Wednesday marked a momentous occasion for both star Harker golfer Maverick McNealy, grade 12, and the Harker athletics program, as McNealy signed a letter of intent to attend Stanford University and compete in its golf program.
Surrounded by family, friends and faculty at Nichols Hall, McNealy received enthusiastic cheers and applause after signing the agreement.
“I’m very excited and I’m very thankful for this opportunity,” McNealy said. “I’m thinking I might play professionally. It depends on how I play in college and where I stack up against the other best golfers in the country. But the great thing about going to Stanford is that I know I’m going to get a great education, and that’s always something to fall back on if professional golf isn’t what I want to do.”
“We’re so proud of Maverick,” said Harker golf coach Ie-Chen Cheng. “This is our first golf signing, and no less, it’s Stanford, which is a very prestigious golf program.”
McNealy, who in July reached the final eight at USGA’s Junior Amateur Championship, is looking forward to making golf an important part of his time at Stanford. “I’ve only been playing golf pretty much half the year, for basically my whole life,” he said. “When I go to college I will be playing year-round, and we’ll see where that takes me with that actual level of practice and playing, and hopefully I play really well.”
Later in the summer, he won the Silver Creek Valley Junior and narrowly missed the semifinals at the Northern California Golf Association’s Amateur Match Play Championship.
“He was for the most part under the radar, but he really excelled during the summer,” Cheng said, adding that the young but disciplined senior “never complains. When he has a bad day, he’s the type of player who will go back to practice, go back to the range and work on his game and figure it out.”
“There’s no doubt he’s a very, very talented golfer,” said Dan Molin, Harker athletics director. “I’ve embarrassed myself on the course with him. He was very patient with me and he’s a phenomenal kid.”
Eagles post season play is coming down to the final games!
Volleyball
Down two games to none in the CCS quarterfinal match at Soquel High Saturday, the girls volleyball team made a dramatic comeback winning the next three games to upset the fourth-seeded Knights 23-25, 21-25, 26-24, 28-26, 15-13. This was certainly one of the most exciting volleyball games in the program’s history in what felt like a home game for the girls, as our crowd was larger and louder than Soquel’s crowd. For the first time since 2007 the girls have reached the semifinals which matches us against #1 seed Harbor High at Menlo School at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The crowd really makes a difference: come cheer on your Harker Eagles! There is a fee: $8 adults, $3 students with ID.
Cross Country
Sophomore Corey Gonzales placed fourth overall at the CCS meet in Salinas Saturday, qualifying him for the state meet which will be held Nov. 24 in Fresno. Senior Tyler Yeats placed 46th out of 108 runners. On the girls side, Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed 23rd overall and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, placed 33rd out of 97 runners.
Tennis
The girls tennis season came to a close Friday as they lost to St. Francis 11-7 in the CCS quarterfinals. The girls closed with a 14-3 overall record and a second place finish in the WBAL. Congratulations on a great season!
The fall sports seasons for cross country, swimming, flag football and softball have come to a close for the lower and middle schools. Here are the final results of what was a very exciting start to the school year!
MS CROSS COUNTRY
The team finished up their season with the WBAL cross country meet at Bayfront Park. In the grade 7-8 boys race Arnav Tandon, grade 8, placed third. In the grade 7-8 girls race, second place went to Niki Iyer, grade 8 and first place to Sarah Savage, grade 7. Both boys and girls grade 7-8 teams took third place in their races.
LS/MS SWIMMING
The team finished up their season with the WBAL swim meet at Sacred Heart Prep High School. In the grade 5-6 boys MR, taking second place were Edwin Su, Arjun Kilaru, Stephan Sokolov and Krish Kapadia, all grade 6; and in third place, Noah Salisbury, Rohan Arora, Kai-Ming Ang and Cole Smitherman, all grade 5.
Grade 5-6 girls MR third place: Angela Li, Sara Min, Anusha Kuppahally, Alexandra Janssen, all grade 6.
