Katherine Zhu, grade 10, took top honors at the Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy/Shanshan Feng Junior Championship in August! This is her first American Junior Golf Association win. The AJGA website noted: “With a final-round 2-under-par 70, Katherine Zhu of San Jose, California, earned her first AJGA win at 5-under-par 211. The victory was Zhu’s first AJGA win after having two previous top-three finishes in 2014.” Congrats to Katherine on this accomplishment, a great way to end the summer.
Six Harker baseball players were selected for All-League baseball teams as chosen by each league independently! In the Peninsula/Lake Division, Miles DeWitt (infield), rising grade 12, and Nate Kelly (infield), rising grade 10, were both selected for first team; Dominic Cea (catcher), rising grade 10, was selected for the second team; and Keanu Forbes ’15 (OF/INF/P); Matt Kennedy (OF/P), rising grade 10; and Varun Haltore (3B/1B/P), rising grade 10, received honorable mentions. Go Diamond Eagles!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Junior Varsity B1 (grade 5) girls volleyball, coached by Ellie Pereira, finished 5-1, tying with Sacred Heart for first place in the WBAL. The team awards went to Tara Ozdemir (MVP), Alivia Li (Eagle) and Thresiamma Vazhaeparambil (Coaches).
Junior Varsity B2 (grade 5) girls volleyball, coached by Therese Wunnenberg, finished 3-3, taking fourth place in the WBAL. The team awards went to Melody Yazdi (MVP), Imogene Leneham (Eagle) and Emily Tan (Coaches).
Intramural (grade 4) girls volleyball, coached by Vanessa Rios and Christina Mendoza, enjoyed a great season of learning fundamental skills and intramural games. Team awards went to Rachel Ning (MVP), Allison Zhu (Eagle) and Katelyn Abellera (Coaches).
Junior Varsity B (grades 4 and 5) baseball, coached by Richard Amarillas and Jon Cvitanich, finished 1-3 in league and 2-3 overall, taking fourth place in the WBAL. Team awards went to Richie Amarillas (MVP), Jack Hayashi (Eagle) and Arvin Nidadavolu (Coaches), all grade 5.
Intramural (grade 4 and 5) baseball, coached by Jim McGovern, Tobias Wade and Kristian Tiopo, finished a great season of learning fundamental skills and intramural games. Team awards went to Matthew Chen (Eagle), and Andrew Reed and Ethan Huang (Coaches).
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 the 100, 200 and 400 (Gonzales). Team awards went to Gonzales (MVP), Daniel Fields, grade 5 and Sasvath Ramachandran, grade 5 (Eagle), and Pranav Mullappalli, grade 4 and Nageena Singh, grade 5 (Coaches).
Huge congrats! Four Harker female lacrosse players were named 2015 Academic All-Americans for the Northern California chapter by US Lacrosse. The students, all rising seniors, are Elizabeth Edwards, Natasha Mayor, Aishu Murari and Sai (Shreya) Sunkara. Go Eagles!
Academic All-American honorees exhibit exemplary lacrosse skills, good sportsmanship on the field and represent high standards of academic achievement.
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!!
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).
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 winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Football
Junior varsity B flag football (grade 5) went 5-1 in league (tied for first place). Team awards went to Eric Bollar (MVP), Rishi Jain and Anquan Boldin, Jr. (Eagle), and Raj Patel (Coaches).
Intramural flag football (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. Although they do not compete in games, the boys learned a lot and had fun with their friends. Team awards went to Rohan Gorti (Eagle), and Freddy Hoch and Dylan Parikh (Coaches).
Softball
Junior varsity A softball (grades 4-6) went 1-5-1 in league (sixth place). Team awards went to Alexandra Baeckler, grade 6 (MVP), Brooklyn Cicero, grade 5 (Eagle) and Emma Crook, grade 5 (Coaches).
Intramural softball (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. They did not play in any games, but the girls enjoyed learning and building skills. Team awards went to Brooke Baker (MVP), Keesha Gondipalli (Eagle) and Allison Lee (Coaches).