all grade 8.
Anna Weirich, grade 8 (Rolling Hills Meet, John D. Morgan Park Meet).
Grade 7-8 boys team (Harker Meet): Arya Maheshwari, Bayden Yazalina, Ray Wang and James Pflaging, all grade 8; and Dawson Chen, grade 7.
Grade 6 boys team (Harker Meet): Rupert Chen, Siddharth Selvakumar, Markus Zhang, Bora Koyuncuoglu.
Rupert Chen, grade 6 (Harker Meet).
LS swimming: Team awards went to Sriteja Kataru, grade 4, and Keren Eisenberg, grade 4 (Eagle), and Andrew Au, grade 5, and Shayla He, grade 5 (Coaches).
MS swimming: Team awards went to William Zhao, grade 7, and Chloe Affaki, grade 8 (Eagle) and Evan Bourke, grade 8, and Simren Kochhar, grade 7 (Coaches).
Last Friday was Teacher Appreciation Night as the Eagles took on the St. Francis Watsonville Sharks. The teachers, who were honored before the game, were treated to an impressive 49-27 Harker victory that included lots of big numbers from the Eagles. Nate Kelly, grade 11, threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for two more touchdowns; Will Park, grade 12, rushed for 165 yards and a touchdown; Angel Cervantes, grade 11, caught five passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns, also adding a rushing touchdown; Anthony Contreras, grade 11, caught two passes for 128 yards and a touchdown; James Pauli, grade 11, was once again the leader on defense as he led the team with 14 tackles; and Kailee Gifford, grade 12, was a perfect seven for seven on PATs. Check out some of the highlights from the game: http://www.hudl.com/video/2/51617/580bf6e2f6170839b000ff5d
The Eagles are now 4-4 on the year and will close out the regular season on Nov. 5 with their Homecoming Night and Senior Night matchup with Stellar Prep.
Girls Golf
Last week, the girls golf team defeated Sacred Heart Prep behind Katherine Zhu, grade 11, who earned medalist honors shooting a 37. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to league rival Castilleja by just two strokes. Zhu once again led the Eagles as she shot a 2-under 32. This Wednesday, Harker will compete in the WBAL Championships at Poplar Creek Golf Course.
Cross Country
The Eagles had a great showing at the second WBAL meet of the year at Baylands Park. All seven varsity boys runners completed the 3.1 mile course in under 20 minutes. Niki Iyer, grade 12, continued her dominance as she posted the fifth-fastest course time ever as she won the girls varsity division, beating the second place runner by 20 seconds. The WBAL Championships will be held on Nov. 4 at Crystal Springs Cross Country Park.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team lost to Castilleja last week 4-3. The Eagles finish up the regular season this week with matches against Pinewood on Tuesday and Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team dropped two league matches last week to bring its regular season record to 6-16 on the year. The Eagles lost to Homestead 4-0 and Lynbrook 6-1. The SCVAL tournament begins this week with the Eagles taking on Saratoga in the first round on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Homestead High.
Boys Water Polo
The red hot boys water polo team cooled off a bit at the end of the regular season, falling 11-9 to Lynbrook, followed by a 1-2 showing at the Ron Freeman Memorial Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles are now 16-7 heading in to their SCVAL tournament matchup with Milpitas on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Cupertino High.
Girls Volleyball
The girls varsity volleyball team defeated Mercy San Francisco in three games last week, followed by a 1-4 record at the Notre Dame Belmont Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles finish up their season this week with a trip to Notre Dame Belmont on Tuesday and Senior Night on Thursday versus Notre Dame San Jose at 5:45 p.m.
In early October, two Harker fifth graders traveled to Philadelphia to compete in the Junior Championship Squash Tournament. Riya Navani, grade 5, won the girls U11 championship and Varun Fuloria, grade 5, came in sixth. Navani and Fuloria were among the top 32 squash players from 16 states to compete in divisions ranging from U11 through U19. Congratulations, Riya and Varun!
