Football is 6-1 overall after the team’s 63-0 win at Turlock Christian on Friday night. Check out the game stats at http://www.maxpreps.com/games/football-fall-15/harker-vs-turlock-christian/10-16-2015-bVpdBRqUtkCdD_BtMPNJDA.htm. The squad will host a tough St. Vincent de Paul team at home this Friday on Teacher/Faculty Appreciation Night. The game starts at 7 p.m. (come early for the recognition ceremony at 6:45 p.m.). This is also an important league game, so come out and support the team!
Cross Country
Junior Niki Iyer again cruised to a league cross country victory last Thursday at Baylands Park as the young girls team placed a very respectable third overall. Senior Alex Dellar ran her season’s best, while seniors Lev Sepetov, Jack Rothschild and Connor O’Neill led the varsity boys team, with Sepetov earning top Harker boys honors. The team races tomorrow in its final competition before the league championships.
Golf
The girls golf team defeated Notre Dame last week and lost a close one to Sacred Heart. The team faced Mercy yesterday and will play Castilleja tomorrow afternoon at Palo Alto Hills Country Club.
Tennis
Menlo had to really work to beat our girls tennis team last week. Though we lost 6-1, with freshman Pamela Duke defeating Menlo’s No. 1 player, all matches were very competitive. The girls then defeated Pinewood 7-0 Thursday to improve to 8-2 overall.
Volleyball
Girls volleyball improved to 14-7 (5-0 in league) after its victory at Mercy-Burlingame. Join us for a big game against Menlo this Thursday night at 5:45 p.m. at Blackford!
Water Polo
Water polo’s Senior Day is Thursday! The boys will play at about 4:15 p.m. and the girls will play at about 6:30 p.m.
Jerrica Liao, grade 10, took fifth place at the USA Fencing North American Cup tournament in Richmond, Va., this past weekend! There were 156 entries in the Women’s Foil Cadet (age 17 and under) field. Liao powered through pools, winning all her bouts with a +12 indicator, seeding 11th into the tableau. She then cruised through her first elimination bout, but had a tough one against the 75-seed, scraping by 4-3 (bouts go to 15 touches or 9 minutes of fencing time). Climbing the tableau, she next pushed past a Ukrainian fencer 10-9, crushed her next opponent to make the top eight 15-7 and finally lost to the eventual silver medalist. Liao reached a serious milestone in any fencer’s career in this event, earning her “A” rating. Most hearty congratulations to this fine swordswoman, a credit to her club, Silicon Valley Fencing Center.
A special shout out to Vivian Wang, grade 10, named Swimmer of the Year/Age Group Girls by Pacific Swimming, the third largest of USA Swimming’s 59 regional associations made up of 120 swim clubs and more than 16,000 swimmers. Every year, the most outstanding and accomplished swimmers in each age group for girls and the boys are nominated for the awards. Way to go Vivian!
Cross Country
Niki Iyer, grade 11, broke her own school record on the famed Crystal Springs course Saturday. Her time is the second best in CCS Division 4 this season. Freshmen Lilia Gonzales and Alycia Cary led the JV girls to a sixth place team finish against 30 teams. Senior Connor O’Neill ran the fastest race for the varsity boys with a time of 18:46 on the hilly 2.95-mile course. He improved by an astounding 3 minutes over last year. Michael Wang, grade 9, broke 21:00 to lead the JV boys. The teams run Thursday at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale in their second league meet.
Golf
Girls golf made history by shooting Harker’s best score of 189 in back-to-back matches against Castilleja and Menlo, losing by 2 to the Gators and beating the Knights by 4 at Los Lagos last week. The Eagles were paced by sophomore Katherine Zhu’s 29 and 31, tying alumnus Maverick McNealy’s record of 5-under in one round. Seniors Ashley Zhong and Daphne Liang also had their career bests of 35 and 38. Girls golf is now in second place in league. Please congratulate the team on a record-breaking performance.