Grade 5-6 girls IM first place: Angela Li; Grade 5-6 girls 25 back, first place: Angela Li.
Grade 5-6 boys 100-free third place: Arnav Jain, grade 5.
Grade 5-6 girls 25 breast third place: Sara Min.
Grade 7 boys MR, second place: Victor Shin, Jeffrey Ma, Alexander Wang, Derek Kuo.
Grade 7 boys IM first place and Grade 7 boys 50-free second place: Jeffrey Ma.
Grade 7 boys 50-fly: third place: Adriano Hernandez.
Grade 7 boys 50-breast third place: Aadith Srinivisan.
UPPER SCHOOL Football Quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more in his final game as an Eagle, but Harker dropped their last game of the year, Homecoming, to Lynbrook, 49-35, finishing their season at 3-7 overall and 1-5 in league play. Robert Deng, grade 12, Devonte Smith, grade 10, and Keanu Forbes, grade 10, all caught touchdown passes.
Water Polo
Boys water polo ended their season a high note with two victories last Friday at the league tournament, following a 12-3 victory over Cupertino with an intense 9-8 win over Santa Clara. Karan Das-Grade, grade 12, scored four goals, with Eric Holt, grade 10, adding three, and Ryan Hume, grade 12, netting two against Santa Clara. The boys end the year 12-16 overall and 4-8 in league play.
Girls water polo’s historic season came to a close Tuesday in their first ever CCS appearance. The girls lost to Soquel High 13-3 in the first round game. Keri Clifford, grade 12, scored two goals and Rachel Yanovsky, grade 12, scored one. The girls end the season with a 20-7 record and a league championship! Congratulations on a great season.
Golf
Kristine Lin, grade 11, is the league’s individual golf champion after shooting a 73 at Poplar Creek. She then shot an 85 at CCS, placing 38th out of 90. Patricia Huang, grade 12, shot an 82 at CCS, the best score any Harker golfer has ever achieved at the tournament. The girls end their season in second place in the league with a 7-3 record.
Tennis
Girls tennis doubles team Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, and Katia Miranova, grade 11, won the league championship, and the team is in CCS post season play now. Hosting their second round CCS match, Harker defeated fellow WBAL opponent, Crystal Springs, by a 10-4 margin. Junior Dora Tzeng led Harker, winning her round robin matches by identical 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 scores. Senior Jenny Chen also won by an impressive margin, 6-0, 6-1, and was leading 5-0 before the match was called after Tzeng’s third match which sealed the victory. The team travels to Cuesta Park today for their quarterfinal (final 8) match against #3 St. Francis at 1:30. Bracket: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/12-13/Tennis_G_Team-12.pdf
Volleyball
Girls volleyball rolled through their first round opponent, Carmel, last night in three straight games 25-14, 25-16, 25-18. Divya Kalidindi, grade 11, Shannon Richardson, grade 9, and Shreya Dixit, grade 10, had 11 kills each as the girls advance to the quarterfinal round v. Soquel High School at Soquel Saturday night, 7 p.m. This should be a very exciting game and the girls can really use your support! There is an entry fee, $8 adults, $3 students with ID. Directions: http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=245&locID=428 Bracket: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/12-13/volleyballgirls%20D4%202012.pdf
Cross Country
This Saturday, four Harker runners – Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, Claudia Tischler, grade 11, Corey Gonzalez, grade 10, and Tyler Yeats, grade 12 – compete in the CCS championship in Toro Park, at 11 a.m. in Salinas. Directions: http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=245&locID=344
A clear but slightly chilly evening at the upper school campus was the setting for the 2013 Harker Homecoming, highlighted by a tense face-off between the varsity football teams of Harker and Lynbrook High School at Davis Field.
