![“[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)
Wrestling loses first meet of the season to Los Altos High
Freshman Kobe Howard participates in his first wrestling match of high school against a Los Altos High wrestler.
January 8, 2016
The wrestling team lost to Los Altos High School yesterday afternoon at the Blackford gym 2-5 in their first meet of their season.
Coach Karriem Stinson also his thoughts on the first meet of the season.
“What we’ve been working on is just being strong, so I think that’s coming along, once we get our stance and everything is solid I’ll be happy, so I have to say regressively we were good,” Stinson said. “We were strong tonight, we didn’t win every match, but we looked like wrestlers.”
This meet was the first match for many new wrestlers on the team, including Shikhar Solanki (10), Anthony Crook (11), and Dolan Dworak (10), and Kobe Howard (9).
“It was a lot scarier than I thought it would be, but I thought I did well, I was strong on the bottom,” Shikhar, who wrestled in the 137 lb weight class said. “I was tired but I pushed through it; Next time I know I’m going to win.”
Despite the results ending up with only two Harker wins, team captain Danny Reidenbach (11) thought that the team performed well with all the novice wrestlers on the team. The first matches are often the hardest, as they do not know what to expect.
“I think the team did pretty well; We had a lot of first year wrestlers and considering they didn’t know what they were doing, they did a pretty good job,” Danny said. “This is the first time we ever really had competition on the mat so we can definitely be sure to work on the things we messed up on and get better by the next match.”
Davis Howard (11), who wrestled in the heavyweight class, threw his opponent multiple times onto the mat and secured a win through a pin. In this division, throws are difficult to execute because the wrestlers are so heavy, so Davis’s throws evoked a large reaction from the crowd.
“I felt that he was light when I first tied up with him, so I knew I could threw him,” Davis said. “I ended up feeling it, so I did it.”
Anthony Contreras (10), who wrestled at the 152 lb weight class, was the other wrestler able to secure a win. He describes his strategy to victory.
“My first moves consist of analyzing my opponent, which usually mean me stalling until I find his weak point, and after I find it, I exploit it and attack and that’s how I won today,” Anthony said. “I just waited until he made an error and I capitalized on him. He fell back and I used that against him and I pinned him.”
The team now prepares to wrestle at a tournament tomorrow in Cupertino.
