Varsity A Soccer Varsity A soccer had an exciting season, led by Mercedes Chien and Urvi Gupta, both Gr. 8, and Alyssa Amick, and Gabi Gupta, both Gr. 7. Coach Chrissy Chang, reports, “We faced many tough opponents but were still able to put the ball in the back of the net.” She added, “Every player contributed to our awesome soccer season.“ Nikita Parulkar, Gr. 7, was a big contributor with her offensive arsenal, while Claudia Tischler and Alicia Clark, both Gr. 8, played outstanding offense and defense for the lady Eagles.
Basketball
The Gr. 6 boys basketball team finished the season strong after battling injuries early in the year. Early in the season, they lost Jacob Diaz with a shoulder injury, and sustained many other minor injuries to key players. After overcoming these setbacks, the Eagles rebounded through the leadership of superstars Nicholas LaBruna and Rohan Desikan to finish strong in league. Coach Walid Fahmy, said, “Overall, the season was a great success. Look out for these boys as they move on to seventh grade!”
Coach Mousa Katwan credits the camaradarie of the JV B1 team for helping them finish the season strongly. On December 14, the boys beat Saint Joseph’s Sacred Heart in the WBAL tournament, after losing to them twice earlier in the season. Katwan remarked, “Strong play down low from Alex Mo gave us an advantage on offense, while the strength and heart of Nick Bean on defense stopped opposing teams’ efforts. Overall the boys learned a lot and grew together while having fun.”
The Gr. 4 team got off to a slow start with only two days of practice before the team’s first game. Coach Jim McGovern reported, however, “The boys jelled quickly and worked on playing an exciting fast-break style of basketball.” Although the season record was 3-5, the boys were very close to flipping those numbers as two losses were only by one point each. Standout performances were by Eric Andrus, who received the Eagle award for his outstanding effort and team play all season long, and Sid Chari and Brando Pakel who received Coaches awards for their extraordinary defense and hustle. McGovern added, “I look forward to the continued effort and love for the game by this group of players.”
Jan. 26 2001 The lower and middle schools’ early winter sports of boys basketball and girls soccer recently concluded with some impressive results from our young athletes; but first, some wrapping-up information from last season:
Harker News Online mis-reported the varsity A flag football team final record. The team finished the season with an impressive 13-3-2 record.
The Gr. 4-5 JV girls softball team was league champion with a 5-1-1 record.
The cross country team, boys and girls, took second place overall at the WBAL meet at Bayfront Park in Menlo Park in mid-October.
Both boys and girls swim teams, Gr. 5-8, took third place at the end-of-season WBAL meet at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco in Mid-October.
On to this season!
MS Basketball In middle school boys basketball the Gr. 8 varsity A team finished 3-7. In the last game, the boys lost to Pinewood in the in the fifth-place game of the WBAL tournament. The team was led in scoring all season long by Brian Bither, who was also the team’s best defender. One big blow to the team came when starting forward Kevin Moss broke his finger at the beginning of winter vacation and was unable to play for the remainder of the season. In his place, Huck Vaughan and Adarsh Battu stepped up and played much bigger roles in his stead to complement the team’s other primary forward, Sean Youn. The team’s Gr. 7 player, lefthander Eric Holt, showed a great deal of promise for the future and had a couple of strong games, including one in the WBAL playoff game versus Crystal Springs. Nick Navarro and John Hughes shared the other guard spot most of the season, and Ashwin Chalaka played a supporting role, along with Travis Chen. Kevin Duraiswamy also provided some help early in the season before moving on to success in debate. The team’s three victories came against Pinewood, Crystal Springs and Woodside Priory.
According to coach Greg Lawson, “The varsity A squad improved defensively over the course of the season, but were frustrated at times by difficulty putting the ball in the basket.” He added, ”There was wonderful and broad support from the boys’ parents, who were regulars at every game. I want to make sure that they know how much I and the boys appreciated their presence and support.” Lawson added that he also thanks the boys for their effort and hard work throughout the season.
The Gr. 7 varsity B team finished league play 7-0 making them league champs!The Gr. 7 varsity B2 team finished 3-4, and our Gr. 7 varsity B3 team finished 1-6. In Gr. 6, our JV A team finished 2-7 and our JV B team finished 4-5.
LS Basketball Our Gr. 5 JV B1 team finished 4-4, and the JV B2 team finished 2-7. The Gr. 4 JV C team finished 3-5.
Coaches Tobias Wade, also a LS social studies teacher, and David Ramos both enjoyed the season with the B2 team. “Our boys practiced and played hard,” Wade reported. “Even though our record did not have as many wins as we wanted, we gave our best effort. We left everything we had on the court. It was a learning experience for our boys and everyone improved throughout the whole season.