Attendees had plenty of fun both before and during the game, with tailgate areas serving many varieties of snacks and drinks to the patrons. Meanwhile Mrs. Carley’s Café served savory barbecue and upper school students sold hot pizza by the slice. Harker journalism students sold programs they had made to raise money to pay for equipment and publishing costs. A favorite attraction during the evening was a taped-off area where attendees could take turns bashing a car, spray-painted with the graduation years of the upper school classes, with a sledgehammer or baseball bat.
Prior to the start of the game, Harker performing arts groups kept the attendees entertained. After a rousing performance by the upper school’s varsity dance squad, the lower school’s junior cheer squad received an enthusiastic ovation for their spirited and well-executed routine, and the crowd was equally receptive for the Eaglets flyby, the longstanding homecoming tradition, directed by Gail Palmer. Dressed in their eagle costumes and dancing to the appropriately familiar strains of Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle,” the grade 2 performers were, as always, a highlight of the pre-game festivities.
Out on Rosenthal Field, younger children had a blast playing in no fewer than three inflatable structures: a bounce house, a large slide and an elaborate play house. Others made their own fun by tossing a football or playing other schoolyard games.
Akshaya Premkumar, grade 9, enjoyed homecoming for the opportunity to bond with friends. She was also cheering hard for an Eagle win. “I like cheering. I’m a very spirited person!” she said. Her friend Caitlin Benge, also grade 9, was enjoying her 10th homecoming since kindergarten. “My favorite part is the tug of war,” she said.
Harker alumni, including several Palo Alto Military Academy graduates, were out in force to support their alma mater and reminisce with old friends and teachers. The special alumni area was busy for the entire event with returning graduates, faculty and current students enjoying food and good company.
“There’s always good food and good conversation,” Steven Brimm ’02 said of Harker community events such as homecoming. Although it had been years since he had visited Harker, he said, he enjoyed seeing his former classmates and teachers.
Ed Williams ’02 said “the friends” were what brought him to this year’s homecoming. “Here’s one right here!” he exclaimed, as he reunited with his former advisor John Hawley, the upper school Latin teacher.
During halftime, Head of School Chris Nikoloff took time to recognize the three alumni who received awards at Harker’s Alumni Day event in June. Ken Hunt ’79 received the Distinguish Alumni Award “for his love of learning and his ability to lead, whether in a Fortune 200 or smaller company,” Nikoloff said. Community Service Award winner Tevis Howard ’88 was recognized for his efforts to help the people of Kenya. Finally, Mark Muller ’75, recipient of the Phyllis Carley Award, was honored for his dedication to and positive impact on the Harker community.
Just before kickoff, vocal groups from all three campuses gathered to sing stirring renditions of “The Harker School Song” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” directed by Susan Nace.
Halftime entertainment began with a performance by Harker’s cheer squad, who impressed the crowd with a complex routine. The traditions continued with the conclusion of this year’s tug of war competition, as the classes of 2013 and 2014 took to the center of Davis Field. The seniors took home this year’s tug of war trophy after a well-earned victory.
As the third quarter approached, this year’s homecoming court was brought onto the field, riding golf carts driven by their advisors. Performing arts teacher Jeffrey Draper then revealed Maverick McNealy and Akarsha Gulukota, both grade 12, as this year’s homecoming king and queen.
The football team then took the field in spectacular fashion by bursting through a massive paper sign to begin the second half. Although the Eagles lost the hard-fought contest 39-45, it was nevertheless a memorable event for all in attendance that surely already has the Harker community eager for next year.
Fall sports are still in action as teams go into playoffs or wrap up their seasons. The big news today is the Harker varsity girls volleyball team took the CCS championship last night. Watch for the update as details become available!
Football The Fremont Firebirds and Harker Eagles lit up the scoreboard last Friday night in a football game that featured 21 touchdowns as Fremont defeated Harker 90-56. Harker led 50-49 at halftime and finished the game with 571 yards of total offense, led by senior quarterback Spenser Quash’s aerial assault on the Firebird defense. Quash completed 28 of 47 passes for 422 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Kevin Moss, grade 11, and Robert Deng, grade 12, each caught two touchdowns, and Christian Williams, grade 11, caught the fifth. Quash also ran for three touchdowns. Harker plays its final game of the season at Homecoming tonight night versus Lynbrook.