Volleyball
Girls volleyball defeated last year’s Division 1 state runner-up Pitman en route to the finals of the Notre Dame-Belmont Tournament Saturday. The girls lost to the host school in the final match but went 4-1 on the day in the high-level tournament. Seniors Jackie Chen, Shannon Richardson and Doreene Kang led the Eagles offensively. The girls have a big home match on Oct. 22 vs. Menlo that could have huge league implications, so come out and support the team!
Heartiest congrats to Theresa “Smitty” Smith, U.S. women’s volleyball coach, for gaining her 300th career win as a volleyball coach at this event – a huge milestone! A thousand hurrahs for her dedication to the sport!
Football
Football won its fifth game in a row by defeating Emery in Oakland Saturday 34-12 to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. Freshman Demonte Aleem scored two touchdowns, senior Johnathon Keller, and sophomores Angel Cervantes and Anthony Contreras scored the others. The boys travel to Turlock Christian Friday for a non-league game.
Tennis
The girls tennis team won matches over Sacred Heart, Milpitas and Castilleja last week to improve to 7-1 overall. The girls face state powerhouse Menlo today at Menlo.
Water Polo
Every Eagle recorded a goal for the girls water polo team in their 19-3 win over Milpitas last week. Freshman Samantha Yanovsky led the way with four goals, while fellow freshmen Sophia Angus and Nicole Selvaggio recorded their first high school goals. Freshman Lily Wancewicz led the defense with five saves in goal. The boys team defeated Milpitas and lost to Saratoga last week, and went 2-2 in the Polofest held at Harker Friday and Saturday. The boys are now 8-7 overall. Both the boys and girls teams travel to Homestead today and host Cupertino Thursday.
A special shout out to Vivian Wang, grade 10, named Swimmer of the Year/Age Group Girls by Pacific Swimming, the third largest of USA Swimming’s 59 regional associations made up of 120 swim clubs and more than 16,000 swimmers. Every year, the most outstanding and accomplished swimmers in each age group for girls and the boys are nominated for the awards. Way to go Vivian!
Cross Country
Niki Iyer, grade 11, broke her own school record on the famed Crystal Springs course Saturday. Her time is the second best in CCS Division 4 this season. Freshmen Lilia Gonzales and Alycia Cary led the JV girls to a sixth place team finish against 30 teams. Senior Connor O’Neill ran the fastest race for the varsity boys with a time of 18:46 on the hilly 2.95-mile course. He improved by an astounding 3 minutes over last year. Michael Wang, grade 9, broke 21:00 to lead the JV boys. The teams run Thursday at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale in their second league meet.
Golf
Girls golf made history by shooting Harker’s best score of 189 in back-to-back matches against Castilleja and Menlo, losing by 2 to the Gators and beating the Knights by 4 at Los Lagos last week. The Eagles were paced by sophomore Katherine Zhu’s 29 and 31, tying alumnus Maverick McNealy’s record of 5-under in one round. Seniors Ashley Zhong and Daphne Liang also had their career bests of 35 and 38. Girls golf is now in second place in league. Please congratulate the team on a record-breaking performance.
Volleyball
Girls volleyball defeated last year’s Division 1 state runner-up Pitman en route to the finals of the Notre Dame-Belmont Tournament Saturday. The girls lost to the host school in the final match but went 4-1 on the day in the high-level tournament. Seniors Jackie Chen, Shannon Richardson and Doreene Kang led the Eagles offensively. The girls have a big home match on Oct. 22 vs. Menlo that could have huge league implications, so come out and support the team!
Heartiest congrats to Theresa “Smitty” Smith, U.S. women’s volleyball coach, for gaining her 300th career win as a volleyball coach at this event – a huge milestone! A thousand hurrahs for her dedication to the sport!