The boys varsity water polo team continues to dominate the Santa Clara Valley El Camino league as it picked up back-to-back 20-4 victories over Cupertino and Milpitas last week. The Eagles travel to Lynbrook this Thursday to try to avenge their only league loss of the season, followed by the Ron Freeman Memorial Tournament over the weekend.
Girls Golf
The girls varsity golf team picked up two big league wins last week, defeating Notre Dame-Belmont and Mercy Burlingame. At 8-2, the Eagles sit just one game behind first place Menlo in the WBAL standings. This week, the ladies take on Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday and Castilleja on Wednesday, before league championships begin next week.
Girls Tennis
Last week, the girls tennis team dropped a tough 6-1 match to Menlo. Bringing home the only victory of the day was Rachel Broweleit, grade 9, playing No. 1 singles. Later in the week, the Eagles took down Crystal Springs 5-2 behind big performances from Broweleit, Srivani Vegesna, grade 9, Amanda Cheung, grade 9, and the duo of Connie Miao, grade 12, and Kathleen Cheng, grade 11. The Eagles face off with Castilleja on Tuesday.
Football
The Eagles traveled to Modesto last Friday and came away with a huge 41-0 win over Big Valley Christian. Aaron Smith, grade 10, scored two touchdowns in his first varsity game. Anthony Contreras, grade 11, continued his impressive season as he scored on an interception return and a kickoff return. Nate Kelly, grade 11, and Will Park, grade 12, each scored as well. The Eagles face off with St. Francis-Watsonville this Friday at 7 p.m. on Davis Field for Teacher Appreciation Night.
Girls Volleyball
The girls varsity volleyball team dropped two league matches last week. The Eagles fell to Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep, both in three sets. The Eagles host Mercy San Francisco on Tuesday and will compete in the Notre Dame Belmont tournament this weekend.
Girls Water Polo
Last week, the girls water polo fell to Wilcox High 11-8, but Meghana Karinthi, grade 11, scored four goals in the loss. Later in the week, the Eagles put together a great team effort to defeat Milpitas 17-1. This week, the Eagles travel to Homestead on Tuesday and Lynbrook on Thursday before starting the SCVAL Tournament next week.
Cross Country
The cross country team travels to Baylands Park this Thursday to compete at the second WBAL meet of the year. The Eagles are off next week, then compete in the league championships in early November.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Read the full Eagle Report in Harker News, with team statistics, and player and coach interviews, at http://wp.me/pOeLQ-7ER.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball started off the season losing eight of its first 10 nonleague games, but dramatically turned things around when they started league play, winning a league title with a perfect 10-0 record and qualifying for CCS. All told, they ended their season with a 16-12 record.
Boys Tennis
It was an exciting year for the boys tennis program. Competing at the California Tennis Classic in Fresno early in the season, the Eagles went 1-2, but there was more to this weekend than just numbers. After winning the division 4 championship in the tournament last year, the Eagles were moved up two divisions to face some of the best teams in the state. Their sole victory came against defending section champ Clovis West, proving that they could play with the big boys. The team then finished the season in third place in the WBAL, which produced a CCS berth. Their season ended in the next round of CCS as Gunn High defeated Harker 5-2.
Swimming
The 2016 swim season was full of amazing individual and team achievements, and led to many All-League selections. In addition to their prowess in the pool, both the boys and girls swim teams were CCS scholastic champions with a 3.5441 and 3.8451 GPA, respectively. “We had a very committed core who were encouraged by their improvements,” said coach Tania Chadwick. “By the end of the season it was great to see swimmers come together showing their team unity and camaraderie as they supported each other during practice and meets.”
Softball
The Harker softball team started the year on fire as it went 4-0 in its first four games, winning each game by an average of nine runs! The Eagles would finish the season tied for fourth in the WBAL with a 6-10 overall record. Read the full Eagle Report in Harker News, with team statistics and player and coach interviews, at http://wp.me/pOeLQ-7ER.