Water Polo
The boys’ water polo team placed fourth at the Homestead Tournament over the weekend, defeating Half Moon Bay but losing to Carlmont and Burlingame. Against Half Moon Bay, Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, netted four goals, with Ryan Hume, grade 12, scoring three. Eric Holt, grade 10, Gilad Nilo, grade 12, and Jeremy Binkley, grade 10, all added a goal apiece. For his efforts, Das-Grande was named first team all-tournament. The boys play in the league tournament starting this Thursday evening against Lynbrook.
The #1-seeded girls water polo team earned their first ever league championship yesterday by defeating Mountain View 9-5 in the semifinal match of the league tournament and improve to 20-5 overall. The league championship qualifies them for the CCS tournament which begins next week. Congratulations, ladies, on your accomplishments and for making Harker history!
Golf
Patricia Huang, grade 12, and Kristine Lin, grade 11, each played in the CCS golf championships this week in Carmel. Huang ended her Harker golf career on a high note, shooting an 82 to finish 30th place at Rancho Canada. It was a record-breaking week for her, as she became the first Harker golfer to qualify for CCS as an individual all four years of her career. Her score of 82 represents the lowest score ever carded by a Harker girls golfer at CCS. In Carmel, Lin followed up with an 85, placing 38 out of 90 participants, and this week became the first female Harker golfer to win the regular season individual title. To cap it off, she won the league championships with an impressive score of 73 at Poplar Creek.
Tennis
Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, and Katia Mironova, grade 11, defeated Crystal Springs Tuesday in straight sets to win the WBAL doubles championship. With the win, the duo will represent Harker at the CCS Individual Tournament Nov. 19-20 at Courtside Club in Los Gatos. Dora Tzeng, grade 11, also played well, but lost to #1 seed Menlo in the semifinals. Tzeng won the first set, lost the second set in a close tiebreaker, and lost 6-4 in the third set. Tzeng, seeded #3, nearly pulled off the upset despite serving underhand.
Volleyball
Varsity girls volleyball won the league championship, defeating Mercy-Burlingame 25-21, 25-20, 25-15. The team needed the victory to become league tri-champions with a 20-6 overall record and 10-2 in league. By virtue of the league tie-breaking system, Harker receives the first seed from our league into the CCS tournament, which starts next week.
Cross Country The teams did not qualify for the CCS championships, but four individuals did qualify for the Nov. 10 sectional championships at Toro Park in Salinas. Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12 (19:24, third) and Claudia Tischler, grade 11 (19:41, sixth place and cracked the top 10 in the league for the first time) ran their personal bests on the 2.95-mile course. The girls team missed qualifying by .3 seconds. Bhattacharya’s time of 19:24 is a new school record.
On the boys’ side, sophomore Corey Gonzales (second) and senior Tyler Yeats (25th) will run in the CCS meet. Gonzales’ time of 16:12 is a new school record.
Harker athletes are deep in their seasons – check out the results!
Cross Country In the first cross country league meet of the season, Corey Gonzales, grade 10, finished second behind Menlo’s top runner. This week, he got his revenge, finishing first after leading the race from start to finish, beating Menlo’s Matt Myers by five seconds. The finish earned him a notice in the San Jose Mercury’s Highlight Reel section of the paper (page D9 – the link is not yet online) for his first career cross country victory. Tyler Yeats, grade 12, placed 24th. For the girls, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, placed 12th and Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed 14th in one of their best runs ever. The squads run in the final league meet on Nov. 1.
Water Polo
Girls water polo defeated Monta Vista 9-8 this Thursday in double overtime at the Singh Aquatic Center on their senior day to improve to 18-5 overall and 9-2 in league play. After their victory, the girls are now tied for first place in the league. Keri Clifford, grade 12, scored four goals, and seniors Rachel Yanovsky and Sonia Sidhu, Anna Levine, grade 11, and Anushka Das, grade 10, added the rest of the scoring. The girls finish the regular season this week before continuing on to the league tournament next week.