Football
Football won its fifth game in a row by defeating Emery in Oakland Saturday 34-12 to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. Freshman Demonte Aleem scored two touchdowns, senior Johnathon Keller, and sophomores Angel Cervantes and Anthony Contreras scored the others. The boys travel to Turlock Christian Friday for a non-league game.
Tennis
The girls tennis team won matches over Sacred Heart, Milpitas and Castilleja last week to improve to 7-1 overall. The girls face state powerhouse Menlo today at Menlo.
Water Polo
Every Eagle recorded a goal for the girls water polo team in their 19-3 win over Milpitas last week. Freshman Samantha Yanovsky led the way with four goals, while fellow freshmen Sophia Angus and Nicole Selvaggio recorded their first high school goals. Freshman Lily Wancewicz led the defense with five saves in goal. The boys team defeated Milpitas and lost to Saratoga last week, and went 2-2 in the Polofest held at Harker Friday and Saturday. The boys are now 8-7 overall. Both the boys and girls teams travel to Homestead today and host Cupertino Thursday.
A special shout out to Vivian Wang, grade 10, named Swimmer of the Year/Age Group Girls by Pacific Swimming, the third largest of USA Swimming’s 59 regional associations made up of 120 swim clubs and more than 16,000 swimmers. Every year, the most outstanding and accomplished swimmers in each age group for girls and the boys are nominated for the awards. Way to go Vivian!
Cross Country
Niki Iyer, grade 11, broke her own school record on the famed Crystal Springs course Saturday. Her time is the second best in CCS Division 4 this season. Freshmen Lilia Gonzales and Alycia Cary led the JV girls to a sixth place team finish against 30 teams. Senior Connor O’Neill ran the fastest race for the varsity boys with a time of 18:46 on the hilly 2.95-mile course. He improved by an astounding 3 minutes over last year. Michael Wang, grade 9, broke 21:00 to lead the JV boys. The teams run Thursday at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale in their second league meet.
Golf
Girls golf made history by shooting Harker’s best score of 189 in back-to-back matches against Castilleja and Menlo, losing by 2 to the Gators and beating the Knights by 4 at Los Lagos last week. The Eagles were paced by sophomore Katherine Zhu’s 29 and 31, tying alumnus Maverick McNealy’s record of 5-under in one round. Seniors Ashley Zhong and Daphne Liang also had their career bests of 35 and 38. Girls golf is now in second place in league. Please congratulate the team on a record-breaking performance.
Volleyball
Girls volleyball defeated last year’s Division 1 state runner-up Pitman en route to the finals of the Notre Dame-Belmont Tournament Saturday. The girls lost to the host school in the final match but went 4-1 on the day in the high-level tournament. Seniors Jackie Chen, Shannon Richardson and Doreene Kang led the Eagles offensively. The girls have a big home match on Oct. 22 vs. Menlo that could have huge league implications, so come out and support the team!
Heartiest congrats to Theresa “Smitty” Smith, U.S. women’s volleyball coach, for gaining her 300th career win as a volleyball coach at this event – a huge milestone! A thousand hurrahs for her dedication to the sport!
Football
Football won its fifth game in a row by defeating Emery in Oakland Saturday 34-12 to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. Freshman Demonte Aleem scored two touchdowns, senior Johnathon Keller, and sophomores Angel Cervantes and Anthony Contreras scored the others. The boys travel to Turlock Christian Friday for a non-league game.
Tennis
The girls tennis team won matches over Sacred Heart, Milpitas and Castilleja last week to improve to 7-1 overall. The girls face state powerhouse Menlo today at Menlo.
Water Polo
Every Eagle recorded a goal for the girls water polo team in their 19-3 win over Milpitas last week. Freshman Samantha Yanovsky led the way with four goals, while fellow freshmen Sophia Angus and Nicole Selvaggio recorded their first high school goals. Freshman Lily Wancewicz led the defense with five saves in goal. The boys team defeated Milpitas and lost to Saratoga last week, and went 2-2 in the Polofest held at Harker Friday and Saturday. The boys are now 8-7 overall. Both the boys and girls teams travel to Homestead today and host Cupertino Thursday.
