Cross Country:

Varsity cross country runner Niki Iyer (10) placed third in her Division 4 race at CCS finals on Saturday, Nov. 15, earning her a place at state finals.

Her freshman year highlights include being named first-team All-Mercury News, qualifying and placing seventh out of 207 runners in state finals, with a 5K time of 18:33. Niki was also awarded the title of league champion.

Niki practices six days a week and does cross-training on the seventh day.  She generally practices for two to three hours in the afternoon and an hour in the morning.

She keeps her warm-ups the same before each race, and this ritual has turned into a superstition for her.

“I think my biggest superstition, though, would probably be my warmup routine. The first thing I do is go to the bathroom, and then I go straight up to a ten-minute jog, and then I go through this series of warm-ups, [and] it just has to be that series [of warm-ups],” Niki said.

When asked about how she felt about making it to states for the second year in a row, Niki responded positively.

“[It feels] really good. I got to states last year,” Niki said. “So, this year, just going again as a sophomore, considering in the beginning of the season, I was injured for about three months with a stress fracture, to come back and still make it to states, is really good.”

Both Niki and Corey Gonzales (12) will be running at state finals at Woodward Park, Fresno, on Nov. 29.

Golf:

Freshman golfer Katherine Zhu completed the best golf finish in Harker history by placing second at the Central Coast Section (CCS) golf championships and tieing 19th place out of 84 golfers at the Northern California Championships.

Her score of 3-under-par 69 fell short only two strokes to a golfer from Palo Alto High School, who placed first with a score of 67 at CCS, where 95 golfers competed at Rancho Canada in Carmel on Nov. 4. Katherine was one of four individuals who qualified at CCS to advance to the individual league championships at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas with a score of 9-up for the round on Nov. 10.

“It feels really good. I didn’t really have a lot of expectations before the competition,” Katherine said. “I just went and played my best.”

Katherine has been a strong competitor throughout the entire season, assisting the team in their 5-5-1 season. Since she is only a freshman, she looks forward to growing through her next three years of high school.

“My goal next season is to make it into states,” she said.

Katherine began the sport six and a half years ago, when her mother signed up for golf.

“My mom played, and she made me play,” Katherine said. “I hated it because it was really boring, and then I started winning and making new friends, and it was okay.”

Since then she has been practicing outside of school and joined the girls varsity golf team this year.

“Practice is always fun and my teammates and the coaches are really supportive and encouraging.”

Harker coach Ie-Chen Cheng commented on the impact Katherine’s character has had on the team.

“As a freshman, she has already proven that she can be the best golfer to come through Harker. To have an elite player like Katherine makes the team better as a whole,” she said. “She is beginning to understand that it’s not just her scores and performance on the course that counts. But her attitude, her willingness to help others and share her experience and knowledge, and her setting a good example on how to become an elite golfer. She’s still young, but I see potential in her becoming a leader of the team in the future.“

She also sees opportunity for growth in Katherine’s ability over the next three years.

“Her potential is limitless. She’s a great ball striker. One of the most if not the most consistent ball strikers I’ve ever seen,” Coach Cheng said. “If she continues to improve her putting and her work regiment, she can definitely play Division I golf.”

Athletic Director Dan Molin has been using his frequent Eagle updates to keep the student body up to date with Katherine’s performance through this golf season.

“Congratulations to Katherine on an outstanding season which includes an individual league championship.  We’re very proud of her,” said Molin in an email to Harker faculty and students.

Though her season is over for the year, Katherine will continue to play at Pruneridge Golf Club in Santa Clara to prepare for next year.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on November 21, 2014.