“Our boys matured and developed both on and off the courts. Good sportsmanship and fun were a priority. I am proud of their effort, and have nothing but respect for them. Well done, guys!” Finally, the coaches thank all the parents for their help and support. Wade concluded, “We could not have done it without you!”
MS Soccer In middle school girls soccer our Gr. 8 varsity A team finished the season with a 2-5 record. The Gr. 7 varsity B team was 2-5 and Gr. 6 varsity A ended 1-5.
Coach Justin “Sully” Sullivan commented on the vast improvement of the Gr. 7 varsity B team, which showed in their strong finish of their final four games, where they won two of the four and nearly earned a draw in another. Excellent goaltending and field play by Savi Joshi was an important part of the team’s improvement.
Sullivan mentioned several field players as having particularly strong play, including Diba Massihpour, with excellent hustle and consistent hard play, Megy Appalaraju, who displayed dedication, hard work and a positive attitude and team leader Reena Sandhu, who had a late season goal streak. With several returning players, next year’s soccer season looks to be an exciting one.
Despite the season record of the JV A team, coach Cyrus Merrill, also a MS history and social science teacher, has many memories that show the strength and growth of his team. He recalls Mary Najibi incorporating scissors (a foot maneuver she learned in practice) “to burn by a defender,” and contributing fast runs down the flank, making nice crosses to Alisa Wakita,” who used her incredibly quick feet to score several goals. Regan Heslop was commended for a strong dominant lead in both the central defense and in helping to tutor the goalkeeper. Tong Wu never missed a practice and developed into a very tough outside defender and Ankita Sharma contributed a very strong leg on long crosses. Shannon Richardson played physically tough at forward and scored on one of the league’s toughest teams, while Jenny Kim helped anchor the defense with confidence and excellent ball control.
Merrill added, “The ladies played even with a number of the teams in the league and surprised many of them with early goals and strong play. We played a number of nail-biter games where we would either go ahead and the other team would come back to score goals to tie it up … or in dramatic fashion we scored three goals in the second half to come back and draw even with one of the other soccer powers in our league.” The girls enjoyed practicing next to the upper school girls soccer team at Blackford this season. Merrill noted, “These ladies should contribute in the years to come and to hopefully one day be members of the high school varsity soccer team.”
LS Soccer
The Gr. 5 JV B girls soccer team finished 5-0-1 to take the league championship! This makes it back-to-back league championships for the Gr. 5 girls softball and soccer teams this year. Coach Casey Henderson reports that goal keeper Marti Sutton was amazing and fearless of the ball. She also added, “The girls demonstrated a wide variety of skills and enthusiasm during the season. We can only be proud and hope that the girls continue to develop their skills for years to come.”
Henderson also coached the combined Gr. 4-5 intramural team. “The girls showed a lot of heart and love for the game. They were always in a great mood with their amazing encouragements for their fellow players. Vanessa Tyagi, Gr. 4 and Amrita Singh, Gr. 5, could always brighten the field.”
[Update]
The boys varsity basketball team is in first place! On Jan. 12, for the first time in Harker hoop history, the boys varsity team defeated Sacred Heart Prep in their own gym. “The boys remained poised and confident throughout the 55-50 victory which gives them sole possession of first place in the WBAL,” said Dan Molin, athletic director. The JV squad also won 38-36, making it a clean sweep of the Gators last night.
Jan. 11, 2010 Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12, earned Honorable Mention status in the all-county cross country team named Dec. 15 by the San Jose Mercury News.
Jan. 7, 2010 The Mercury News announced their all-county water polo and girls tennis athletes over the break and Harker was represented again. Arthi Padmanabhan, Gr. 12, was selected all-county first team for girls tennis; Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, was chosen all-county honorable mention and co-league MVP for boys water polo, and Tina Ma and Melanie Herscher, both Gr. 12, were both selected all-league in girls water polo.
College Recruits
Colby Rapson, Gr. 12, has been accepted by Cal Berkeley to be the coxswain on the men’s crew team. Congratulations! (Editor’s note: female coxswains on male crews are relatively common.)
While most of our community was on winter break, upper school sports teams were hard at work.
Boys Basketball Boys basketball coach Jeremiah Brewer took a team of 12 to the St. Anthony Invitational Basketball Tournament in Maui, where they finished second. The team, a combination of JV and varsity players, started out strong, winning their first two games 55-18 against St. Anthony, 67-58 against Hilo (alma mater of Keith Hirota, middle school history and social science teacher), but losing to Mid-Pacific Institute 58-33 in the finals.
