Two Harker sprinters qualified for the CCS track and field finals this past Friday night at Gilroy High School. Junior Isabelle Connell qualified in the 400-meter run with a time of 58.53, placing eighth, and just missed qualifying in the 200-meter final, placing 12th with a time of 25.80.
Junior Sumit Minocha qualified in the 200-meter run placing fifth overall with a time of 22.13. Please congratulate these truly elite athletes on their accomplishments and come cheer them on this Friday night!
Also, congratulations to thrower Michael Chen and two-miler Tyler Yeats, both grade 11, for qualifying and participating in the semifinals Saturday. See complete results here.
Spring sports regular seasons are wrapping up and Harker athletes are scoring right and left!
Upper School Swimming
Harker’s boys and girls swim teams competed in the CCS championships with some fantastic results. While CCS comprises more than 100 schools stretching from San Francisco to King City, Harker had many top 10 finishes. Overall, the girls tied for 16th place and the boys tied for ninth place.
Girls 200-meter medley relay – Katie Siegel, Lucy Cheng, Kimberly Ma, all grade 12, and Amie Chien, grade 11: 11th place
Boys 200-meter medley relay – Kevin Khojasteh, Daryl Neubieser, both grade 12, Aaron Huang and Craig Neubieser, both grade 9: seventh place
Girls 200-meter free relay – Tiffany Wong, Amie Chien, Rachelle Koch, all grade 12, and Manon Aubert, grade 10: 14th place
Girls 400-meter free relay – Katie Siegel, Rachelle Koch, Kimberly Ma, all grade 12, and Manon Aubert, grade 10: 14th place
Boys 400-meter free relay – Kevin Khojasteh, Daryl Neubieser, both grade 12, Aaron Huang and Craig Neubieser, both grade 9: 12th place
Boys 200-meter individual medley – Kevin Khojasteh, grade 12: fourth place
Boys 100-meter breaststroke – Kevin Khojasteh: seventh place
Boys 50-meter freestyle – Daryl Neubieser: fifth place
Boys 100-meter freestyle – Daryl Neubieser: third place
Girls 100-meter backstroke – Katie Siegel: second place
Upper School Track and Field
Track and field competed in the league finals with some impressive results. The junior varsity boys team won the league championship! Individuals qualifying for CCS trials held May 12 were Michael Chen, Isabelle Connell, Sumit Minocha, Tyler Yeats, all grade 11, and Corey Gonzales, grade 9.
Varsity Boys Finals
Team ranking: fourth place (of nine schools)
100 meter: Sumit Minocha, 11.20 seconds, first place
200 meter: Sumit Minocha, 22.67 seconds, first place
3,200 meter: Tyler Yeats, 10:24.16, first place; Corey Gonzales, 10:24.53, second place
Shot put: Michael Chen, 41 ft. 9 in., second place; Matthew Giammona, grade 11, 38 ft. 11 in., fourth place
Discus: Michael Chen, 117 ft. 7.5 in., third place
Varsity Girls Finals
Team ranking: fifth place (of 12 schools)
1,600 meter: Claudia Tischler, grade 10, 5:21.74, third place (Only 0.33 seconds from taking second place)
400 meter: Isabelle Connell, 58.83 seconds, second place
200 meter: Isabelle Connell, 26.01 seconds, first place
3,200 meter: Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 11, 12:12 minutes, fourth place
Junior Varsity Finals
Team ranking: first place (out of nine schools)
400 meter: Vincent Lin, grade 10, 1:00.96, second place
100 meter: Jerry Shen, 13.30, third place
200 meter: Vincent Lin, 27.33, first place; Jerry Shen, 27.37, second place
Shot put: Nishaant Murali, 31 ft. 9 in., first place; Ravi Bhandia, 30 ft. 8.5 in., second place; Rohan Kapatkar, 30 ft 6.5 in., fourth place
Discus: Ravi Bhandia, 99 ft. 6 in., first place, Raghav Sehtia, 89 ft. 2 in., second place; Rohan Kapatkar, 89 ft. 1.5 in., third place; Nishaant Murali, 83 ft. 1 in., fourth place
Lower and Middle School Update
Harker lower and middle schools sports teams have been enjoying a spectacular spring season. Several teams are in the hunt for a league championship.
Middle School Tennis
The middle school tennis team competes in two tennis leagues. On May 8, they defeated perennial powerhouse Menlo, 8-1, to take the WBAL tennis championship! On May 9 they competed for the MTP title v. Fisher. The team entered the championship with a perfect 12-0 season.