Girls Lacrosse
It was a tough season for the girls lacrosse team as team members played their hearts out through a 2-18 season. In addition to being a CCS scholastic champion, leading all CCS girls lacrosse teams with a 3.9098 GPA, the team also received many All-League awards.
Baseball
The varsity baseball team ended its season with a 9-13 record, but the future looks promising for this team. With only three graduating seniors on a 19-man roster, a solid core of players will return next year.
“Even though we will only have one senior next year, we’ll have eight to nine juniors, all of whom will be beginning their third year on varsity,” said coach Mike Delfino. “So, we’re definitely optimistic about the next few years. I am proud of the efforts each of the players put into the season. These guys worked hard and steadily improved as the season went along.”
Boys Golf
What a year for the boys golf team! They were WBAL champs for the third consecutive year and enjoyed a second-straight undefeated season, which included 22 consecutive league wins. They had a second place finish at CCS, third place finish at NorCals, and sixth place at state. Read the full story on the boys golf team.
Track and Field
It was one of the best years in Harker history for the track and field team! Every meet seemed to produce multiple personal and/or school records. At the WBAL finals, the Eagles had 14 season bests, and five athletes earned trips to the CCS championships. Junior Niki Iyer had a particularly stellar season; read more about Iyer, here!
Lower, Middle School Spring Athletes Finish Strong
By Theresa “Smitty” Smith
It was another great season for lower and middle school athletes!
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Diana Melendez and Stephanie Coleman, finished as league champs in the WBAL with a record of 7-1. Team awards went to Emily Cheng, grade 8 (Eagle), and Julia Yusupov, grade 7, and Lauren Beede, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B team, coached by Xiaofeng Foret, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 5-2. Team awards went to Rachel Abellera, grade 8 (MVP), Hannah Grannis, grade 7 (Eagle) and Anvitha Tummala, grade 7 (Coaches).
VB2 (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B2 team, coached by Josh Miller, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a record of 3-4. Team awards went to Anu Selvaraj, grade 8 (MVP), Aria Wong, grade 7 (Eagle) and Ayla Tanurhan, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Tina Mai, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Tara Ozdemir (MVP), Leyla Artun (Eagle) and Sarah Leafstrand (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B6 team, coached by Sarah Bell, finished as league champs in the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0. Team awards went to Michelle Liu (MVP), Emily Tan (Eagle) and Elizabeth Shchegrov (Coaches).
JVB1 (Grade 5) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B1 team, coached by Ellie Pereria, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-1. Team awards went to Claire Chen (MVP), Shea Bryden (Eagle) and Lexi Nishimura (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 4) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B2 team, coached by Sydney Voss, finished in ninth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-6. Team awards went to Kate Grannis (MVP), Margaret Cartee (Eagle) and Masha Velikhovskaya (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Volleyball: Team awards went to Emily McCartney and Maggie Yan, both grade 4 (Eagle), and Emma Cai, Ceren Erdogan and Cecilia Yang, all grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Maria Maldonado.
VA (Grade 8) Boys Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished as league champs in the ADAL with an undefeated record of 8-0 and an overall record of 9-0. Team awards went to Jeffrey Kwan (MVP), Vedanth Sundaram (Eagle) and Vance Hirota (Coaches).
JVA (Grades 6-7) Boys Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished in second place in the ADAL with a record of 6-2. Team awards went to Marcus Page, grade 6 (MVP), Avery Young, grade 7 (Eagle) and Sujith Pakala, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 7-8) Baseball: The Varsity A team, coached by Jeff Paull and Matt Arensberg, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 1-4 and an overall record of 2-4. Team awards went to Nicholas Coulter (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and John Lynch (Coaches), all grade 7.