Ryan Cali, Gr. 12, was a consistently strong performer, scoring 15, 20 and 11 points, respectively, in the games; Lung Ying Yu, Gr. 12, also performed well, with 10 points in game one and 15 in game two. Greg Plauck, Gr. 12, scored 12 points in game two and three. Partha Mahajani, Gr. 11, also scored 12 points against Hilo.
The team received coverage in the local Maui newspaper, including photos of Plauck. Cali and Yu were named to the all-tournament team. The boys were able to explore the island between games, and Brewer thanks parents Ken Azebu, C.J. Cali, Ajay Chopra, Dan and Tracie Hughes, Deepa and Ashok Krishnamurthi, and Karla Callahan and Darrel Mank for helping to make the trip a great one.
Prior to the Hawaii trip, and on the last day of school before break, the varsity basketball boys also won the Lynbrook Classic. At that tournament, Cali, Yu and Plauck were selected to the all-tournament team. Including a 49-44 win this week against Menlo, where Yu contributed 15 points, Plauck scored 11 and Rohan Shah, Gr. 12, scored 10, the team is now 9-1 – a great start!
Also over break, the JV boys won the Wilcox Tournament championship, defeating Los Altos in the finals. Stephen Hughes, Gr. 10, was named tournament MVP and Gautam Krishnamurthi, Gr. 11, was named all-tournament.
Girls Soccer
Girls soccer traveled to the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival in Bakersfield and went 2-1-1 over the two days. Among the highlights was a 4-2, come-from-behind victory over Taft in their final game of the tournament. Throughout the tournament, goalie Shanthi Rajagopalan, Gr. 12, had 34 saves and goal scorers were Anjali Menon, Gr, 12; Esther Belogolovsky, Gr. 12; Indica Sur, Gr. 9; and Siobhan Cox, Gr. 9.
Girls Basketball
Girls basketball defeated Yerba Buena 54-34 and lost to Live Oak 48-39 over the break. Tanya Rai, Gr. 11, had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Neda Ghaffarian, Gr. 10, had 10 points in the win against YB. After this week’s 31-45 loss to Hillsdale, the girls have a 4-5 record and are putting forth a consistent effort.
Wrestling
Our wrestlers hit the mat over vacation, opening their season at the Lynn Dyche Tournament in mid-December. By far the most impressive was the performance of Chris McCallaCreary, Gr. 11, who won all four of his matches, making Harker history by winning the championship for his weight class. Mark Roh, Gr. 12 and David Wu, Gr. 11, placed sixth, while Jason Mendel, Gr. 11, took seventh in his weight class.
McCallaCreary made school history again when he was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, since no Harker wrestler has received this award at a varsity tournament. Coach Karriem Stinson is proud of McCallaCreary’s accomplishment and acknowledged the work of the wrestlers before him, explaining that it wasn’t long ago that the team wasn’t even invited to varsity tournaments. It took years of strong wrestlers to get the program recognized. He also stressed that this achievement is due in part to the hard work of his teammates, who push McCallaCreary to train hard in practice. Congratulations!
Harker’s boys water polo team has earned the Central Coast Section Interscholastic Federation 2009-10 fall season scholastic championship. The team won with an average GPA of 3.548 and was honored Nov. 21. Initiated in 1985, the program recognizes the varsity team for each sport with the highest GPA that year.
[Update] Nov. 20, 2009:
The Harker girls tennis team’s run in the CCS team championships came to an end earlier this week after a great 16-5 season. In singles play, Arthi Padmanabhan, Gr. 12, won her match 6-1, 5-7, 10-8 against Monta Vista. Jenny Chen, Gr. 9, also chalked up a win against Monta Vista with scores of 7-6, 0-6, 10-6. Monta Vista won its next two singles matches over freshman Daria Karakoulka, 6-1, 6-0and sophomore Aranshi Kumar, 6-1, 6-1. In doubles, Harker seniors Kelly Chen and Brittany Chu defeated top seed Monta Vista 7-6, 6-2. Monta Vista was able to clinch a spot in the final four, however, by winning two doubles matches. Padmanabhan and Jenny Chen will compete in the CCS Individual Tennis Championships, held Nov. 23-24, facing Monta Vista. Harker’s top doubles team, Kelly Chen and Brittany Chu will compete against St. Francis. Congratulations to the Harker girls tennis team on a fantastic season!
