Midweek Flash Update: Our boys golf team clinched the league title for the second consecutive season yesterday by beating Pinewood 192-207 at Sunnyvale Golf Course. Sophomore Ryan Vaughan earned his second medalist honors with an even par 35 with two birdies and two eagles. Fellow sophomore Avi Khemani carded a 37 by sinking a 5-foot eagle putt on the 478 yard par 5. Also on Monday the team placed second overall in the prestigious Atwater Invitational, edging third-place Bellarmine by one stroke. The boys hope to go undefeated in league vs. Crystal Springs today.
More sports:
Boys tennis defeated rival Sacred Heart Prep 5-2 yesterday on their Senior Day to improve to 15-2 overall. Congratulations to seniors Sohil Singh and John Dobrota on their stellar careers thus far as they get ready for CCS play.
Baseball earned a league win yesterday over Jefferson 8-2. Kedar Gupta, grade 10, had two hits and Varun Haltore, grade 10, pitched for the victory. The boys travel to Jefferson tomorrow as they try to improve upon their 7-10 record.
Softball defeated Fremont Christian 21-0 yesterday to improve to 8-4 overall. Wish them well at Pinewood tomorrow.
April 21, 2015 Quarterback Keanu Forbes, grade 12, was awarded a huge honor and will play this summer on the San Francisco 49ers’ home field. Forbes was selected to play in the 41st Annual Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game at Levi’s Stadium on Aug. 1 at 6pm. Over the years, the game has had a slew of participants go on to become collegiate standouts and NFL stars. It represents the very best graduating football players from all 46 Santa Clara County high schools.
Forbes follows in the footsteps of a few Eagles athletes who have competed in the classic. In 2011, three Harker community members participated in the Silicon Valley Youth Classic 37th Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game, which was held at San Jose State University’s Spartan Stadium. Harker coach Karriem Stinson was named head coach of the north squad, while new graduates Rishi Bhatia and Gautam Krishnamurthi were selected for the team.
The first Harker athlete selected to start in the classic was Arman Gupta in 2009. Gupta started at free safety and, according to Stinson, “played more than any other defensive back in the game.”
Golf
The boys remain undefeated and in first place after stretching their run of victories to eight to start the season, with wins last week over King’s Academy and rival Sacred Heart Prep. Senior Shrish Dwivedi celebrated Senior Day in style by leading all scorers against Sacred Heart with a 35! A win this week over either Pinewood or Crystal Springs would award the team their second consecutive league championship.
Tennis
The boys tennis squad won three matches last week, defeating Aragon, Priory and Crystal Springs to improve to 14-2 overall. The team will celebrate seniors John Dobrota and Sohil Singh at Senior Day this Tuesday when they play Sacred Heart Prep at the Santa Clara Tennis Center.
Softball
The Eagles had two key league victories last week, highlighted by a 5-4 come-from-behind win at Castilleja Friday, which kept them in a tie for first place in the league standings. The girls have a busy week ahead as they travel to Palo Alto, Fremont Christian and Pinewood this week to try to improve upon their 7-3 record.
Track and Field
The track and field team competed in the Bearcat Invitational track meet at San Mateo High School last Saturday, setting 16 personal bests. Freshman Grace Koonmen won her heat in the 100m and 200m sprints. Sophomore Davis Dunaway won the frosh-soph 110m hurdles, placed third in the long jump and finished second in the pole vault, setting a new school record with a 10’6″ pole vault. The 400m relay team of juniors Johnathon Keller and Calvin Kocienda, freshman Anthony Contreras and sophomore Lucas Wang placed sixth out of 25 teams, with a season best of 46.50, the best Eagles time in five years. Wang and fellow junior Jonathan Hochberg threw personal bests in the shot put and discus throw.
Swimming
Last week’s swimming action was filled with improved scores and top finishes! Divya Periyakoil, grade 11, dropped 10 seconds in her 100 Free. Junior Philip Krause dropped 6 seconds in his 100 Free. Freshman Rishi Chopra improved by 5 seconds in both his 50 Free and 50 Back. The team also saw a number of first-place finishes, including sophomore Michael Auld in the 200 Free; junior Grace Guan in the 200 IM and 50 Fly; freshman Adriano Hernandez in the 100 IM; freshman Shikhar Solanki in 50 Free; freshman Taylor Kohlmann in the 50 Free and 100 Back; junior Angela Huang in 100 Free; sophomore Austin Zhang in 50 Back; sophomore Jack Farnham in 100 Backstroke; and Joshua Hung, grade 11, in 100 Breast. Junior Angela Huang qualified for CCS in the 100 Free with a time of 55.66, while freshman Vivian Wang qualified in both of her individual events, the 500 Free (5:07.83) and the 100 Breaststroke (1:09.64). The swimmers host King’s Academy on Wednesday, when they’ll celebrate Senior Day. Thank you to our seniors, Stacy Chao, Sanjana Kaundinya, Delaney Martin, Jackelyn Shen, Leon Chin, Aaron Huang, Craig Neubeiser and Harry Xu.