Boys water polo lost to Lynbrook 13-10 last week, with goals scored by Gilad Nilo, Ryan Hume and Karan Das-Grande, all grade 12, and Eric Holt and Billy Bloomquist, both grade 10.
Volleyball
Girls varsity volleyball defeated King’s Academy last week three games to one behind 15 kills from Shreya Dixit, grade 10. The girls’ record now stands at 18-6 overall and 7-2 in league play. This Thursday, they play ECP at Blackford.
Golf Girls golf competed in the league CCS qualifier Oct. 24, at Poplar Creek in San Mateo placing second as a team overall, just behind Castilleja. Junior Kristine Lin won the entire tournament, shooting a 73, and senior Patricia Huang shot a career best 79 placing fourth overall! Now we wait to see if the team qualified for CCS….stay tuned.
Last week, the girls rebounded from two consecutive losses to Castilleja to beat Mercy 235-277 at Los Lagos Golf Courses. Leading the charge was Huang, earning her second medalist honors of the season with a 36. Also chipping in great scores were Lin with a 37, and Daphne Liang, grade 9, who shot a 49. On their senior day this week, the girls defeated Notre Dame 221-244. The win put the Eagles in second place in the WBAL with a 6-3 record.
Tennis
Girls tennis defeated Notre Dame 6-1 on their senior day last Friday and traveled to Menlo earlier this week for
what could be a league championship showdown.
Football
The boys lost their senior night game to Monta Vista last Friday in front of a large, spirited Harker crowd. Spenser Quash, grade 12, threw a touchdown pass to Kevin Moss, grade 11, for the Eagles’ lone score. The boys travel to Fremont High this Friday.
Homecoming, a cherished Harker tradition, will take place Nov. 2, as the Eagles take on Lynbrook High at Davis Field on the upper school campus. Aside from the intense competition on the field, there will be plenty of other attractions available to members of the Harker community, including great food, tailgate parties, a bounce house for the kids, performances by talented Harker student groups, the time-honored Eaglets flyby and more!
Spirit activities have already gotten under way, with rallies taking place at the lower and middle school campuses on Oct. 18, where members of the upper school football team appeared to boost the younger students’ excitement for the event. The excitement continues into the week of Oct. 30, with upper school spirit in full swing. Students will be wearing themed attire on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, and sporting their class colors on Nov. 2, the day of the upper school’s raucous Homecoming rally.
The Homecoming pre-game festivities will officially begin at 5:30 p.m. on Fri., Nov. 2, with kickoff at 7 p.m. Alumni are invited to visit the alumni tailgate party, which will start at 6 p.m.
Please visit www.harker.org/homecoming for a full schedule and more details, and we look forward to seeing you on game day!
Upper School Football Runningback DeVonte Smith, grade 10, ignited the Harker Eagles’ offense on the road against the Los Altos Eagles, rushing 14 times for 160 yards and a touchdown in Harker’s 14-12 win, their first Santa Clara Valley Athletic League victory of the season. Smith led on both sides of the ball, finishing the game with a team-high 10 solo tackles, and a third-quarter three-yard plunge into the endzone by quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, put Harker up for good. Linebacker Ryan Mui, grade 12, had nine solo tackles. Samir Chaudhry, grade 11, and Justin Marion, grade 9, each had a fumble recovery. This Friday is senior night for the team as they host Monta Vista on Davis Field.
