![“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 swimming competed in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) Championship finals at Sacred Heart Preparatory on May 2, following the preliminary trials on May 1.
Competing against 12 schools including Sacred Heart, Crystal Springs and The Nueva School, the boys 200-yard medley relay team of Andrew Woon (10), Eric Dong (12), Brandon Du (10) and Jaden Ruffy (11) kicked off finals with a second-place finish in 1:39.49. On the girls side, the team of Shimeka Sahu (12), Emma Jiang (9), Amy Chen (10) and Chelsea Liu (9) finished fourth with a time of 2:07.42.
Varsity swimming assistant coach Chloe Limargo commended the team for their sustained effort throughout the entire event.
“Everybody’s had a goal in mind and made huge strides towards that goal,” Limargo said. “We’ve pushed harder than we have all season for this meet and basically everybody dropped in every single event that they swam. Everybody was extremely excited for all of the results that they were seeing, and I’m excited for them as well as a coach.”
Junior Eliana Chui was crowned league champion after placing first in the girls 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:55.86, over five seconds faster than the CCS standard. On the boys side, senior Wenjie Zou clutched a second-place finish in the boys 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:43.77, earning 17 points for the team.
Sophomores Dennis Bi and Edmund Wang placed third and fourth, respectively, in the boys 200-yard individual medley (IM) while senior Janam Chahal finished fourth and Chelsea finished eighth in the girls 200-yard IM. In the boys 50-yard freestyle A-final, junior Ian Cheline placed seventh and senior Eric Dong followed in ninth. Frosh Oliver Coviello also clinched a 14th place finish after being scratched into the B-final.
In the girls 100-yard butterfly, Amy placed fifth with a time of 59.53, over a second faster than the CCS standard. The boys dominated the 100-yard butterfly A-final with Brandon, Jaden, Andrew and Mark Han (9) placing first, third, fourth and sixth respectively. Frosh Ethan Hao finished 12th with a time of 57.80 in the boys 100-yard freestyle, earning 5 points for Harker. Mark spotlighted his experience at his first ever league championship meet and his excitement about racing in the finals.
“Making finals is great, especially for my first leagues,” Mark said. “Just having fun with the team on the relays and stuff is a great bonding moment. The overall season and spring break practice was pretty fun because we had easy practice and we also had some team bonding events and stuff.”
Eliana was crowned league champion once again for her win in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:12.43, nearly 20 seconds faster than the CCS standard. Wenjie also dominated his event, earning the league champion title in the boys 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:45.56. Behind Wenjie, Ian and Dennis placed sixth and seventh, while Oliver, Ethan Chen (9) and Hanwen Cui (10) finished 11th, 12th and 14th, respectively.
The boys 200-yard freestyle relay team of Edmund, Dennis, Wenjie and Brandon placed second with a time of 1:30.63, nearly four seconds faster than the CCS cut. On the girls side, the team of Stella Yang (12), Chelsea, Emma and Eliana placed sixth with a time of 1:57.60.
Amy and Janam placed third and fourth, respectively, in the girls 100-yard backstroke while Andrew clutched a third place finish on the boys side. Additionally, Shimeka placed 10th on the girls side while Ethan C. finished seventh for the boys. In the girls 100-yard breaststroke, Stella finished 12th with a time of 1:17.78.
“I personally felt that I did the best I could to my capabilities, and I know that my teammates did as well,” Shimeka said. “The most fun for me was probably lap counting for my teammates and I was doing that role for two of my teammates. I remember shaking the stick like really crazy and my teammates yelling at people like, ‘Go faster, go faster, go faster.’”
The boys dominated the 100-yard breaststroke, with Jaden, Eric and Edmund placing second, third and fourth respectively. Eric also earned his first individual CCS cut in his high school career in a time of 1:01.18. Limargo commended Eric for his tremendous achievement, highlighting his hard work throughout the years.
“[Eric]’s been working really hard to basically get that this entire time that he’s been here, and he deserves it,” Limargo said. “He’s worked super hard all 4 years that he’s been here, and I’m really excited to see that he’s got it. I’m really excited to see him race at CCS as well.”
The girls 400-yard freestyle relay team of Amy, Janam, Shimeka and Eliana finished third in a CCS-qualifying time of 3:50.93. The team of Brandon, Edmund, Andrew and Wenjie closed off the meet with a league champion title in the boys 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:18.15.
Five varsity swimmers earned new CCS cuts at this meet, totaling to seven individual qualifiers on the boys team and three individual qualifiers on the girls team. The team traveled to the CCS Championships at Independence High School on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