Baseball
Baseball played well last week, despite losses to Pinewood and Cupertino. Freshman Dominic Cea had two hits in Tuesday’s loss, and freshman Nate Kelly and sophomore Varun Haltore had two hits Thursday. The team will look to improve upon its 6-10 record when they take on Jefferson this week.
Volleyball
The boys volleyball team went 0-3 last week, despite solid play from senior Matt Ho, junior Kurt Schwartz and senior Jeremiah Anderson. They travel to Lynbrook, Homestead and to the Harbor Tournament this weekend.
Lacrosse
The girls team lost to Sequoia and Woodside last week but rebounded to eke out a 12-11 victory over Mercy thanks to four goals each from seniors Leeza Kuo and Hannah Bollar and a whopping 23 saves from sophomore goalie Meilan Steimle. They play Notre Dame on Friday.
The boys remain in first place in league thanks to a big victory over Pinewood last week. Senior Shrish Dwivedi led all golfers with a 34 while sophomore Sandip Nirmel shot a 36. They face King’s Academy on Tuesday and league rival Sacred Heart on Friday
Track and Field
Sophomore Winnie Li and freshmen Aria Coalson, Gloria Guo and Grace Koonmen won the sprint medley and set a Harker record at the DeAnza Invitational! Sophomore Niki Iyer followed that up by setting a new Harker record in the 3200-meter at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational. The team has a league meet Tuesday and a big invitational next Saturday in San Mateo.
Softball
Softball had a dramatic 6-5 win over Saint Francis Watsonville thanks to a tremendous game-saving catch in the top of the seventh by junior Tong Wu. The Eagles got big hits from seniors Briana Liang and Sarah Bean, sophomore Vivian Isenberg and freshman Kristin LeBlanc. They host Mercy on Tuesday.
Lacrosse
The girls walloped Aragon 14-6 last Wednesday, with goals by seniors Hannah Bollar, Allison Kiang, Priscilla Pan and Leeza Kuo, junior Natasha Mayor and sophomore Taylor Iantosca. Sophomore goalie Meilan Steimie had nine saves in the win. The Eagles play Sequoia on Wednesday.
Tennis
Boys tennis now has a 12-2 overall record after a 6-1 victory over Pinewood last week. The team travels to Priory on Tuesday and hosts Crystal Springs on Thursday.
Volleyball
The boys beat Monterey and Live Oak at the Bellarmine Tournament over the weekend to go 2-3 overall in the competition. Their record now stands at 6-12 overall. They’ll look to improve that mark when they hit the road to play in Mountain View and Los Gatos this week.
Baseball
The Eagles dropped to 6-7 overall after a 9-4 loss at Fremont last week, but junior Miles DeWitt was featured in the Mercury News Highlight Reel for his huge two home run performance against Trinity Christian. Learn more here:
Come support our swimmers this Friday at the Singh Aquatic Center as they compete in their second home meet of the season!
Moving On
Last but never least, Shreya Dixit, grade 12, has been noted by the Yale women’s volleyball coach as an incoming athlete for the class of 2019. Read her write up, here!
Harker’s golf and track and field teams performed spectacularly over spring break, while the baseball squad upped its record to .500. Let’s get to the results!
Golf
The boys golf team competed at the Champions Tournament in Palm Springs over spring break, finishing 11th out of 47 teams from throughout the United States! Senior Shrish Dwivedi led the way, placing sixth out of 256 individuals. The boys are currently in first place in league, and will aim to keep it that way when they faced Pinewood on Thursday.
Track and Field
The Eagles posted 25 personal bests in the Firebird Relays at Fremont High School over spring break! The girls distance medley relay team not only won its event, but also set a new meet and school record. Junior Alex Dellar, sophomores Winnie Li and Nikki Iyer, and freshman Grace Koonmen won in style as Iyer made up a 140-meter gap on her final leg, posting a personal record of 5:01 for her mile run. Iyer later set a school record in the 800m with 2:20.64.
