Shrish Dwivedi ’15 finished the golf season, and his career at Harker, with a great round, tying for second place – and missing first place by one stroke – at the California Interscholastic Federation State Golf Championships, yesterday!
Dan Molin, upper school athletic director, added another exciting accolade. “Shrish has gone further than any Harker athlete in any individual sport,” he noted, putting him solidly in Harker record books..
Dwivedi shot a 2-under-par 69 at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, finishing with a birdie. He shot birdies at holes 7, 9, 10, 16 and 18, according to the San Jose Mercury News report.
Dwivedi qualified in May for the NorCal Championships after shooting a 69 to finish one shot off the lead at third, then tied for sixth place at the Northern California Championship at Corral De Tierra Country Club in Salinas to qualify for state. Dwivedi not only is the first Harker male golfer to compete at NorCals, he’s also the first Harker golfer ever to qualify for the state tournament.
“We are all very proud of Shrish and his accomplishments this post season,” said Ie-Chen Cheng, Harker golf coach. “Since his freshman year, Shrish has always been a true student of the game, studying all aspects. His attention to detail, from his preparation leading up to match day, and his on course management is what separates him from others. He studies the course meticulously, then goes and practices the shots he needs to succeed. Over time, as he finetuned his swing, he had to learn how to play with the swing he has that day and grind out the round, whether or not his swing is working for him or not. That is one thing that younger players needs to learn: is to learn how to play with what you have that day and make the best of it.
“This year, we demanded a lot from Shrish in terms of being the team captain. Having him show the underclassmen what it takes to succeed allowed him to lead by example. He shared what worked and what didn’t for him so that others can learn. I think having Shrish lead the charge in the past couple years has allowed him to grow into the all-around golfer that he is today. Shrish had to learn that it’s not just about being concerned with his own game, but to show his teammates why it is more important to make others around him better.”
“He is truly playing at an elite level,” said Molin. “Please congratulate him on an outstanding year and Harker career as he continues to play golf at Duke University next year!”
Niki Iyer, grade 10, saved her best kick for the most important race of her young career, running a fast last lap in the 3200 to move from fourth into third place, a CIF state meet qualifying spot. Having finished fifth last year, she took a strong determination to win to the track Friday night, said coach Scott Chisam. Iyer led all runners through the first mile, 5:14, was passed with two laps to go, but flew by the No. 3 runner with about 200 meters left in the race. She will run Saturday night at the CIF State Track & Field Championships in Clovis.
Honors! Harker coach Scott Chisam was named the 2015 CCS Honor Coach for boys track and field, and both the boys team and girls team received recognition as CCS Scholastic Championship Teams. Coaches Erica Kenworthy and Zach Wohlford accepted the award for the Eagles.
Sports are winding down, but they are not quite over!
Freshman Vivian Wang placed eighth in the 200-yard individual medley at the State Swimming Championship in Fresno Saturday with a time of 2:03.31. She also placed 16th in the 100yd freestyle. Please congratulate Vivian on her outstanding performance and record-setting season!
Sophomore Niki Iyer is the No. 2 seed in the 3200m run going into the CCS track finals this Friday night at San Jose City College. Iyer won her preliminary heat with a time of 10:52.83. Go watch her run this Friday!! Admission is $8 for adults, $4 students. Good luck Niki!!
Sam Boucher, grade 5, and his hockey team, the Santa Clara Blackhawks, wrapped up a six-week “Summerhawks” program, which culminated in a Memorial Day Shootout in Anaheim hosted by the Junior Ducks. Boucher missed the first two games due to illness, but came back to help his PeeWee (12U) team secure second place with a 3-1 record, only losing to the undefeated California Golden Bears of Burbank. The Blackhawks faced the Bears again in the championship game, this time beating them 3-1 to take the title. A banner for the team will be hoisted at their home ice in Fremont. Boucher was also catcher for the Harker JVB baseball team this spring. Go Sam!
Heartiest congratulations to 12 students who have committed to playing their sports when they go on to college! At a lunchtime ceremony for the athletes, parents, coaches and others today, athletic director Dan Molin said, “These students have received admission to their college of choice because of their work ethic, athleticism and their ability to balance their training with the academics of Harker.”
“These are all outstanding student athletes. At high schools across the country, signing ceremonies such as this are performed to recognize these special young people. This group of seniors have represented Harker exceptionally well over the years and we want to thank them and wish them well as the represent their new schools,” Molin concluded.