Football It was an outstanding Homecoming night on Saturday, with varsity football defeating Santa Cruz 23-13 – in front of what some say was the largest crowd to witness a Harker football game on Davis Field. Freshman Demonte Aleem scored two touchdowns, while sophomore Anthony Contreras scored from a pass by classmate Nate Kelly. Senior Oisin Coveney was perfect on extra points as well. The team is now an impressive 4-1 as it travels to Oakland Saturday to face Emery High School in its second league match of the season.
Volleyball Your 15th ranked girls varsity volleyball team had an outstanding victory last week at Menlo 32-30, 25-20 and 25-23 to take sole possession of first place in league. Junior Rachel Cheng led defensively with 37 digs and senior Shannon Richardson had 18 kills. The girls travel to Notre Dame today at 5:45 p.m. and host Mercy Thursday at 5:45 p.m. Come cheer on your high-flying Eagles!!
Tennis The girls varsity tennis team soundly defeated Pinewood and Crystal Springs last week, and had a solid showing in a losing effort to Bishop O’Dowd at the prestigious Battle of the Bay Tournament. The girls bounced back with a 5-2 victory over Tamalpais to improve to 4-1 overall. They have three matches this week, with a tough matchup against Sacred Heart Prep today at 4 p.m. at the Santa Clara Tennis Center. Come out and support the team!
Cross Country Varsity girls cross country placed second overall at their first league meet last week with junior Niki Iyer taking first place individually and senior Alex Dellar placing 12th. Key contributors were our four freshman stars: Anika Rajamani, Lilia Gonzales, Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar. The top three cross country boys, al seniors, made major improvements from a year ago. Connor O’Neill improved by 2:47, Jack Rothschild dropped 54 seconds and Lev Sepetov ran 1:21 faster than last year’s run at San Bruno Mountain. The teams compete Saturday at Crystal Springs.
Water Polo Girls water polo lost to Santa Clara last week but earned its second win of the season with a 6-4 victory over Wilcox. The boys team defeated Lynbrook and Santa Clara last week to improve to 5-4 overall. Both boys and girls host Milpitas today at the Singh Aquatic Center. The girls varsity team plays at 4:30 p.m., while the boys play at 6:45 p.m.
Golf Girls golf had victories over Sacred Heart Prep and Mercy last week to improve to 3-1 overall.
A blustery early autumn evening set the stage for Harker’s 2015 Homecoming celebration, and the football team turned it into a great night with a 23-13 hard-fought win. This year’s Homecoming saw people from across the Harker community gather at the upper school campus to cheer on the Harker Eagles football squad as it faced off against Santa Cruz at Davis Field. In addition to the game, Homecoming offered a chance for Harker community members – be they students, parents, alumni, faculty or staff – to enjoy a fun evening of socializing and reminiscing.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the whole community to get together,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “From preschool to the high school, everyone can come together as one community, to support our students in the game, but also in the various ways that they’re participating, whether it’s musically or through cheer or selling pizza.”
Attendees began arriving in droves as early as two hours before the 7 p.m. kickoff, enjoying a variety of foods from Ms. Carley’s Café and a delicious array prepared by the Harker kitchens – the staff had been at work since 7 a.m. preparing for the big event – alongside pizza and candy sold by Harker students. Lower, middle and upper school campuses had tables filled with confections and chips for parents and students to snack on, while Harker Alumni had a special area with white linen and great food, which enjoyed a steady stream of visitors. “It’s really exciting, and everyone’s having fun,” said Elizabeth Yang, grade 9, who was selling candy to raise funds for her class.
Prior to the game, the early arrivals enjoyed special performances by Harker’s junior cheerleaders and the time-honored Eaglets Fly-By. Just before the game, several of Harker’s vocal groups, directed by lower school performing arts teacher Carena Montany, sang “The Harker School Song” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The Harker School Orchestra supplied its usual accompaniment and the varsity cheerleaders maintained a steady blast of cheerful encouragement from the sidelines.
