![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)
![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
CCS update: fall sports come to an end
Sophomore Arnav Tandon prepares to throw the ball during a water polo match.
November 30, 2015
Cross Country
Niki Iyer (11), Lilia Gonzales (9) and Connor O’Neill (12), athletes on the cross country team, have consistently placed well in the meets this past season.
“Niki is one of the finest young runners in the state. She has progressed each year as an Eagle, and is now ready to take on the best runners in the state and country,” Coach Chisam said.
Niki began running at a young age, while participating in mostly children’s events.
Connor has been running since freshman year. He modestly said that he usually places in the average, but his coaches think otherwise.
“[He’s] been like top 30 or better every race out of usually in races out of 75 people,” Coach Wohlford said.
Connor started this season of cross country in July, and according to Coach Wohlford, has been growing immensely as both a runner and student, as he has been training consistently, and as a result, has made great progress.
“He’s off the charts and his consistency has shown in his improvement. It’s been really nice to see,” Coach Wohlford said.
Lilia has been running since sixth grade, and has recently been placing in the 20s out of 60 to 80 runners. “She’s had a good baseline; her brother, Corey Gonzales (‘15), was a cross country runner for four years.”
Even with her solid foundation, Coach Wohlford is impressed in Lilia’s ability to increase her running skills.
“She has just been improving by leaps and bounds all the time,” Coach Wohlford said.
The girls’ cross country team placed eighth in the D-4 CCS Championships. Niki placed second overall, running 17:26 at Crystal Springs on Saturday. She will be competing in the CIF Cross Country Championships in Fresno on Nov. 28.
Girls tennis
For the second time in school history, the girls tennis team won the WBAL league in doubles.
Elizabeth Schick (10) and Pamela Duke (9) won first overall in the doubles division. They will be representing Harker in the CCS tournament. The girls ended their tournament on a lost to Menlo 6-1, finishing their season with a record of 14-4. Although the season is over for the team, Elizabeth and Pamela continue on to play in the CCS individuals tournament on November 23rd.
“I think we were really prepared as a team going into CCS because of the diligent practices and the many matches that have really helped us improve our game,” freshman Riya Singh said. “Our chances at CCS are pretty high.”
Girls volleyball
The volleyball team defeated Santa Cruz 3-0 during their quarterfinals on Saturday.
The team moved on to play their rival Menlo on Wednesday afternoon at Notre Dame-Belmont. Harker has provided a bus for students that want to go support the team. The winner will move on to the CCS finals and a trip to the NorCal tournament (the game was still in progress at press time).
“Last year the varsity volleyball went really far [in CCS] and we knew that this year we could do the same thing if not go further,” Isabella Spradlin (10) said. “We’re all really excited for CCS, and we know that it’s going to be a long season, and we’re excited to keep going and hopefully go really far into states.”
Football
The football team ended their season with a school best, 8-3.
The boys placed second in the Bay Football League, after losing to Stellar Prep in the league championship game, and qualified for the NCS playoffs for the second time in Harker history. The boys lost in the first round of the NCS playoffs 41-0 to third seeded Fortuna high school.
“It’s been great, even though we lost the championship game it meant a lot to the home team and I,” quarterback Nate Kelly (10) said. “We are happy with what we have accomplished this year.”
Water polo
The girls water polo team ended their overall regular season 6-16, while the boys’ ended theirs 15-9.
The teams moved onto their league tournaments on Nov. 4. The boys ended their league championship games 2-1, finishing 3rd place but not qualifying for CCS.
“We were able to start off strong and since our strong start we’ve been extending our performance throughout the season,” Zeyad el-Arabaty (12) said. “It would be great [to make it into CCS]; for the past three years while I’ve been on varsity we’ve been trying to move up into a higher league and it’s a huge goal, especially for our coach because he really sees the potential in us.”
