![“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)
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- Football
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- Girls Tennis
- Girls Volleyball
- Girls Water Polo
- Golf
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- Volleyball
- Weekly Recaps
Weekly recap: Fall sports ace the week
Cassandra Ruedy (12) passes during a varsity girls practice last week.
September 10, 2019
Cross Country
The high school cross country team competed in their first meet of the school year this weekend, at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
In the varsity girls division, Anna Weirich (11) placed 15th out of 182 runners, while Ritika Rajamani (10) placed 92nd. For the varsity boys, Dawson Chen (10) led the Harker team, placing 153rd.
In the junior varsity boys division, Alex Hu (10) placed 31st out of 289 competitors and ran the fastest Harker time overall for the full 2.93-mile course. In the freshman boys division, Rigo Gonzales placed ninth out of 238 runners in his race, while Rupert Chen placed 34th. In the freshman-sophomore girls division, Kara Kister (9) placed 61st out of 212 runners.
“My first week of working with the team, I had twelve kids on average. The first week of school we were in full swing, we had thirty-eight people,” cross country coach Mia Purnell said regarding the growth of the team early on in the season. “[Now] it’s all about building team camaraderie and building the family that is Harker cross country.”
The team will compete in their second meet of the season at the Jackie Henderson Memorial Invitational next Saturday.
Golf
Varsity girls golf competed at the Chappy Wheeler Tournament in Palm Desert on Sept. 6, kicking off the season with a second-place finish.
Freshman Claire Chen led the team in both rounds, averaging on par with scores of 74 and 70, and won an individual award in the tournament. She was closely followed by junior Natalie Vo, who earned a combined score of 149, and senior captain Katelyn Vo, who earned 152.
This week, the girls will be playing Valley Christian at the Los Lagos Golf Course on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Football
The football team won their second league game of the season, defeating Washington High 21-6 on Friday, Sept. 6, to bring their overall record to 1-1 for the season.
The game, which followed the spirit kickoff earlier that evening, began with a scoreless first quarter. Although Washington returned an interception for a touchdown to take the lead 6-0 early in the second quarter, Harker soon responded by scoring a touchdown and extra point of their own. Harker then solidified their lead in the fourth quarter by scoring two additional touchdowns, including a highlight-reel 30-yard touchdown pass to Sid Dudyala (12) from quarterback Vijay Vyas (11), ultimately winning 21-6 in front of an eager home crowd.
“We started the game off hard, and they went up 6-0. But after that, our team just battled. We all came together and put up points and we scored 20 straight,” Vijay said.
The team hosts Lowell High (1-1) on Friday, Sept. 13, at 7:00 p.m. for their third game of the season.
Tennis
In their season opener this weekend at the 63rd Annual Santa Catalina Tennis Invitational, the varsity girls tennis team made a strong first impression. Going 7-0 in all of their matches against Carmel, Sacred Heart Cathedral and Castilleja, the Eagles made it to the final round, where they proceeded to defeat Salinas 5-2 and take home the championship.
The girls will play their next game against Homestead High School on Sept. 23.
Volleyball
After another impressive week for girls volleyball, the varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams maintain their strong performance this season. All three teams played Mercy High School in Burlingame on Sept. 4, with varsity and freshman winning 3-0 and 2-0 respectively, while junior varsity faced a close loss of 2-1.
On Sept. 6, an unexpected scheduling conflict led to the freshman team competing against two games at the same time: the girls were split apart so that half could play Prospect High School and half could play Westmont High School. Regardless, the Eagles managed to overcome these challenges and rack up two wins. They were followed by junior varsity and varsity, who also secured wins of 2-0 and 4-1 respectively against the Warriors.
To end the week, the junior varsity team also competed in the Spikefest Tournament at Independence High School on Sept. 7, defeating Homestead, Presentation and Menlo before losing to Notre-Dame Belmont in the semifinals and earning third place overall.
“During the games [this week], I saw a lot of kills and great digs, and I think they played really well” Gloria Zhu (10), the junior varsity team manager, said. “I’d say that this team has a lot of potential and really great chemistry. I’m really excited to see how the season progresses.”
This week, all three teams will host Mercy High School-San Francisco on Tuesday, Sept. 10, and will travel to Carmel High School to play on Friday, Sept. 13.
Boys and Girls Water Polo
The boys varsity water polo team competed in the Wilcox Invitational on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, going 1-2 at the tournament after beating the Palma Chieftains 14-10.
All three teams will be hosting Milpitas High School on Tuesday, Sept. 10, and Fremont High School on Thursday, Sept. 12. Boys varsity will play at 4:00 p.m., boys junior varsity at 5:15 p.m. and girls varsity at 6:15 p.m. on the first game day, while girls varsity will play at 4:00 p.m., boys junior varsity at 5:15 p.m. and boys varsity at 6:15 p.m. on the second day.