Grade 8 Varsity Girls Volleyball
The girls volleyball team played Menlo May 9 for the WBAL title. They entered the game 6-0 and without a single lost set in a match.
Grade 8 Varsity Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team is in the hunt for the ADAL title with a record of 9-0. They have two matches remaining to reach their goal.
Grade 5 Junior Varsity B1 Girls Volleyball
This grade 5 volleyball team competed against Pinewood on May 10 for the WBAL title. Coming into the match, the team had a undefeated 5-0 record without a single lost set.
As spring sports wind up, the laurals are being awarded! Six out of Harker’s 10 volleyball teams have won their league titles and varsity A tennis, Grades 6-8, is peaking and heads to playoffs. Read coach Theresa (Smitty) Smith’s report:
Grade 8 varsity A girls volleyball has not lost a match in the last two years, went 7-0 this season, good enough for WBAL champions.
Grade 7 varsity B girls volleyball finished 6-1, good enough for WBAL tri-champions.
Grade 6 junior varsity B6 girls volleyball finished 6-2, good enough for WBAL tri-champions.
Grade 5 junior varsity B1 girls volleyball finished 5-1, good enough for WBAL co-champions.
Boys
Grade 8 varsity A boys volleyball finished 10-1, good enough for ADAL champions.
Grade 7 varsity B boys volleyball finished 6-2, good enough for ADAL champions.
Tennis:
Varsity A tennis, grades 6-8, finished the WBAL season at 8-0, and won the WBAL playoff championship v. Menlo, 6-3. They are currently 8-0 in the MTP and play in the semifinals next Monday and the finals next Wednesday. They currently hold an overall record of 16-0!
Boys varsity volleyball defeated Los Gatos High School 15-12 in the fifth and deciding game at Los Gatos. Junior varsity volleyball was victorious as well. Andrew Zhu, grade 10, and Zach Ellenberg, grade 12, led the team in kills and Josh Tien, grade 11, led in assists.
Boys volleyball competed in the Bellarmine Tournament the weekend of April 21 going 2-4 with victories over Valley Christian and King’s Academy. Another highlight was a 25-23 game-one loss to state power Bellarmine on Friday. The boys travel to Monta Vista on April 26.
Softball
Softball defeated Pinewood on April 19 12-2. Ashley Del Alto, grade 11, pitched a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts. Alison Rugar, grade 11, had two doubles and four RBIs. Sarah Bean, grade 9, Laura Thacker, grade 10, Angela Singh, grade 12, Vivian Isenberg and Del Alto also had hits.
Softball defeated Alma Heights on April 20 2-0 to improve to 7-6-2 overall, 3-2 in league. The girls have three games this week including April 23 (away) and home games on April 24 and April 26.
Lacrosse
On April 19, girls lacrosse earned their sixth straight win with a score of 15-9 over Santa Catalina. Goal scorers were: Wendy Shwe, grade 11 (five), Michelle Douglas, grade 11 (four), Hannah Bollar, grade 9 (four) and Tiphane Delepine, grade 11 (two).
Girls lacrosse defeated Woodside on April 20 14-7 for their eighth consecutive victory! The girls have two big home games on April 24 and April 26.
Golf
The boys golf team is vying for their share of the league title on April 23 versus Menlo.
Katherine Zhu, grade 6, has been doing particularly well in her golf tournaments. On the weekend of April 21, during the North California Junior Champion Tournament, she shot 71 even par from the white tee (6,100 yards) and took second place.
Track and Field
A select group of Harker track athletes competed in the CCS Top 8 Meet, one of the most prestigious track meets in Northern California, on April 20 with some outstanding results:
Isabelle Connell, grade 11: fourth in the 400 meter (58.73), eighth in 200 meter (25.85)
Sumit Minocha, grade 11: third in the 200 meter (22.20)
Claudia Tischler, grade 10: 20thin the mile, 5:26.43
Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 11: 21stin the mile, 5:26.54
Harker track teams compete in league finals in two weeks.