Koonmen also ran the No. 3 all-time mark for a Harker freshman in the 100m and 200m races. Freshman Anthony Contreras, meanwhile, improved on his No. 2 all-time Harker 200m race with a 24.01. Sophomore Davis Howard posted the No. 5 all-time mark for a Harker sophomore in the shot put and discus, while sophomore Davis Dunaway became the No. 2 all-time Harker sophomore in the 65m hurdles.
Junior Arthur Ye also had a strong day with a personal record of 33’ 6” in the shot put, ranking him among Harker’s top 10 all-time shot put efforts at No. 7. Freshman Ananya Krishnan’s personal record of 17’ 9” – the best-ever shot put effort by a female Harker freshman – moved her into eighth position on the top 10 list.
Baseball
The Eagles held on for a tight 14-13 victory over Trinity Christian last week to bump their record up to .500 at 6-6 overall. Freshmen Nate Kelly and Dominic Cea led the way with three hits apiece, including Kelly’s four RBIs.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Girls Basketball
Junior Varsity B (grade 5) girls basketball, coached by Dan Pringle and Vanessa Rios, finished the league season with a 6-0 record and are league champs! The girls also participated in the WBAL tournament and finished in second place. They finished with an overall record of 8-1.
Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero and Jacqueline Hu (MVP), Angela Jia and Ashley Barth (Eagle), and Gianna Chan and Anishka Raina (Coaches).
Junior Varsity C (grade 4) girls basketball, coached by Christina Mendoza and Tim Hopkins, finished their season with a league record of 3-3. Team awards went to Athena Wu (MVP), Brooke Baker (Eagle) and Jia Parikh (Coaches).
Lower school (grades 4-5) intramural basketball, coached by Therese Wunnenberg and Sean Leeper, enjoyed working on the fundamental skills of basketball and playing intersquad scrimmages. Team awards went to Syna Gogte, grade 5 (MVP), Aria Jain, grade 4 (Eagle) and Kavita Murthy, grade 5 (Coaches).
Boys Soccer
Junior Varsity B (grade 5) boys soccer, coached by Jared Ramsey and Tobias Wade, is currently 1-3 with two matches remaining in the season. Team awards went to Raj Patel (MVP), Aaditya Gulati (Eagle) and Bailey Castle (Coaches).
Lower school (grade 4) intramural soccer, coached by Jim McGovern and Kristian Tiopo, enjoyed working on the fundamental skills of soccer and playing intersquad matches. Team awards went to Rigo Gonzales (Eagle), and Pranav Mullappalli and Michael Pflaging (Coaches).
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Girls Basketball
Varsity A (grades 7-8) girls basketball, coached by Richard Amarillas and Angelo Parangat, finished the season with a league record of 1-5 and have the WBAL tournament remaining on the schedule. Team awards went to Jennifer Hayashi (MVP), Lilly Wancewicz (Eagle), and Prameela Kottapalli (Coaches), all grade 8.
Varsity B (grade 7) girls basketball, coached by Allison Burzio and Kelcie Lai, is currently 3-3 with one game and the WBAL tournament remaining. Team awards went to Cassandra Ruedy (MVP), Adhya Hoskote (Eagle) and Radhika Jain (Coaches). Junior Varsity A (grade 6) girls basketball, coached by Coli Simmons and Jon Cvitanich, finished the league season with a 7-0 record and are league champs! The girls will also participate in the WBAL tournament. Team awards went to Courtni Thompson (MVP), Hunter Hernandez (Eagle) and Reina Joseph (Coaches).
Middle school (grades 6-8) intramural basketball, coached by Chrissy Chang and Vince Salinas, enjoyed working on the fundamental skills of basketball and playing intersquad scrimmages. Team awards went to Vaishnavi Murari and Shreya Srinivasan (Eagle) and Aditi Vinod (Coaches).
Wrestling
Middle school (grades 6-8) wrestling, coached by Karriem Stinson, Charlie Ward, Jason Mendel and Jeff Paull, worked tirelessly to learn the fundamentals of wrestling. They will compete in two upcoming tournaments. Team awards went to Kobe Howard, grade 8 (MVP), Devin Keller, grade 7 (Eagle), and Eric Fang, grade 7 and Anish Kilaru, grade 6 (Coaches).
Boys Soccer
Varsity A (grade 8) boys soccer, coached by Matt Arensberg, is currently 3-1-1 with two matches remaining in the season. Team awards went to Jared Anderson (MVP), Edwin Su (Eagle), and Aleksander Erk and Logan Frank (Coaches).
Varsity B (grade 7) boys soccer, coached by Emily Oliver, finished the season with a league record of 2-2-1. Team awards went to Andrew Cheplyansky (MVP), Henry Wiese (Eagle) and Griffin Crook (Coaches).