Cross Country
In cross country action, both the boys and girls teams ran in the Crystal Springs Center Meet last Thursday. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, continued a fine year, setting a new Harker record with a 16:13 run and finishing in fifth place. Gonzales’ run was 40 seconds faster than his previous personal best, set in the CCS Championships last year, and 1:30 faster than his time at the same meet the year before. Tyler Yeats, grade 12, placed 26th, helping the team to a 12th place finish. Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, ran her best race of the year, placing 10th on a cold and rainy afternoon while running a season-best 20:11. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, was right behind Bhattacharya in 12th, running her personal best on the Crystal course, 20:19. Outstanding freshman Mary Najibi placed 41st with a time of 22:09, a top-five all-time freshman mark for Harker.
Water Polo
Girls water polo went 4-1 this past weekend at the Western State Tournament in Modesto, with their only loss coming in sudden-death overtime to Liberty High. The girls earned fifth place overall with victories over Gregori, West, Notre-Dame-Belmont and Pitman. Keri Clifford, grade 12, had 24 goals over the weekend and goalie Helena Dworak, grade 9, had 28 saves. The tournament success comes on the heels of the girls’ dramatic 6-5 victory over league foe Santa Clara last Thursday. Harker is now an impressive 16-5 overall, the most wins in the program’s history, and tied for first place in the league at 7-2.
Boys water polo suffered two nail-biter losses last week, dropping games to Fremont 6-5 and Santa Clara 12-11. Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, had six goals against Santa Clara and Eric Holt, grade 10, chipped in five. Both the boys and girls play their senior day at home this Thursday.
Golf
The girls golf team dominated Mercy Burlingame with a 249-299 win at Crystal Springs on Friday. Patricia Huang, grade 12, led the Eagles with a five over par 41 performance on a difficult course. Daphne Liang, grade 9, shot her career-best 46. Contributing scores were junior Kristine Lin’s 46, senior Jessica Son’s 48 and junior Connie Li’s 68. Newcomer Madelyn Wang, grade 10, made her debut league performance, having only picked up golf at the beginning of the season. The Eagles remain in sole possession of second place in the WBAL with a 4-1 record, taking on first-place undefeated Castilleja today and Friday of this week.
Volleyball Girls volleyball had an excellent showing at the Presentation Tournament on Saturday, considered to be among the toughest tournaments in California. The girls started the day by losing to the 13th ranked team in the nation, Archbishop Mitty, in a very respectable match, then went 1-3 the rest of the day.
Tennis
Girls tennis took nearly three hours to complete their match on Thursday as rain poured down, but as the storm receded, Harker defeated host Crystal Springs 4-2. Harker had leapt out to a swift 3-0 lead before the rain interrupted and caused a long delay. Two other teams lost after the delay, and it was not until Athlete of the Month Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, who played #2, stepped up to defeat her opponent in near darkness that Harker finally sealed the victory. Harker now stands at 8-1 and 5-1 in league. Girls tennis senior day is this Friday v. Notre Dame-San Jose.
Golf Harker girls golfers defeated Menlo with only five girls, 236-242, to remain undefeated. Harker is tied atop the West Bay Athletic League with Castilleja. The girls face tough tests this week against Sacred Heart and then against Mercy-Burlingame on Friday.
Girls Volleyball The girls volleyball team defeated ECP last week, but lost in three tight games to a tough Crystal Springs squad on Thursday, 23-25, 23-25, 25-27. Even after the tough loss, however, the girls’ record remains at 14-2. This week, they hit the road for two games.
Girls Tennis Despite dropping last Thursday’s contest to Menlo 5-2, the girls took a major step toward removing the “Menlo Mystique,” a cloud of invincibility held by Menlo over Harker since joining the West Bay Athletic League.
The match was much closer than the score dictates. Harker had two opportunities to win the match on their service, but Menlo was able to break on those occasions and ultimately came out on top.
“The girls knew they should have won and are eager to play again,” commented coach Craig Pasqua, adding, “This could be the very event that makes us stronger and hungry for the next level.”
