Next fall, senior Niki Iyer will take her talents to UC Berkeley. Last week, she committed to run track and cross country for the Cal Golden Bears, a Pac-12 powerhouse. But initially Cal was not Iyer’s first choice. “Honestly, I didn’t start looking at Cal till probably September or October of this year,” stated Iyer. “In my junior year, I thought that I would most likely be heading to the East Coast, so I had turned my focus to a couple of Ivy League schools.” But after visiting a few of those schools, Iyer knew there was something missing. That’s when she visited Cal and knew she found her school. “The first thing I noticed about Cal … was the incredible team,” remembered Iyer. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, because the team is so unbelievably close knit.”

Iyer hopes to pursue biomedical engineering and gives a big “shout out to Dr. Koodanjeri and Mr. Pistacchi for inspiring me to pursue this field!”

During her time at Harker, Iyer was a WBAL league MVP three times in cross country and once in track; she was a top three CCS finisher in cross country all four years and a top five CCS finisher in the 3,200-meter three years in a row, including a CCS championship last spring; and she has finished as high as fifth at the state finals in cross country and third in the 3,200m. Iyer also holds the school record for the 800m, 1,600m and 3,200m.

Iyer still has the spring track season to look forward to before heading off to Berkeley. “It’s going to be so bittersweet to wear the H jersey for one last season, but I hope to go out with a bang.”

Good luck, Niki! Go Eagles!