Swimming
The boys and girls swim teams soundly defeated Priory, Pinewood, Crystal Springs and Mercy-SF last week. On the varsity girls side, there were great swims by Manon Audebert, grade 10, Lucy Cheng, grade 12, Tiffany Wong, grade 12, Rachelle Koch, grade 12, Amie Chien, grade 11, Keri Clifford, grade 11, and Rachel Yanovsky, grade 11. On the varsity boys side, seniors Akshay Ramachandran, Daryl Neubieser, Andrew Lee and Kevin Khojasteh; freshmen Aaron Huang and Billy Bloomquist; and Karan Das-Grande, grade 11, had great meets. Eleven grade 12 students will be honored Wednesday, which also happens to be their toughest league meet of the season. Come support the seniors: Lucy Cheng, Tariq Jahshan, Kevin Khojasteh, Rachelle Koch, Andrew Lee, Cole Manaster, Daryl Neubieser, Akshay Ramachandran, Katie Siegel, Tiffany Wong, and Albert Wu. The senior ceremony starts at 3:50 p.m.
Baseball
Baseball defeated Cupertino on April 21 in a non-league contest 7-4 to improve to 7-10 overall. Noah Levy, grade 12, went two for three with a triple and two RBIs. The boys have three games this week including a home game on April 25 versus Crystal Springs.
Senior Swimmers will be honored on April 25th at 3:50 p.m. at the Singh Aquatic Center on the Harker Saratoga Campus Please join us as we say thank you to: Albert Wu, Tiffany Wong, Kathryn Siegel, Akshay Ramachandran, Daryl Neubeiser, Cole Manaster, Andrew Lee, Rachelle Koch, Kevin Khojasteh, Tariq Jahshan and Lucy Cheng.
Girls lacrosse defeated Notre Dame yesterday 9-7. Michelle Douglas, grade 11; Hannah Bollar, grade 9 and Wendy Shwe, grade 11, had three goals each. The girls are now 7-5 overall, 4-0 and first place in league! This year’s group has already earned the most victories in the program’s history.
In track and field action junior Isabelle Connell raced in the prestigious Serra High Top 7 Meet last Saturday, placing first in the 400 meter with a time of 59.8 and second (with a new personal record) in the 200 meter with a time of 26.07.
Boys volleyball defeated King’s Academy Tuesday 3-1 to improve to 10-12 overall. Andrew Zhu, grade 10, had 19 kills in the victory. The boys travel to Los Gatos on April 19 and to Bellarmine on April 20.
Boys tennis had a tough match yesterday at Sacred Heart, losing 5-2 to drop to 9-5 overall. Bright spots were #1 Derek Tzeng, grade 12, and the #1 doubles team of Nikhil Narayen, grade 12, and Chris Chang, grade 11. The boys host Menlo-Atherton April 19.
Softball lost to a strong-hitting Castilleja team yesterday 5-1 to drop to 5-6-2 overall and 2-2 in league. Alison Rugar, grade 11, hit a triple. Other hits were recorded by Ashley Del Alto, grade 11, and Laura Thacker, grade 10. The girls host Pinewood on April 19.
Boys golf suffered its second defeat of the season at the hands of Sacred Heart 209-194 to drop to 6-2 overall. Maverick McNealy, grade 11, led all golfers with a 35 at Sharon Heights.
April 11, 2012
Eagle update! Boys golf defeated Crystal Springs Monday 191-221 and Pinewood yesterday 186-210 to improve to 6-1 on the season. Maverick McNealy, grade 11, continues to blister the competition shooting a 33 and 31 this week. The team faces SHP Monday.
Baseball defeated Gunderson Monday 4-0 to improve to 6-7 overall. Junior Kevin Cali had a great game going 3 for 4 at the plate with a run scored. He also pitched a complete game allowing only two hits. The boys travel to Gunn Friday.
By Dan Molin
April 10, 2012
Girls lacrosse is currently first place in league after defeating Mercy-Burlingame 13-11 on Davis Field. Wendy Shwe, grade 11, scored five goals and Christine Lee, grade 10, had 21 saves in goal. The girls are on a three-game win streak and hope to make it four in a row with a victory over Sequoia at Harker Wednesday.
The girls swim team had a great home meet on March 28, defeating both Notre Dame and Castilleja. Harker won 10 of 11 events, including a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100-yard butterfly by Katie Siegel, grade 12, Manon Audebert, grade 10, and Lucy Cheng, grade 12.
The 200-medley relay of Kimberly Ma, grade 10, Amie Chien, grade 11, Cheng and Siegel won and qualified for CCS.
The 200-free relay of Audebert, Chien, Rachelle Koch and Tiffany Wong, both grade 12, won and qualified for CCS.
The 400-free relay of Audebert, Siegel, Wong and Ma also won and qualified for CCS.
Audebert won the 200 free, qualifying for CCS; Ma won the 200 IM and 500 free, qualifying for CCS in both.