Here are our 2015 committed athletes:
Jeremiah Anderson (Westmont College, soccer)
Aadyot Bhatnagar (California Institute of Technology, water polo)
Billy Bloomquist (California Institute of Technology, water polo)
Shreya Dixit (Yale University, volleyball)
Shrish Dwivedi (Duke University, golf)
Keanu Forbes (San Jose City College, football)
Aaron Huang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, swimming)
Golf Breaking news: Senior golfer and Duke-bound Shrish Dwivedi, who qualified for the NorCal Championships after shooting a 69 to finish one shot off the lead at third, yesterday tied for sixth place at the Northern California Championship at Corral De Tierra Country Club in Salinas. Dwivedi came in one stroke off the lead, shooting a one-under par 71. Dwivedi not only is the first Harker male golfer to compete at NorCals, he’s also the first Harker golfer ever to qualify for the state tournament, to be held June 3 at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach. He is truly playing at an elite level. Please congratulate him and wish him well on June 3.
The Eagles finished seventh overall in all of CCS and remain among the section’s elite. Congratulations to Harker on a successful league championship season!
Swimming Freshman Vivian Wang placed first in the 200 IM, breaking a Harker school record to earn Harker’s fourth-ever CCS Individual Championship! Wang also broke an Eagles record in the 100m freestyle, where she placed third, and will be moving onto state competition for both events this weekend. The girls varsity 200m freestyle relay team, which includes Wang, freshman Taylor Kohlmann, junior Grace Guan, and junior Angela Huang, finished 14th overall. Huang also placed eighth in the 50m freestyle. Overall, the swim team took 14 swimmers and one diver to CCS this past weekend, including Kohlmann, Guan, Wang, Huang, seniors Delaney Martin, Jackelyn Shen, Aaron Huang, Craig Neubieser and Stacey Chao, juniors Karen Tu and Sandhana Kannan, and sophomores Michael Auld, Jack Farnham and Justin Culpepper.
Track and Field Sophomore Niki Iyer will compete in the CCS track trials this Saturday after placing second in the 1600m and setting a new meet record to win the 3200m. Iyer now ranks fourth in the entire section in the 3200m, and will concentrate exclusively on that race as she prepares for CCS trials at San Jose City College.
The junior varsity girls 400m relay team set a Harker record. With freshmen Grace Koonmen, Gloria Guo and Aria Coalson leading the way, the future looks bright for the Eagles. Koonmen, Guo and Coalson also finished first, second and fourth, respectively, in the junior varsity 200m. Individually, Guo also won the 800m, while Koonmen won the 400m and Coalson placed fourth in the 100m. Overall, the junior varsity girls team placed fourth out of 11 league teams.
For the boys, senior Allen Huang, freshman Anthony Contreras, sophomore Lucas Wang and junior Calvin Kocienda led the varsity 400m relay team to a season-best mark and a third-place finish. Junior Arthur Ye, meanwhile, placed fifth in the shot put while improving over his previous best by more than one foot. Sophomore Davis Dunaway, who has dominated the junior varsity division for two years, completed his reign by winning the pole vault and the 65m hurdles, one week after winning the league triple jump and placing second in the junior varsity long jump.
Varsity-A Boys volleyball beat Jordan this afternoon in the ADAL Championship at Blackford Gym, finishing in first place, the most recent triumph for middle and lower school athletes!
Varsity-A tennis defeated Hillview 7-2 in the WBAL championship match this week. The team went undefeated for the fourth year in a row in the WBAL with a 5-0 record, and then won both their semifinal match vs. Sacred Heart 7-2 and their championship match vs. Hillview 7-2 to take the league title.
Varsity-B (grades 7 and 8) girls volleyball, coached by Sarah Prudencio, finished undefeated at 7-0, taking first place in the WBAL South.
Junior Varsity-A (grade 6) girls volleyball, coached by Vonda Reid, finished undefeated at 7-0, taking first place in the WBAL Gold Division.
Junior Varsity-B1 (grade 5) girls volleyball, coached by Ellie Pereira, finished 5-1, tying with Sacred Heart for first place in the WBAL.
Varsity-A (grade 7 and 8) boys volleyball, coached by Pete Anderson, went 10-0 in league and 11-0 overall, taking first place and the tournament championship in the ADAL.
Co-ed water polo (grades 6-8), coached by Ted Ujifusa and Peter Blume, went 4-0 at the WBAL championships.
Lower school track (grades 4 and 5), coached by Allison Burzio, Margaret Huntley, Kelcie Lai and Karriem Stinson, took first place at the WBAL track meet in the 4 X 100 grade 4 boys relay (Rohan Gorti, Andrew Fu, Lorenzo Martinelli and Rigo Gonzales) and first in the the 100, 200 and 400 (Rigo Gonzales).