The first half of the game was hotly contested, with Santa Cruz reaching the endzone early, followed by a strong answer from Harker, which scored a safety and a touchdown to take a 9-6 lead at halftime.
During the halftime, Harker’s cheer squad and varsity dancers gave energetic, crowd-pleasing performances. Shortly after, this year’s homecoming court took the field, with seniors Edward Sheu and Stephanie Huang named the 2015 Homecoming King and Queen.
In the second half, both teams pushed hard. Santa Cruz took back the lead to make it 13-9. Push literally came to shove in the fourth quarter as each team pushed their luck on fourth-down situations trying to hang on to the ball to get a drive going. Finally, with 10:40 remaining in the game, Harker marched up the field and added 7 to make it 16-13. For the next eight minutes the crowd was on the edge of their seats knowing if Santa Cruz found the right gap the score would reverse, again.
Indeed, the ball changed hands several times, but neither team was able to capitalize until very late in the fourth quarter when Harker put paid to the match with a great run to make it 23-13 with less than two minutes left. Harker D was fired up and bottled up Santa Cruz, nailing the lid on the win. Great night out with a big, lively crowd! Check Facebook and Instagram for photos and video clips from the game, and search on #harkerhomecoming in both sites for a gallery of photos and clips. (Feel free to hashtag your own homecoming photos to add to the gallery!) This story will be updated with a photo gallery as well on Monday. Huge congrats to the football team including coaching, training and other support staff for a great, well-fought game! Go Eagles!
Football Varsity football defeated Gunn High School 56-0 under the lights of Davis Field Friday to improve to 3-1 overall. Highlights included three touchdowns from Angel Cervantes, grade 10; two from Demonte Aleem, grade 9; one from Nate Kelly, grade 10; and a receiving touchdown by Anthony Contreras, grade 10. Contreras also led defensively with seven tackles. Nikhil Ramgiri and Miles DeWitt, both grade 12, each had interceptions, and kicker Oisin Coveney, grade 12, was a perfect 8-for-8 on extra points. Come on out Saturday night for Homecoming vs. Santa Cruz!
Cross Country Niki Iyer, grade 11, placed ninth out of 215 runners in the elite 5K varsity girls race at Stanford on Saturday. She posted the third-fastest time of all Central Coast Section athletes among the 1,200 female runners from throughout the Western United States.
Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, led the frosh-soph girls team to a fifth-place team finish at the Ram Invitational at Westmoor. This is the second fifth-place team finish for these young runners in two weeks. Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar, both grade 9, and Akshaya Vemuri, grade 10, rounded out the scoring team.
Peter Connors, grade 10, ran the fastest Eagle time of the day in the sophomore boys race, placing 19th out of 240 runners. He improved by one and a half minutes from his race there a year ago. Connor O’Neill and Jack Rothschild, both grade 12, placed 56th and 59th in the varsity boys run, O’Neill with a two-minute improvement over last year’s race.
Volleyball Girls volleyball continues to play the best teams in our section in close matches. Last week the girls fought hard in losses to very strong Presentation and Valley Christian teams in four games to drop to 5-6 overall.
Water Polo Boys water polo lost to Homestead last week 13-10 but responded with a 15-6 victory over Cupertino Thursday to improve to 3-4 overall.
The girls water polo team earned its first victory of the season with a 7-6 win over Salinas at the Watsonville Tournament Saturday. Highlights included goalie Helena Dworak, grade 12, scoring her first half-court goal, and Abby Wisdom and Samantha Yanovsky, both grade 9, scoring their first high school goals.
Golf Girls golf lost by just three strokes to Menlo last week but rebounded the next day with a 23-stroke victory over Notre Dame-San Jose. The team has been led by Katherine Zhu, grade 10, Daphne Liang, grade 12, and Ashley Zhong, grade 12.