Varsity B2 (grades 6-7) boys soccer, coached by Cyrus Merrill, is currently 0-6 with one match remaining in the season.
Junior Varsity A (grade 6) boys soccer, coached by Brighid Wood, is currently 3-1 with one match remaining in the season.
Team awards went to Ryan Tobin (MVP), Tuhin Chatterjee (Eagle), and Arjun Virmani and Rosh Roy (Coaches).
It was a busy week for Harker sports, as swim teams, a tennis team, a volleyball team, the softball team, the baseball team, the lacrosse team, a golf team, and the track and field squad all played games!
Swimming
The girls crushed Crystal Springs 112-44 and defeated Mercy-Burlingame 107-80 in last week’s opener. Junior Angela Huang qualified for CCS in the 50 Free with a time of 25.47, while freshman Vivian Wang qualified in the 100 Free (54.51) and 200 Free (1:59.21). The girls also qualified in the 200 IM relay with a time of 1:58.47 thanks to great swims by freshman Taylor Kohlmann, junior Grace Guan, Huang and Wang. For the boys, senior Aaron Huang qualified for CCS in his two individual events, the 100 Breast (1:01.53) and 200 IM (2:01.55).
Other highlights included senior Delaney Martin dropping more than 22 seconds from time in the 500 Free, sophomore Catherine Huang tying for second in the JV 50 Free with her all-time best of 36.94, and freshman Shikar Solanki swimming his personal best in the JV 100 Free with a time of 1:03.92. Our swimmers compete next at Sacred Heart Prep.
Track and Field
The track team posted many personal bests in the K-Bell Invitational last Saturday at Los Gatos. Freshman Anthony Contreras and senior Allen Huang each dropped their 100m times and continue to rank in the top 10 in the league. Contreras also won his 200m race by a whopping 20m. Sophomore Winnie Li and freshman Gloria Guo each ran seasonal bests in the 100m hurdles and the 800m, and Li added a personal best in the 100m. Sophomore Davis Dunaway posted his best-ever marks in the 65m hurdles and the triple jump, while junior Lev Sepetov ran a strong fifth in his 800m race, posting a season’s best of 2:20. The boys 400m relay team opened with a very fast 49.12 race, good enough for second place in their heat. The team participates in their first league meet this Wednesday at Bellarmine. Some of the group will also race in the St. Francis Invitational next Saturday.
Tennis
The boys team extended its undefeated streak to eight matches to start the season with victories over Pinewood and Priory last week. They’ll look to stretch that mark to 10 when they travel to Crystal Springs and Sacred Heart this week.
Volleyball
The boys won their season opener against Oak Grove in four games last week but lost a tough five-set match against ECP Friday in their league opener. Junior Kurt Schwartz had 16 kills in the win over Oak Grove. They’ll host Los Gatos on Wednesday.
Softball
Softball defeated Mercy-SF last week but fell to 3-2 overall after losses to strong King’s Academy and Alvarez teams. Freshman Kristin LeBlanc had two hits against Mercy and junior Marita Del Alto pitched very well throughout the week.
Baseball
Baseball lost to Mills twice last week to open league play, evening up their record at 3-3 overall. Junior Miles DeWitt went three for three on Thursday with two RBI’s and a triple. The team plays Westmoor and Lynbrook this week.
Golf
The boys are still undefeated in league after a 187-208 win over King’s Academy last week. They face league rival Menlo twice this week.
Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team lost to Sacred Heart Cathedral Friday by the score of 12-7. They’ll travel to play Woodside on Wednesday, then return home to host Carlmont on Friday.
Winter sports wrap up and spring sports gain traction!
Basketball
The boys crushed Del Mar High School 71-38 in a second-round game in front of a loud and supportive crowd at Blackford, thanks to senior Sriv Irrinki’s 20 points and senior Eric Holt’s 15 points – including a breakaway dunk! However, the boys dropped their CCS quarterfinal game 52-45 to No. 4 seed Pacific Grove at the Kaiser Arena in Santa Cruz on Saturday, despite 19 points by Holt and 12 by Irrinki. The team ends the season with a 16-10 overall record, a fourth-place league finish and a CCS Academic Championship.
The girls’ season also came to a close last week as they lost a first-round CCS game at Carmel High. The team finished in third place in league this year with a 12-12 overall record.
Wrestling
Sophomore Davis Howard represented Harker at the CCS wrestling tournament this past weekend, losing two matches against tough opponents.
Golf
The boys placed eighth out of 24 teams last Monday at Lone Tree Golf Course in Antioch. The team competes three days this week. On Wednesday, they tee off against rival Sacred Heart Prep.
