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Update:
April 19, 2011
Swimming
Boys swimming had their first meet of the season last week, a 90-64 loss to Menlo School. Harker won six of 11 events but Menlo’s depth out-paced Harker. Kevin Khojasteh and Daryl Neubieser, both grade 11, each won two events, and Chris Ng, grade 12, won one event. Also, the 200-relay team of Khojasteh, Ng, Neubieser and Hassaan Ebrahim, grade 12, won the 200-freestyle relay. CCS qualifications were made by Khojasteh in the 200-IM and 100-breaststroke and by Neubieser in the 50-freestyle and 500-freestyle. Also, the 200-medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay teams both qualified for CCS.
April 15, 2011
Track
Early in the season, at Leland’s Quicksilver Classic, Claudia Tischler, grade 9, galloped into third place for the two-mile race (3,200), running a 12:04. At the Del Mar Classic Invitational, Tischler took first place in the girls varsity two-mile, running a 12:09. Michael Chen, grade 10, placed third in both freshman/sophomore discus and shot put, throwing 86 ft. 4 in. and 38 ft. 10 in., respectively.
At WBAL 2, at the end of March, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 10, took first place in both the one-mile and the two-mile, running a 5:52 and 12:48, respectively. Tyler Yeats, grade 10, took second in a photo finish two-mile running an 11:33.88, missing first place by .04 seconds. Isabelle Connell, grade 10, ran the 400-meter in 1:00.25, taking second place. Puneet Sidhu, grade 12, triple jumped her way into second place at 28 ft. 10 in. Matthew Giammona, grade 10, threw the discus 95 ft. 3.5 in. placing second; his classmate Chen threw the shot put 38 ft. 5.5 in., taking third in that event.
Prior to that, at the St. Francis Invitational, Connell placed third in the JV 400-meter, breaking one minute with a lightning fast 59.80, and setting a personal record!
Tennis
Harker defeated Mission Trail Athletic League leader Carmel High (13-5) this week at Blackford. Despite losing our No. 2 singles player, Derek Tzeng, grade 11, to illness, the team was forced to ‘play up’ and the singles players played out of position. Singles players Karthik Dhore, grade 12, Chris Chang, grade 10 and Justin Yang, grade 10, were all victorious. Equally impressive were Harker’s doubles teams, who all won in straight sets, particularly No. 2 doubles Nikhil Narayen and Sachin Jain, both grade 11 (6-2, 6-0), and No. 3 team of Simar Mangat and Nikhil Panu, both grade 10, (6-1, 6-1). With the victory, Harker’s overall record stands at 9-3.
Earlier week, the boys tennis team turned things around to beat Sacred Heart Prep (SHP) at their second meeting by the same score by which SHP had defeated them in March. This time, things were different as Harker had all three of its top singles players in the match. Only second and third doubles lost, both in close third set tiebreakers. With the win, Harker improves to an overall record of 8-3 and is 7-2 in the WBAL, tied with SHP. However, we hold the tiebreaker advantage over SHP by virtue of a slim 17-15 overall set advantage.
Softball
The softball team had five wins in a row between mid-March and early April, before losing a close one this week, 4-3 to Notre Dame-San Jose. Victoria Liang, grade 12, was two for four batting and Alison Rugar, grade 10, pitched 10 strikeouts. The loss puts them in a tie for first place in league at 3-1. In early April the girls defeated King’s Academy 4-2. Rugar pitched 16 strikeouts to seal the victory. A few days prior, for the first time ever, our softball team defeated rival Castilleja 8-3; Rugar pitched 10 strikeouts and went two for three batting with a triple, double and three RBIs. Hits were also recorded from Liang, Tracey Chan, Aileen Wen, all seniors; Ashley Del Alto, grade 10; and Nithya Vemireddy, grade 9.
Baseball
Baseball lost a close one in mid-April to Woodside 2-1. Amir Mortazavi, grade 12, pitched six solid innings in the loss. A few days before, the team had a dramatic come-from-behind victory against league foe Crystal Springs. Nate Hoffman, grade 11, had a clutch bases loaded double with two outs and a 3-2 count to lead a five-run sixth inning for the 8-7 victory. In early April the team lost to Capuchino 10-4, despite a triple and a run scored by Greg Cox, grade 12.
Golf
After four straight wins early in the season, boys golf broke rhythm when the rains hit, and in early April lost to SHP 214-221, though Maverick McNealy, grade 10, earned medalist honors shooting a 37. The boys are now 4-3 in league. In an earlier match against Menlo, freshman Vik Bhagat was Harker’s low man, shooting a 39.
Volleyball
Boys volleyball went 6-0 on April 9, the second day of the Bellarmine Tournament, earning the Bronze Division Championship by defeating Serra, Leland and Valley Christian to seal the title. The week before, the team defeated King’s Academy behind 22 kills from Jacob Chappell, grade 12. Classmate Zach Mank contributed with nine blocks. At the Watsonville Tournament, the team was named silver division champs; the boys lost to Pajaro Valley before defeating Palma, Watsonville and San Benito.
Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team’s skills are building, said coach Andrew Irvine. They beat Woodside 18-13, though the game was forfeited in the end. Woodside was short players so had to forfeit, but the teams played a 10-on-10 game (instead of the 12 players per side required) for fun. Michelle Douglas, grade 10, had 10 goals; Sam Hoffman, grade 10, had one; Jessica Son, grade 10, had one, and since she normally plays defense, scoring a goal was a rare treat; Julia Fink, grade 9, had four goals, one of which was an amazing quick stick shot; and Tiphaine Delepine, grade 10, had two goals.
Swimming
This week, girls swimming continued their dominating season in the WBAL with a 136-28 win over Menlo School. Harker won all eleven events, including one-two-three finishes in seven of the eleven events. Individual event winners were Jessica Khojasteh, grade 12 (two events); Rachelle Koch, Katie Siegel and Lucy Cheng, grade 11; Amie Chien, grade 10; and Manon Audebert and Kimberly Ma, grade 9. Audebert, Harker’s newest CCS qualifier, made the cut for the 200-meter freestyle by .08 of a second. Harker is now 4-0.
In late March, the girls swimming won their third straight meet at Castilleja, 121-49, winning 10 of 11 events. Double event winners were Khojasteh and Audebert. Other winners were Cheng, Siegel and Ma, as well as all three relays. Harker had one-two-three finishes in both the 500-free and the 100-breaststroke, and one-two finishes in both free relays.