The Harker girls golf team placed sixth in a stacked field at the Helen Lengfeld Tournament, finishing ahead of Central Coast Section powerhouses Gunn, Palo Alto, Mitty, Presentation and Menlo. The Eagles were paced by sophomore Katherine Zhu’s 1-under-par 70; she tied for first place with one eagle and four birdies. Ashley Zhong, grade 12, contributed with a solid round of 80 and classmate Daphne Liang with an 89. The lady linksters open league with a highly anticipated match against defending co-champion Menlo today at Menlo Country Club, followed by Notre Dame tomorrow.
Varsity football earned its second victory of the season with a 40-6 league win over California School of the Deaf. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, had two touchdowns rushing and one on reception while racking up 117 yards running on seven attempts. Johnathon Keller, grade 12, had two touchdowns and Anthony Contreras, grade 10, added another. Quarterback Nate Kelly, grade 10, threw for 118 yards while Miles DeWitt, grade 12, led defensively with five tackles. Support the team under the lights of Davis Field this Friday night vs. Gunn High School at 7 p.m.!
Varsity and JV girls volleyball defeated Westmont High School last week in straight games. Support the team this week as it continues to take on the top teams in CCS. Presentation visits Blackford tomorrow, while another ranked team, Valley Christian, visits Thursday as the girls try to improve on their 5-4 record. JV plays at 4 p.m. and varsity plays at 5:30 p.m. Freshman girls had two victories last week to improve to 2-1 overall.
Boys water polo lost a close game Thursday at Saratoga High 11-10 and the girls squad lost at Monta Vista. Support the teams tomorrow against Homestead at the Singh Aquatic Center starting at 4:30 p.m.
Girls tennis opens the season tomorrow against Notre Dame-Belmont at the Santa Clara Tennis Center at 4 p.m. Wish them well!
Cross Country competes Saturday at the Westmoor Ram Invitational while Niki Iyer, grade 11, races at the Stanford Invitational. GO EAGLES!!
Football The varsity football team earned its first victory of the season with a 28-18 win over Del Mar Friday night, avenging a loss to the Dons last year. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, scored two touchdowns with Will Park, grade 11, and Johnathon Keller, grade 12, scoring the others. Angel Cervantes, grade 10, led defensively with six tackles. School spirit was outstanding again! The boys travel to California School for the Deaf Friday night for their league opener.
Cross Country Harker cross country teams ran in Golden Gate Park Saturday and did very well in their season debut. Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, led the frosh/soph girls team to a sixth place finish out of 20 teams and 250 runners. Rajamani placed 13th, Gonzales placed 18th. Peter Connors, grade 10, led the frosh/soph boys with his 30th place finish and top Eagles boys time of the day. Niki Iyer, grade 11, placed fourth in a loaded varsity girls run, finishing as the top Central Coast Section performer in the meet. Connor O’Neill, grade 12, was the leading varsity boys finisher. The teams compete again on Sept. 26.
Volleyball Junior varsity girls volleyball placed eighth out of 32 teams Saturday at the Milpitas Spikefest with victories over Burlingame and Los Gatos. The girls teams opened at home Tuesday vs. St. Francis and gave No. 1 ranked St. Francis all they could handle at Blackford, pushing them to the limit in a five-game loss 19-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-27, 9-15. Our girls never stopped battling against the much taller Lancers, who were increasingly discouraged with the stellar Harker defense and loud supportive Eagles crowd. Harker’s players and coaches should be proud of their strong efforts against one of the top teams in the state. Come watch them again Friday at Blackford against Westmont High, JV at 4:30 p.m., varsity at 5:45 p.m.
Water Polo Boys water polo defeated visiting Fremont High 22-4 yesterday in their home and league opener. The girls team lost 14-6 while the JV boys won 10-5. Boys travel to Saratoga High tomorrow while the girls head to Monta Vista. Go Eagles!