![“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)
Varsity and junior varsity cross country teams competed in the West Bay Athletic League Championships at the Crystal Springs three mile course in Belmont and celebrated senior night on Nov. 8. For the first time in 14 years, both varsity boys and girls teams qualified for the CCS Championships.
Junior Robinson Xiang led the varsity boys team with a time of 16:45, sophomore Ava Alvarez led the varsity girls with a time of 19:59, frosh Aaryan Rawat led junior varsity boys with 19:49, and senior Angelina Burrows led junior varsity girls with a 24:04.
The 93 foot hill at the end of the first mile and the almost 57 foot hill at the beginning of the final mile, aptly nicknamed Cardiac Hill, posed challenging for the runners.
“Cardiac Hill is usually really bad because after the first mile and first hill, my speed has already decreased,” junior varsity boys runner Haofung Zhu (10) said. “I feel tired and my lungs started feeling it. Every aspect of the pain gets worse, but I managed to sprint up Cardiac Hill because of my inner voice telling me that I’ve never sprinted up Cardiac Hill before.”
Nearly all finished the race, and some runners like Ava closed the season with a personal best.
“I was really tired, but I felt strong, and I felt in control,” Ava said. “In the third mile, I had a lot of energy pent up that I was able to use at the end. It was really hard in the last stretch. I saw that there was a girl in front of me, but she was kind of far away, so I ran faster.”
Varsity girls runners Ava and Emily Bryan (11) won Harker’s only medals from this event by finishing eighth and ninth place in the race, respectively.
“The girls made it with only five finishing in the varsity race, but they all ran well,” assistant coach Paul Lapke said. “The guys had some big improvements with a couple of people running sick, so it was inspiring that they still stepped up and ran really well. [We] had huge [personal records], and it’s great to see everybody come together and celebrate the season.”
(Samuel Tong)
After the medal ceremony, senior runners Marcus Blenneman, Angelina, Daniel Chen, Robert Fields, Nelson Gou, Hannah Levanon, Gabe Li, Sophia Liu, Harriss Miller and Jonny Xue received gifts from the team to celebrate their final competition together.
“I’ve been running with some people for three years and it’s just a great community that I have to say goodbye to,” Robert said. “Everyone feels interconnected, and once you go into the team, you get to know everyone even to the very end. It feels good knowing that next year, my impact will be carried on.”
Both varsity teams will race next at Crystal Springs on Nov. 16 for the CCS Championships.