[Update] For the first time in Harker tennis history, boys or girls, a team has reached the CCS quarterfinal round. The girls narrowly defeated eighth seeded Menlo-Atherton 4-3. Freshmen Daria Karakoulka and Jenny Chen, each won deciding matches, with Chen clinching the final match. The number one doubles tandem of Kelly Chen–Brittany Chu and number three doubles team, senior Vivian Huang and frosh partner, Chau Nguyen, contributed as well. Number two doubles lost a close match–a sudden death tiebreaker — in the third set. Number one singles, senior Arthi Padmanabhan and number four singles, Aranshi Kumar, Gr.10, lost well-fought matches. The team now faces number one seed Monta Vista Friday, Nov. 13, 2:30 at Monta Vista.
Nov. 6, 2009:
Harker’s girls tennis doubles teams faced off for first and second at the WBAL tournament at Menlo School. In the championship match Jenny Chen, Gr. 9 and Arthi Padmanabhan, Gr. 12, teamed up to defeat seniors Kelly Chen and Brittany Chu 6-4, 6-4. Kelly Chen and Chu were seeded second and they defeated Sacred Heart Prep to get into the championship match. Jenny Chen and Padmanabhan were unseeded and defeated first-seeded Menlo 6-3, 6-0 in the other semifinal. Jenny Chen and Padmanabhan are automatics for the CCS Individual Tournament, Nov. 23-24, and Kelly Chen and Chu will be nominated for an at-large spot and will likely get one, said Dan Molin, athletic director.
Harker teams have won two state academic team championships, the California Interscholastic Federation announced June 8. Harker’s boys tennis and baseball cumulative team GPAs, 3.7960 and 3.64 respectively, won state and section honors. Harker won five North Coast Section academic championships in 2008-09. Along with baseball and boys tennis, Harker earned top honors in boys volleyball, 3.6340; boys soccer, 3.6520; and wrestling, 3.6080. The school will receive a banner for display recognizing the accomplishment. The academic championships were initiated in 1996 to reward teams with the highest collective grade-point averages, based on an unweighted 4.0 scale. The program now encompasses 17 sports and 27 teams.
Despite an early relay team disqualification in Wednesday’s trials, Harker’s girls swim team was able to overcome and win their first league championship. The title was in question until the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The girls not only won the event, but smashed the league record by 3 seconds with a time of 3:46.68.
Harker event winners were: 50 & 100 Free – Jessica Khojasteh, 100 Breast – Vivian Wong, 200 Free Relay – Katie Siegel, Tiffany Wong, Vivian Wong, Jessica Khojasteh, and 400 Free Relay – Jessica Khojasteh, Katie Siegel, Vivian Wong, Tina Ma. All were won in league record time except the 100 free. New CCS qualifications were achieved by Tiffany Wong in 200 IM and 100 Back, and Lucy Cheng in 200 IM. Next Friday and Saturday, May 15-16, the team of Sabrina Paseman, Vivian Wong, Tina Ma, Jeanette Chin, Jessica Khojasteh, Katie Siegel, Tiffany Wong, Lucy Cheng, and Rachelle Koch will be representing Harker at the CCS Championships.
The boys team also had a great meet, finishing second behind a tough Menlo squad. Event winners were: 50 & 100 Free – Cole Davis, 100 Fly – Andrew Chin, 200 IM – Kevin Khojasteh, 200 Free Relay – Kevin Khojasteh, Andrew Chin, Daryl Neubieser, Cole Davis. The team of Andrew Chin, Cole Davis, Michael Clifford, Stefan Schwartz, Darren Syu, Hassaan Ebrahim, Kevin Khojasteh, and Daryl Neubieser will represent Harker at the CCS Championships.
Final girls scores were:
Harker School – 74
King’s Academy – 63.5
Castilleja – 61
Menlo School – 41
Notre Dame – San Jose 29
Pinewood – 20
Priory – 14.5
Mercy Burlingame – 3
Mercy SF – 2
Final team scores were:
Menlo School – 109
Harker School – 91
King’s Academy – 31
Pinewood – 23
Priory – 22
The Harker Varsity boys volleyball team recently received the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2007-2008 season. Since the 1992-1993 academic year, the award has been given to collegiate and high school volleyball teams that have maintained a team-cumulative grade point average of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale or at least 4.10 on a 5.0 scale. Harker was one of only 13 high school boys volleyball teams to win this honor. Of the approximately 3,000 schools represented in the AVCA, 353 schools, just under 12%, qualified for the award.
Brian McEuen ‘ 08 has been named to the 2007-08 American Volleyball Coaches Association Boy’s High School Senior All-America Team. McEuen is the first player from Harker to be so named. He has been an instrumental player in the boys program for the last four years, making this a great culminating event for high school. McEuen plans to attend UCSD in the fall.