Dora Tzeng, grade 11, completely demolished two-time WBAL MVP Giannina Ong at #2, winning 3 and 1. Harker’s #1 doubles team, which features Sat Prakash, grade 11, and Arden Hu, grade 10, also defeated Menlo’s strong #1 team by an equally impressive 2 and 2. Both #2 and #3 doubles teams raced to early leads in their matches, but both came up short. At #1 singles, Jenny Chen, grade 12, lost a close three set match, losing in a third-set tiebreaker. Harker’s other two singles players both went down, losing in straight set matches.
Harker has another chance to lock up the league title when they play Menlo again in a couple of weeks. After Menlo’s victory this week, Harker stands alone in second place with a 3-1 record in league play and a 6-1 record overall.
Upper School Football Eagles quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, passed for 294 yards and rushed for 79, but Harker could not match Gunn High School’s 506 total yards as the Titans defeated the Eagles 49-21. Robert Deng, grade 12, and Kevin Moss, grade 11, each had touchdown catches, and kicker Deniz Celik, grade 12, added two field goals. Harker (2-4, 0-2) travels to Los Altos for a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League game this Saturday.
Cross Country Harker’s cross country teams competed in their first league meet last week. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, placed second overall in the varsity boys race, beating his time from last year by 40 seconds. For the girls, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, placed 10th, and Claudia Tischler, grade 11, ran a solid race, placing 16th. The teams run again this Thursday at Crystal Springs.
Water Polo Both boys and girls water polo lost to Saratoga this past week. The boys lost 16-9 with goals scored by Karan Das-Grande, Gilad Nilo and Ryan Hume, all grade 12. The girls lost 6-3 for only their second league loss with goals by Keri Clifford, grade 12, Anna Levine, grade 11, and Anushka Das, grade 10. The boys also went 1-2 at the Live Oak Tournament over the weekend, defeating Harbor High and losing to Live Oak and Evergreen Valley. Goalie Sean Pan, grade 11, scored in the Evergreen loss, and David Grossman, grade 12, scored his first career goal. Both the boys and the girls host Santa Clara this Thursday.
Harker Girls Tennis
After their 3-0 week against CCS-quality opponents which ended with a rout of rival Sacred Heart Prep, Harker hosts powerhouse Menlo this Thursday at Blackford in a battle for first place. As Dan Molin, athletic director, said, “If you were to watch any girls tennis match, this would be the one!”
Harker Girls Water Polo
In sudden-death overtime last Tuesday, girls water polo snatched a victory over Monta Vista, 8-7, with Keri Clifford, grade 12, scoring 7 goals and Sonia Sidhu, grade 12, picking up the other. Sierra Lincoln, grade 12, made eight stops in goal. The girls play an away game against Saratoga High on Thursday.
Harker Girls Varsity Volleyball
Girls varsity volleyball went 2-0 last week with victories against King’s Academy and Santa Clara, improving to 10-1 overall. Their sterling record will be challenged when the girls hit the road to play two games away from home this week.
Harker Cross Country
At the Ram Invitational at Westmoor High this Saturday, Corey Gonzalez, grade 10, placed eighth out of 211 runners, running the 2.4 mile course in 12:46 and improving his time from last year by a full minute. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed 18th out of 165 runners, and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, set a new personal best with her time. Thursday marks the first league meet for these runners.
Harker Football
Two touchdown passes from quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, to Kevin Moss, grade 11, were not enough as Harker fell to Cupertino this Friday, 40-13. The boys will get a chance to even their record, which now stands at 2-3, when they face off against Gunn this Friday night at Davis Field. There are only three home games, including Homecoming, remaining in Harker’s football season.
Harker Middle School and Lower School Girls Softball
Lower school and middle school girls softball teams are both off to undefeated starts to the season, with the grades 6-8 team standing at 3-0 in league play and the grades 4-5 team at 4-0.
The middle school team was locked in a tie for first place with Castilleja until Kristin LeBlanc, grade 7, knocked in Grace Park, grade 8, for a game-winning run with a base hit to defeat the Castilleja Gators, 6-5, and give Harker sole possession of first place, a game ahead of Castilleja. Meghan Robertson, grade 6, pitched an outstanding game, and Anika Rajamani, grade 6, Marti Sutton, grade 8, Tiffany Shou, grade 7, and Livinia Ding, grade 8, all came up with big plays to contribute to the victory.