Track and Field
The track and field season began Saturday in the rain at Christopher High School. The team toughed it out in the adverse weather, winning seven events and setting six stadium records, thanks to freshmen Grace Koonmen and Aadi Ghildiyal, sophomore Niki Iyer, and juniors Alex Dellar and Calvin Kocienda, and the mile-relay team of Koonman, Iyer, Dellar and sophomore Winnie Li.
Lacrosse
The girls lost to Burlingame last week. They will look to bounce back at Davis Field when they play their home opener against Gunn High School.
Baseball
The Eagles split their two games last week, including a 12-1 blowout victory over North Valley Baptist. They play an away game Friday.
Softball: The softball team starts its season this week.
Tennis: The team starts its season this week.
Volleyball: The boys begin their season next week.
Spring sports start this week, with baseball, boys golf and girls lacrosse kicking off the season! Winter sports are not quite over, though, as Harker has two teams moving on to the next stage of competition.
Basketball
Both the boys and girls teams are headed to the CCS Tournament!
The boys beat both Priory and Crystal Springs last week to earn the No. 5 seed and a first-round bye. The 15-9 Eagles will kick off the tournament by hosting Del Mar High at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Blackford in a second-round game. Meanwhile, after finishing the year with a 12-11 record, the girls travel to Carmel High School today for a first-round match-up. Come cheer on the teams as they make a run for the finals!
The boys wrapped up the year with a 10-4-2 record after defeating Priory 4-2 and then playing league champion Sacred Heart to an impressive 0-0 tie. Congrats to the Eagles on an outstanding season!
Wrestlers qualified for CCS, the soccer season is wrapping up and the girls basketball team had a Senior Night to remember. Let’s get to the scores!
Wrestling
For the second year in a row, sophomore Davis Howard qualified for CCS with a fifth place finish at the league wrestling championships. Freshman Anthony Contreras, meanwhile, will be second alternate for CCS after an eighth place finish, becoming only the fourth freshman in Harker’s history to place at the varsity level in league finals. Catch Howard and Contreras at CCS the weekend of Feb. 27!
Soccer
The girls just missed qualifying for the playoffs after losing to Notre Dame and Kings Academy to finish 7-8-1 overall.
Last week, the boys defeated Eastside College Prep 5-3 thanks to two goals from junior Omar Hamade and one apiece from seniors Eric Roxlo, Jeremiah Anderson and Alan Guo. Earlier this week, the team defeated Woodside Priory 4-2; it will take on Sacred Heart Prep today.
Basketball
The boys squad lost a heartbreaker against Pinewood last week on a last second shot 52-49 but rebounded with a dramatic 65-52 victory over Eastside College Prep to improve to 13-9 overall.
After Crystal Spring forfeited last week, the girls enjoyed a memorable Senior Night with an intersquad scrimmage. Team Green defeated Team White! Unfortunately, the girls lost to King’s Academy this week to fall to 12-10.
The wrestlers head to the league championship, while both the boys and girls soccer teams get ready to celebrate Senior Day! Let’s get to the scores!
Wrestling:
Senior Ryan Palmer went 2-0 last week, winning by pin against Homestead on his Senior Night and then winning by pin against Lynbrook on their Senior Night! Senior Anni Ankola went 1-1 last week, winning by pin versus Lynbrook as well. The wrestlers will compete in the league championship Feb. 13-14 at Milpitas High.
Soccer:
The girls are 6-5-1 overall despite losses last week to King’s Academy and Menlo. Sophomores Joelle Anderson and Kailee Gifford each scored for Harker. The Eagles celebrate Senior Day on Thursday with a game against Priory! The boys have their Senior Day on Wednesday on Davis Field, where they’ll look to defeat Menlo.
Last week, Anderson was also recognized by the San Jose Mercury News in its sports highlight reel of top performances for her five goals and two assists in an 8-3 win over Priory the week before.
Basketball:
The boys lost a heartbreaker to Menlo, falling short by a single point, but rebounded by beating Crystal Springs to bump their record up to 11-7 overall and 4-4 in league play. Senior Eric Holt racked up 28 points against Crystal, while Senior Sriv Irrinki netted 16 against Menlo. The boys will hit the road to play King’s Academy and Sacred Heart this week.
The girls, meanwhile, lost to two strong teams last week, dropping their games against Mercy and King’s Academy. In the game against King’s, sophomore Jordan Thompson scored 20 points and freshman Satchi Thockchom grabbed six rebounds. The team will look to rebound against Priory this Friday at Blackford.