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“The race for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division title could go down to the wire,” said Knight. “Ranked 15th in the state by Maxpreps, Harker School (20-3, 6-1) has been playing well and is atop the league after a three-game sweep of visiting Los Gatos last week. The Eagles are a senior-laden team led by setter Eugene Huang (Gr. 12) and hitter Chad Gordon (Gr. 12), who averages 4.4 kills a game.”
The article went on to quote Dan Molin, Harker’s athletic director and volleyball coach. “‘He’s only 5-10, but he is one of the most crafty and skilled players I’ve ever had,’ Harker coach Dan Molin said of Gordon. Middle blocker Jacob Chappell, a 6-5 junior, has also been a key contributor,” finished Knight.
April 20, 2010
Upper school athletes continued competing over the spring break. These updates include results from mid-March to the first week of April.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team defeated The King’s Academy 190–266 on March 17. The cumulative score of 190 is the lowest ever for a Harker team! Maverick McNealy, Gr. 9, was a medalist with 35; James Feng, Gr. 12 and Kyle Roter, Gr. 9, both scored 36, with Jeremy Whang, Gr. 12, shooting 38 and Vinay Kumar, Gr. 12, shooting 45.
The boys also defeated Crystal Springs 213-239 on March 22 and, on April 5, beat Pinewood 193-208 to improve to 4-2. Feng shot a 36 to lead the way.
Swimming
Girls swimming handily defeated Mercy-Burlingame on March 17 with a score of 121-48, but lost March 19 to Gunn 50-120. They performed well April 7 against Mercy-San Francisco, Pinewood and Crystal Springs with scores of 140-16, 132-33 and 140-6, respectively. Boys took down Pinewood 130-20 and Crystal Springs Uplands School 140-4.
Track and Field
At the St. Francis Invitational on March 20, track and field members turned in some strong performances. For the frosh/sophs, Ragini Bhattacharya, Gr. 9, was fifth in the mile, Sonya Chalaka, Gr. 10, took fourth in long jump and fifth in triple jump, Sumit Minocha, Gr. 9, came in second in the 400m and 10th in the 100m. Johnny Yet, Gr. 10, was 10th in the long jump. On the varsity team, Isabelle Connell, Gr. 9, was seventh in the 800m while Tiffany Kyi, Gr. 12, was third in the triple jump. Aadithya Prakash, Gr. 12, placed fifth in the 3,000m and Scott Underwood, Gr. 12, took 10th in discus.
At the first WBAL track and field meet, held March 24 at Sacred Heart Prep, both boys and girls performed well. The boys had an outstanding showing in the throwing events, with Underwood taking first place in the discus and Thomas Enzminger, Gr. 12, throwing for second place in both discus and shot put. Prakash had a stellar run in the 3,200m, placing first; he took second in the 1,600m run. For the girls, Kyi took first in the high jump, triple jump and long jump. Tara Hansen, Gr. 12, captured second in the 300m hurdles, and Bhattacharya placed first in both the 1,600m and 3,200m. She also took third in the 800m run. Connell came in first in the 800m, and was a close second in the 200m. Adrienne Mendel, Gr. 9, placed third in the 3,200m. The girls finished the meet with an incredible 4x400m relay as Tanya Rai, Gr. 11, Hansen, Shivani Bigler, Gr. 10 and Connell earned first place.
The team also had a strong showing at the Gilroy meet on April 3, where Connell placed fifth in the varsity 800, and Minocha took second in the frosh/soph 400 and fourth in the frosh/soph 200. Enzminger, Connell, Minocha, Rai and Tyler Yeats, Gr. 9, all had personal records in their events.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team defeated Monta Vista on March 17, with Chad Gordon, Gr. 12, on fire with 21 kills that evening. They suffered their first league loss March 26 to Mountain View, losing 16-14 in the fifth game of the match. The next day the boys went 3-1 in the Leland Tournament and took the silver division championship, or fifth place out of 12. They continued their winning ways by defeating Saratoga on April 7 and Monta Vista on April 9 to improve to 18-3 overall and 4-1 in league play. Kevin Fu, Gr. 12, had seven kills against Saratoga, Gordon had 11 and Jacob Chappell, Gr. 11, had 10 against Monta Vista.
Boys Tennis
After losing a tough one to a strong Monta Vista team March 17, the boys tennis team rebounded March 18 with a 7-0 defeat of Pinewood. They returned to action April 5 with a 4-3 victory over Cupertino, another CCS-bound team. The match was even closer than the score indicated, as all three of Harker’s losses were decided in final set tiebreakers. Number 1 singles Karthik Dhore, Gr. 11, #1 doubles Tim Weng, Gr. 11 and Sachin Jain, Gr. 10, and #3 doubles Sanjeev Datta/Samir Datta, both Gr. 12, all won in straight sets and quickly gave Harker a 3-0 lead. Cupertino fought back, winning the next three matches for a 3-3 tie. Simar Mangat, Gr. 9, a doubles specialist, played #4 singles for the first time, filling in the singles lineup for an injured Derek Tzeng, Gr. 10. Mangat played superbly and, in a dramatic performance with both teams watching from the sidelines, won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, clinching Harker’s 10th victory. The boys also beat Homestead 6-1 on April 7. Harker is now 11-2.
Softball
The girls hung tough for five innings March 19 against The King’s Academy before King’s started to wear Harker down in the final innings. The girls lost, 2-10. On March 26, Alison Rugar, Gr. 9, pitched an impressive 13 strikeouts and Ashley Del Alto, Gr. 9, had a triple play against Notre Dame, but the girls lost 1-9. They also lost a close non-league game, 3-5, against Gunderson on April 9. Tracey Chan, Gr. 11, had two hits in the contest.
Baseball
Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 12, pitched six strong innings March 13 in a 2-0 loss to Irvington in the Dougherty Valley Tournament. Kevin Cali, Gr. 9, Alex Ringold, Gr. 12, Jacob Hoffman, Gr. 9 and Eckhardt each had hits for the Eagles. The boys beat Monta Vista on March 23, but lost to Gunn on March 27. Over the break, the team defeated Saratoga High 9-3 and lost to Lynbrook 7-6. Against Saratoga, Greg Plauck, Gr. 12, had four RBI and a home run while Eckhardt went 3 for 4. The boys defeated Cupertino 3-2 on April 10 to improve to 6-8-1 overall.
Girls Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse earned their first victory of the year March 25 by defeating Mercy-Burlingame 9-7. Michelle Douglas, Gr. 9, had four goals, while Julia Shim, Gr. 12 and Elaine Song, Gr. 12, each scored twice and Monisha Appalaraju, Gr. 11, made one goal and had four assists. Ruhi Kumbhani, Gr. 11, had 11 saves in goal. After defeating Woodside 15-7 on April 9, the girls improved to 2-0 in league play. Goals were scored by Shim, Song, Appalaraju, Douglas and Samantha Walker, Gr. 10.
Updates on fall and winter athletes
Congratulations to Ryan Cali, Gr. 12, for being named All Mercury News Honorable Mention for boys basketball!
Rohan Shah, Gr. 12, has been selected to participate in the 36th Annual Silicon Valley Youth Classic High School Football All Star Game on July 21 at Spartan Stadium. Congratulations!
Aadithya Prakash, Gr. 12, competed in the Golden Gate Headlands Marathon and placed first in his age group and seventh overall with a time of 3:49.01. Track and cross country coach Paul Nangle advised and assisted Prakash during his training prior to the event. Congratulations on this remarkable accomplishment!