![“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 track and field teams competed in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) prelims meet and celebrated senior night at Kings Academy on Tuesday.
Before the meet began, the meet directors honored seniors Emily Bryan, Spencer Chang, Timmy Chen, Maryanne Davies, Timothy Deng, Henry Fradin, Victoria Ma, Sophia Ou, Nat Tan and Brady Tse in a ceremony where each athlete announced their name and college commitment.
Following the final races, seniors were presented with handmade posters, engraved relay batons, and flowers during the senior night ceremony.
Sprints
The sprint events delivered multiple qualifying performances across divisions. In the varsity girls 100-meter hurdles, junior Alice Luo took second in 17.64, followed by sophomore Olivia Zhao in seventh at 20.40.
“I was satisfied with the fact that I qualified for finals, and I was second in all the events I qualified in, so I’m on track to qualify for CCS,” Alice said. “My goal is to break the school record in the 100 and 300 hurdles. I’m glad that this season, I got a lot closer to the class of 2026, and I’d like to continue those friendships.”
In the 300 hurdles, Alice, Emma Wang and Olivia qualified and placed second with a time of 51.47, third in 52.68, and sixth in 56.94, respectively.
In the 100 meters, senior Brady Tse finished first in 10.74, senior Spencer Chang was third in 11.27 and sophomore Pax Suen finished seventh in 11.32. On the girls JV side, senior Victoria Ma, who placed sixth in 14.17, and freshman Ziyang Wang, who finished seventh in 14.18, will both advance.
The 200-meter races featured several high finishers: Maryanne won the girls varsity 200 in 26.70, while junior Kai Nishimura, 3rd in 23.53, Pax, 6th in 23.72, and senior Spencer Chang, seventh in 23.74, advanced in the boys varsity race.
In the JV 400, frosh Hannah Tay placed third in 1:12.18. On the boys’ side, frosh Tavish Yergera placed fourth in 1:01.83, and frosh Lucas Zhang earned fifth in 1:03.47,with both making finals.
The varsity 400 featured strong performances from senior Maryanne Davies, who placed second in 1:01.23, and junior Samaara Patil, who placed third in 1:02.17. Junior Liam McGrath placed second in the boys varsity 400 with a time of 53.49.
Distance
Distance events also featured key performances. In the girls JV 1600, junior Riya Bharath qualified for finals, finishing first in 6:12.46.
Junior Ava Alvarez placed fifth in the girls varsity 1600 with a time of 5:39.41, while junior Axel Szolusha took ninth in the boys varsity 1600 in 4:40.89.
In the 800, sophomore Aahana Sharma qualified, placing eighth in the JV race with a time of 2:49.46. In varsity, freshman Sophie Shen, who placed third in 2:30.37 and Samaara, who ran fourth in 2:30.50, both qualified.
Riya placed third in the girls JV 3200 with a time of 13:38.17.
Field
In the field events, frosh Tavish Yergera placed fifth in JV boys long jump with a mark of 15 feet, 8 ¼ inches. Sophomore Omya Vidyarthi qualified in varsity girls long jump, finishing seventh with 13 feet, 4 inches.
In discus, senior Nat Tan placed fifth in varsity girls with a mark of 81 feet, 1 inches and later added a ninth-place finish in shot put with 25 feet, 6 inches.
For boys JV discus, frosh Anton Roman placed third in 64 feet, 11 inches and Jackson Ryan was fourth with 64 feet, 2 inches. In varsity shot put, senior Henry Fradin, fourth in 36 feet, 2 inches, and sophomore Marloe Sanchez-Taporoco, eighth with 31 feet, 6 inches, will advance to finals.
“I feel like that was a day I could have PR’d, but I’m glad I’ll have another chance on Friday,” Marloe said, “I did well this season compared to my freshman year, because everyone says there’s a sophomore slump, but I overcame that. Junior and senior year, that’s when I’ll start to pick up my throwing.”
Frosh Allison Ishisaka won the girls JV triple jump with a mark of 26 feet, 8 inches.
Relays
The girls varsity 4×800 team of Ava, senior Emily Bryan, Samaara and Sophie placed second in 10:04.07, breaking their own school record by 2 seconds and qualifying for CCS. The boys varsity 4×800 team of Aiden Coviello (11), Gavin Leelanivas (10), Aaryan Rawat (10) and Axel (11) placed fourth in 9:19.79.
The meet concluded with a senior 5×100 relay featuring two mixed teams of seniors and coaches. The winning team consisted of Timothy, head coach Jorge Chen, Maryanne, Victoria and Brady. Reflecting on the meet and the seniors’ impact on the team, Chen praised both the athletes’ leadership and performances.
“Our athletes performed very well, with many outstanding performances,” he said. “I am super proud of the class of 2026. I loved these seniors and am very grateful to them and their role modeling.”
The qualifiers competed at the WBAL Finals on May 8 at The King’s Academy.