JVA (Grades 6-7) Baseball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich and Richard Amarillas, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-3-1 and an overall record of 0-5-1. Team awards went to Richard Amarillas, grade 6 (MVP), Chirag Kaushik, grade 6 (Eagle) and George Wehner, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVB (Grades 4-5) Baseball: The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Dan Pringle, Randy LeGris and Kristian Tiopo, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Frederick Hoch, grade 5 (MVP), Tyler Beede, grade 5 (Eagle), and Wyatt Cote, grade 5, and Ashwin Kuppahally, grade 4 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Water Polo: The Varsity A team, coached by Ted Ujifusa and Allie Lamb, finished with a WBAL record of 0-5 and an overall record of 1-6. Team awards went to Cassandra Ruedy, grade 8, and Bayden Yazalina, grade 7 (MVP), Anna Arnaudova, grade 7 (Eagle) and Chloe Affaki, grade 7 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity A team, coached by JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as league champs and tournament champs of the WBAL with a record of 7-0. The team also finished as league champs of the MTP with a record of 4-0. In the MTP playoffs, Harker lost 5-4 to Kennedy in the finals. The Eagles finished the season with an impressive 13-1 record. Team awards went to Mihir Sharma and Ramanand Vegesna (MVP), Simar Bajaj and Gina Partridge (Eagle), and Jack Hansen, Bryan Wang and Rachel Broweleit (Coaches), all grade 8.
VB (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity B team, coached by Matt McGee, JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as league champs and tournament champs of the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0 and an overall record of 8-0. Team awards went to Fonda Hu, grade 7, and Shika Tseitlin, grade 6 (MVP), Dawson Chen, grade 6 (Eagle), and Alexander Liou and Dhruv Saoji, both grade 6 (Coaches).
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Alumna Shatters Records at Pepperdine
It has been a very good year for Izzy Connell ’13! After a break from track while she spent her sophomore year abroad in Florence, Italy, Connell returned as a junior this year to set three Pepperdine University records in indoor track (60-, 200- and 4×400-meter relay) and four school records in outdoor track (100-, 200-, 400- and 4×400-meter relay). Connell actually broke her own record in the 200 three times throughout the season!
“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t focused on the records,” said Connell. “I concentrated on achieving my own goal times in specific events and breaking records was just icing on the cake.” This is the school’s first year competing in indoor track, and Connell had the unique experience of traveling to Arizona with her teammates to race against collegiate and professional runners.
“Racing in between professional women was intimidating but the competition made me faster,” she recalled. Connell, who is studying psychology, has been named a scholar-athlete both seasons that she has competed at Pepperdine. Her secret to success is managing her time well.
“I never procrastinate because that just makes things worse in the long run,” Connell said. “Being a student athlete has definitely taught me to be disciplined when it comes to my studies.” Connell ran varsity track all four years at Harker, qualifying for CCS every year. She also set school records in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 runs and the 4×400 relay, all of which still stand, except the 800, which was broken by Niki Iyer, grade 11.
Niki Iyer Continues Stellar Career
In her time at Harker, Niki Iyer, grade 11, has accomplished a lot. The distance runner has multiple first team and league MVP awards; she holds the Harker record in the 800-meter, the 1600 and the 3200; she has been a top three CCS finisher in cross country and a top five CCS finisher in the 3200 for the past three seasons, with back to back fifth place finishes at the state cross country finals; she briefly held the top high school 3200 time in the country earlier this year; and, most recently, she was the 2016 CCS champ in the 3200 that led to a third place finish at the state finals.
The week before CCS, Iyer was ranked eighth in the state in the 3200, but according to coach Scott Chisam, “She has not pushed a fast race since early April … she will go all out this Friday.” And go all out she did, taking home a CCS championship, outrunning the next runner by 2.5 seconds and earning a trip to the state finals. At state, Iyer ran an incredible race, finishing third, less than a second behind the second place finisher.
“It’s been such a fun experience this past season, because I was blessed by being healthy,” said Iyer. “I’ve never had a full season where I’ve been injury-free, so it was pretty awesome to go out there and actually be able to perform to the best of my ability.” Heading into her senior year, Iyer hopes to leave Harker with a lasting impression of who she is as an athlete.
“I feel like the legacy I’d like to leave is not just one of fanfare and athletic accomplishments, but one in which people remember me as an athlete who just loved the sport,” she said.