The lower school girls team also has on lock on first place in its league after defeating Woodland for the second time this year. Arushi Nety, grade 5, has three doubles and two triples in her last two games, and Haley Arena, grade 5, and Courtni Thompson, grade 4, made important catches to preserve the Eagles’ last victory.
Flag Football
The grade 8 flag football team stands at 2-3 this year. Led by quarterback Alex Youn and wide receivers Nicolas Bean and Nik Weisbloom, Harker pulled off an exciting and tense 9-6 victory against Crystal Springs recently. After a season of close games, the boys are preparing for the Harker flag football tournament this weekend.
The grade 7 flag football team lost a tough 12-0 game to the Menlo Knights last week, dropping to a 1-3 record despite strong defensive play all year. James Shaw, Nirban Bhatia, Chris Smith and Jin Kim have all been standouts and leaders on defense. The highlight of the season so far came in game two, when the Eagles defeated Woodland courtesy of strong play by Dolan Dworak, who ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and Michael Sikand, who ran for a touchdown. The season closes out next week as Harker plays Valley Christian and Sacred Heart.
The grade 6 flag football team is in first place after an undefeated 6-0 run in which they never trailed at a single moment in any game. The team is led by offensive standouts like 1uarterback Bobby Bloomquist, running backs Jackson Williams and Jarrett Anderson, and tight end Charlie Molin. As cornerback, Hasan Awais has snatched four interceptions in just six games, while middle linebacker Jason Peetz has two interceptions and has scored a defensive touchdown. All told, the team has 13 interceptions in only six games and has outscored their opponents 197-36.
The grade 5 flag football team, coached by Tobias Wade and Patrick Hightower, is currently 2-1. The team is led by 1uarterback Darshan Chahal, who had a crucial punt return for a touchdown against Woodland. Safety Henry Weise has also made some stellar defensive plays by knocking the ball out of the receivers’ hands and getting crucial stops on third down.
Swimming
Harker’s lower school and middle school swim team, coached by Alisha Garcia, Andrew Booth, Jennifer Deasy and Ruth Hegedus, participated in the Castilleja meet earlier this season. The results were as follows:
Grade 6 Boys
25 Fly – first Edwin Su, second Stephan Sokolov, third Noah Salisbury
25 Breaststroke – first Leon Lu, second Jerry Peng, third Mihir Dixit
Grade 6 Girls
Medley Relay Team – third place
25 Back – first Angel Li
25 Breaststroke – second Sara Min
Grade 7 Boys
100 IM – first Derek Kou, second Alexander Wang, third Victor Shin
200 Free – first Jeffery Ma, third Aadith Srinvasan
Grade 7 Girls
50 Breaststroke – second Emma Brezoczky
Grade 8 Boys
50 Free – first Matthew Cheng, second Kayvon Solaimanpour, third Austin Zhang
50 Fly – third Justin Culpepper
Harker is hosting their own league meet on Tues., Oct. 9.
Cross Country
The middle school cross country team, coached by Scott Graham, Margaret Huntley and Jessica Sykora, is off to a great start. In the Crystal Spring Meet, a relay, Akshaya Vemuri, Sharon Yan, Gloria Guo and Sarah Savage, all grade 7, took second place. At the Priory Meet, Julia Amick, grade 6, took first place in her race. Savage did the same, while Niki Iyer, grade 8, took second in hers. The grade 6 boys took fourth place while the grade 7 and 8 girls took third and the grade 7 and 8 boys took second place. At Miller Meet, Savage again placed first in her race, with Amick placing fourth in hers, Iyer placing third in hers, and Arnav Tandon, grade 8, placing ninth in his. Harker hosts its own league meet on Wed., Oct. 10.