Siegel won the 100 fly and the 100 back, qualifying for CCS in both. Koch won both the 100 free and 100 breast events.
In the boys intersquad meet, Kevin Khojasteh, grade 12, shattered the Harker 500-yard freestyle record, previously set by Daryl Neubieser, grade 9. Karan Das-Grande, grade 11 and Albert Chu, grade 10, also had great swims in the 100 fly and 100 free. The swimmers will head to the Los Banos Invitational this Saturday. Wish them luck!
Varsity boys tennis went 3-0 before the break with wins over Homestead, Priory and King’s Academy, completing its season with a dominating 7-0 victory. Derek Tzeng, grade 12, played his best match of the year and won 6-1, 6-1. All the doubles teams won easily. Chris Chang and Nikhil Narayen, grades 11 and12, won at #1, 6-1, 6-0; Rahul Desirazu andJason Chu, grades 11 and 9, won 6-2, 6-0; and Nikhil Panu and Justin Yang, both grade 11, completed the doubles domination, 6-0, 6-1. The boys are 6-4 overall, 5-2 in league and face Crystal Springs Tues., April 10.
At the second league track and field meet of the season, Isabelle Connell, grade 11, placed first in both the 200 meter and 400 meter. Sumit Minocha, grade 11, took first in both the 200 meter and 100 meter. Tyler Yeats, grade 11, and Corey Gonzales, grade 9, were first and second in the 1,600. Gonzales and Krish Chandani, grade 10, were third and fourth in the 800 meter. Yeats was second in the 3,200 meter. Claudia Tischler, grade 10, her first meet back from injury, got first in the 800 meter. Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 11, placed first in the 3,200 meter. Vedant Thyagaraj, grade 10, got third in the 400 meter.
Harker throwers went first, second, fourth and fifth in shot and second, third, fourth and fifth in discus. Michael Chen set a new school shot put record of 41’ 7”, eclipsing the old mark set by Thomas Enzminger ’10 by a full foot. Matt Giammona, grade 11, was second in both shot and disc.
At the prestigious Leland Invitational Saturday, Minocha won the 200 meter with a lightning fast 22.42. Michael Chen, grade 11, broke his recently-set Harker shot put record with a throw of 42’, good for seventh place. Bhattacharya and Tischler placed fifth and eighth respectively in the 1,600 meter. Results: http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=147852#1067
Both Minocha and Connell are currently ranked in the Top 10 of CCS in the 200-meter run!
Boys volleyball went 4-1 at the Watsonville Tournament, good for fifth place out of 20, and the silver division championship. The boys are now 9-10 overall and face Homestead and Lynbrook this week.
Softball defeated King’s Academy 8-2 before the break. Ashley Del Alto, grade 11, was three for four with six RBIs! Alison Rugar, grade 11, pitched 15 strikeouts. The girls try to improve upon their 5-3 record with games at Saratoga and Presentation this week.
Our golfers defeated King’s Academy, but suffered their first defeat of the season against Menlo before the break. The boys are now 4-1 and face Crystal Springs today.
Baseball gave perennial power Menlo all it could handle before the break keeping the game tied at 1-1 through six innings before Menlo eventually pulled away with the victory. Kevin Cali, grade 11, was one for three with an RBI. The boys are now 5-7 overall, 1-1 in league and have three away games this week.
Hollis Thompson, who attended Harker from 1996 to 2001 (K-4) and became a star forward for the Georgetown Hoyas basketball team, will enter the 2012 NBA draft. Thompson, a junior at Georgetown who has chosen to forgo his senior year, will finish his career as the Hoyas’ all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 44 percent. He is also the 12th-highest three-point scorer in Georgetown history, with 128 three-point shots made.
“He was one of my favorite library students in his younger grades,” said librarian Enid Davis. “He was a very bright child. Then, he was the size of just one of his arms now!”
Girls lacrosse went 2-1 last week starting with a close 17-15 loss to Bella Vista Tuesday. The girls then traveled to Santa Catalina Thursday to earn a 19-9 win and marked the first time ever defeating the Cougars! The girls opened league play Friday with a 17-11 victory over rival Notre Dame-San Jose.
Big shout out to the boys basketball and football team members who came to support lacrosse. Scorers were: Asia Howard, grade 12 (one); Michelle Douglas, grade 11 (three); Hannah Bollar, grade 9 (four); Tiphaine Delepine, grade 11 (four), Wendy Shwe, grade 11 (five). Christine Lee, grade 10, had 16 saves in goal. The girls host tough league opponent Mercy-Burlingame Friday, so please come out and support them! This is Andrew Irvine’s first year as head coach. He has four years of experience working under former head coach Dawn Clark. Jason Berry is his assistant coach.