Middle school track (grades 6-8), coached by Allison Burzio, Margaret Huntley, Kelcie Lai and Karriem Stinson, took first place at the WBAL track meet in the 4 X 100 grade 8 girls relay (Alex Janssen, Sara Min, Alycia Cary and Julia Amick) and the 400 and 800 (Julia Amick) and the long jump (Alex Janssen).
Congratulations to the boys, who qualified for CCS and then won their first round match-up against Carlmont 6-1. The Eagles are now 16-3 overall. They travel to eighth-seed Westmont, just around the corner from the Bucknall campus, for their second-round matchup at 3 p.m. today. Come on out and cheer them to victory! A win today equals CCS quarterfinals and Harker history!
Big news! Coach Scott Chisam was named the CCS honor coach for boys track and field and will be honored at the CCS Championships on May 29 at San Jose City College! As CCS’s assistant commissioner Duane Morgan wrote, “We all know that quality programs are attained by quality players and quality coaches; [Scott’s] accomplishments in track and field reach far beyond the ‘W’s’ and ‘L’s’ and reach the ultimate in coaching.” Congratulations, Scott!
Golf
The boys squad is among the section’s elite; it qualified for the CCS finals with a fourth-place finish at CCS regional No. 2 and is now one of the final eight teams. Sophomore Ryan Vaughan and senior Shrish Dwivedi led the Eagles with 73s. The finals are this Tuesday in Carmel; the top three teams will advance to the NorCals.
For more information on the results, you can follow this link:
The Eagles triumphed 10-9 over Pinewood on Tuesday in a PAL league game. Freshman Dominic Cea had four hits and drove in five runs, including the game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Eagle offensive attack. Sophomore Varun Haltore pitched solidly into the fifth inning, allowing only two earned runs, while freshman Nate Kelly picked up the win in relief.
Harker will host free lacrosse clinics for middle school girls (those currently in grades 6, 7 and 8) on May 26 and May 28. The clinics will be held at Rosenthal Field (natural grass field) at Harker’s upper school campus (500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose) from 4-5 p.m.
On both dates, a bus will be provided at 3:45 p.m. for Harker students to take them from the middle school to upper school campus for the clinics. Parents can pick them up at 5 p.m. at the upper school campus or the girls can take the 5:05 p.m. intercampus shuttle back to the middle school campus.
Participants not enrolled at Harker should come directly to the upper school campus.
Participants should wear athletic clothes and shoes. All other gear (sticks and balls) will be provided.
There is no charge for the clinics and preregistration is not required. Just be there at 4 p.m.!
In April, Mike Tirabassi accepted a new position as Harker’s head football coach. Tirabassi joined Harker as a defensive coordinator in 2012 and in 2013 served as offensive coordinator. Previously he was JV offensive coordinator at Santa Margarita High School and head coach at Pinewood High School.
“My coaching philosophy is very simple,” Tirabassi said. “Use football as a medium for developing life skills.” He believes many of the skills taught in football can be applied to other areas of a successful life, and that paying close attention to the reasons behind learning these skills can result in people who better both themselves and their communities. “As long as we stay true to that vision, competitive success will take care of itself,” he added.
Tirabassi also will continue developing an environment where players feel both safe and comfortable with their skills. “I believe in removing any chance of players being put into a situation in which they aren’t ready,” he said. One system he’s implementing will separate new players from experienced ones to ensure new players can learn the fundamentals of football at a suitable pace.
New players are given a white jersey, while players returning to the team wear green jerseys, Tirabassi explained. “During practice, no player wearing a white jersey will have any padded contact with a player in green,” he said. Players in white jerseys must have a form signed by the player, a parent or guardian, and an athletic trainer to certify that they are ready to wear a green jersey. Only players practicing in green jerseys will be allowed to play in varsity football games. This new program, Tirabassi said, “will allow players to learn these skills slowly and without pressure.”
Spring practice will begin May 15. Anyone interested in playing football is welcome to give the sport a try, Tirabassi said. “This is a great time for players who haven’t played before to come and see if football is for them,” he said. “It’s also a great time for me to see the progress that our returning players have made in the off-season.” Tirabassi hopes to field a team of dedicated players who are committed to the vision of football as a means of personal and social betterment. “If we have a group of players that are committed to the vision, every member of our team has the potential to have a life-changing experience and we have the potential to be a source of pride for the entire Harker community,” he said. “This is what matters to me.”
Tirabassi also is excited to be more involved with the Harker community. “I have already had multiple interactions with members of the faculty and administration and can honestly say that there is no place that I have ever seen that is like Harker,” he beamed. “The unadulterated care that the faculty and staff have for the students is amazing.”