Swimming
Our swimmers opened the league portion of their season with some outstanding results. The girls team defeated Menlo 141-57 and Mercy-Burlingame 132-60. The girls earned first place finishes in all events
The girls 200-medley relay of Katie Siegel, grade 12, Lucy Cheng, grade 12, Kimberly Ma, grade 10, and Amie Chien, grade 11, won and qualified for CCS.
The girls 200-free relay of Tiffany Wong, Rachelle Koch, Amie Chien, all grade 12, and Manon Audebert, grade 10, won and qualified for CCS. The girls 400-free relay of Siegel, Cheng, Ma and Audebert won and qualified for CCS.
Audebert won the 200 free; Ma won the 200 individual medley and the 400 free, qualifying for CCS in both. Chien won the 100 free, Wong won the 50 free, Siegel won the 100 fly and the 100 back, and qualified for CCS in both. Cheng won the 100 breast and qualified for CCS in that and the 200 IM. Honorable mentions include Koch and Keri Clifford, grade 11.
The girls swam again March 28 so watch for results including first place finishes from Audebert, Ma, Siegel and Koch, and the relays featuring Chien, Cheng and Tiffany Wong. Coming soon!
Final score, boys: Menlo 108, Harker 92
The 200-medley relay of Kevin Khojasteh, grade 12, Aaron Huang, grade 9, Craig Neubieser, grade 9, and Daryl Neubieser, grade 12, won and qualified for CCS. The 200-free relay of Khojasteh, Huang and both Neubiesers won and qualified for CCS.
Khojasteh won the 200 individual medley and the 100 back and qualified for CCS in both, Daryl Neubieser won the 50 free and the 100 free and qualified for CCS in both, Huang won the 100 breast and qualified for CCS; Honorable mentions include Craig Neubieser and Austin Lai.
Baseball
After losing to Monta Vista earlier in the week, our baseball team bounced back with a 18-0 win against North Valley Baptist to improve to 4-4. Noah Levy, grade 12, was 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs.
March 28, in the league opener against King’s Academy, with bases loaded, two outs, a 4-4 tie in extra innings, junior Drew Goldstein drove in the winning run with a line-drive single to win the game 5-4. Kevin Cali, grade 11, pitched eight strong innings with seven strikeouts. Nate Hoffman, grade 12, went 3 for 5 with two RBIs. Jacob Hoffman (no relation), grade 11, went 3 for 6 batting including a double. The boys are 5-4, 1-0 in league and travel to Menlo March 30.
Boys Tennis
Boys Tennis lost to Monta Vista and Menlo last week before coming back and defeating Priory 7-0 on Thursday, making them 3-3 overall, 3-2 in league play. This week things turned around with their second victory over Priroy, 5-2, on Priory’s home courts. Sachin Jain, grade 12, played #1 singles and won a close tiebreaker in the third set. Number one doubles team of Chris Chang, grade 11, and Jason Chu, grade 9,had an easy victory, 6-1, 6-0 and set the tone for the match. Harker is now tied for second place in the WBAL (with SHP) and our overall record is 5-4. They travel to King’s Academy, March 29.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball lost to Lynbrook and Mountain View last week to drop to 5-7 overall, 1-3 in league. Andrew Zhu, grade 10, had 19 kills in the loss to Lynbrook and Zach Ellenberg, grade 12, added 12 kills. They host to Lowell and Monta Vista this week.
Kicks Against Cancer raised nearly $12,000 in January and February for Camp Okizu, a program for families affected by childhood cancer. Money was raised by selling T-shirts and wristbands, as well as through traditional donations.
On Feb. 1, the varsity boys and girls soccer teams played their evening home games wearing the purple Kicks Against Cancer T-shirts. Both teams won their games, with the girls defeating Immaculate Conception Academy 7-0 and the boys winning over Eastside College Prep with a score of 2-1.
Profits from the food sales at Carley’s Café, which nearly ran out of supply to feed the hungry attendants, were also donated to the campaign.
“I think that this event really lets Harker have a direct impact on the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families,” said Nicole Dalal, grade 12, who organized the event and scored a goal in the girls varsity game. “I would just say that it is incredibly rewarding to know that the game of soccer can bring together our entire community and the Okizu community as well!”