Baseball

Junior Amrit Joshi described the strong bonds the baseball team has formed over the course of the season. “There’s a lot of camaraderie and we enjoy being around each other,” he said. “We have a kind of a brotherhood and bond that I don’t think can be met in any other way other than through a team environment.”

He also described how the team is approaching the rest of the season after a rough start. “Right now, we’re just focused on winning one game at a time,” Joshi said. “We want every game to feel like it’s a must-win game so that we’re pretty much always playing with our backs against the wall because we tend to play better that way.”

Joshi pointed out some areas of improvement for the team. “Something that we should improve on is our will to win because sometimes we tend to be a little lackadaisical when things aren’t going our way,” he said. “We all need to have more of a devotion to winning by any means necessary.”

Boys’ Lacrosse

Lacrosse team captain sophomore Luke Hines explained how the improvements the boys’ lacrosse team made from last year have impacted their success this year. “We’ve gotten off to a great start at 5-2 (wins to losses), which sets us up nicely for a shot at the league title,” he said. “We’re in a lot better shape than last year because our defense has improved a lot and we’ve introduced a lot more plays on offense. The newer players have also been improving a lot since the start of the season because we’ve encouraged them to practice on their own.”

He also described some complications of the season. “Multiple games and practices have been cancelled because of the weather,” Hines said. “Even when we do have practice, people skip and this stunts our progression as a team.”

Hines reflects on his favorite part of the season so far. “It felt great when we beat Woodside,” he said. “They were talking a lot and were expected to beat us, but we ended up beating them 11-6.”

Girls’ Lacrosse

Freshman Lena Duggan detailed her highlights and lowlights of the girls’ lacrosse season so far. “Some highlights of the season have been a couple really tough, hard-fought games against good teams,” she said. “Los Gatos was a really good game where we fought hard. Some lowlights have been losing games where we could have done better and running suicides at practice.”

Duggan also reflected on the team’s goals this season: to make it to Central Coast Section. “For the past couple of years, the seniors have made it to CCS, so we want to get them there again this year and give them a great final season,” she said.

Looking toward the rest of the season, Duggan hopes that the team improves their level of play and chemistry with each other. “I’m looking forward to seeing how our team grows together and improves,” she said. “I’m also looking forward to playing the tough teams that we weren’t able to beat, but maybe the second time around we will.”

Diving

Freshman Roy Lao explained his goals for the diving team and how the divers have improved throughout the season. “We’ve made it a goal to try to have everyone be able to compete because in diving, there are requirements to compete and so far we’ve done that pretty well,” he said. “In the future, we want everybody competing in varsity.”

Lao is confident that the team will be able to reach this goal given the level that the team is performing at. “Our team has definitely improved throughout the season,” he said. “The people that just started learning diving have been doing very well for people that have never done it before.”

Lao reflected on his favorite parts of the season so far. “My favorite part of the season was the first meet just because I got to meet some divers from other high schools,” he said. “I also love getting to see people that haven’t dove before coming in and trying it since I think that’s a really good experience. You can help them out and see them through their learning process.”

Boys’ Golf

Freshman Alexander Thu reflected on the team chemistry of the boys’ golf team. “My favorite part of the season has been having such a great team,” he said. “Everyone’s having fun and being nice to each other. The teamwork has been great and we’ve been having fun.”

Recent tough weather conditions have significantly affected the golf team’s playing capabilities. “We’ve had quite a bit of practices and games rained out,” he said. “(Once) when we went to practice, there were 40 miles per hour winds and tumbleweeds rolling across the green.”

Thu appreciates the growth the team has undergone, however, he hopes the team can still improve before the end of the season. “We’ve been practicing really hard and going at it even in the rain,” he said. “We’ve also been training in some pretty tough courses. We’ve grown a lot throughout the season already, even though it’s only been a month or two. We’ve been putting in the work and I would like to see growth in the short game, chipping and putting around the greens.”

Boys’ Volleyball

The boys’ volleyball team has had a rough start to the season, losing the majority of their games. Despite these losses, the team has been able to maintain their energy each game. Sophomore Arda Turgut highlighted the team’s continued efforts. “Even if we lose a game, we always have team spirit and we meet after every game to talk about what we can improve on,” he said.

Amidst the team’s struggles this season, there have also been triumphant moments. “A highlight for me was our game against Wilcox where we had a great save and the home crowd went wild,” Turgut said. “It’s always nice to have the support of the crowd and it really helped raise our energy.”

Turgut explained that the focus for the rest of the season is to continue improving and enjoying the experience, not the outcome of each game. “It doesn’t really matter if we win or lose, as long as there is improvement,” he said.

Badminton

Despite this year being her first on the badminton team, freshman Xiwen Liang has found the team to be welcoming and comfortable to be in. She highlighted the close community within the team that has led to friendships on and off the courts. “The team is very supportive of each other, both in practice and in games and we’re always cheering each other on,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of friends by being on the team.”

Despite the success that the badminton team has found building team chemistry, there have been setbacks. “Because of the weather, we had to reschedule some of our away games and also, sometimes we don’t have enough players to play in a match, so we have to forfeit some matches,” Liang said.

Because Liang has had a positive experience so far, she is excited to play with the team for the rest of the season. “I’m looking forward to improving my skill over the season, meeting new people and having fun playing,” she said.

Softball

With the departure of last year’s seniors, this year’s softball team is mostly underclassmen. Softball co-captain junior Lauryn Selvaraj highlighted the process of adjusting to the new players and creating a cohesive team. “Because most of us haven’t played that much together in high school, it’s a very new-looking team,” she said. “Last year, we were really good because we had a lot of seniors, so we’re trying to make that happen again.”

Despite a rough start to the season, which included many losses and games canceled due to the harsh weather, Selvaraj is looking forward to the rest of the season and seeing the team’s growth. “I’m excited for the games, especially the Paly game because I have a lot of friends on that team and I want to play them,” she said. “Our goal is finishing up the season a lot better than we started by improving and becoming more of a team.”

Girls’ Swimming

Sophomore Sophia Guibas highlighted the strong community she has found within the girls’ swim team. “During meets, it’s really fun cheering on my friends and also seeing myself improve,” she said. “Last year, (the team spirit) wasn’t that big, but this year it’s improved a lot and we always cheer for each other during races.”

With new coaches this year, the swim team has experienced better organization and attendance during practice sessions. “It’s nice that we have two coaches, one main coach and an assistant coach, because he splits it up between JV and varsity,” Guibas said. “This is really great because it’s a smaller group of people that one coach is looking over so you can get more attention.”

In addition, Guibas explained the team’s hopes for the rest of the season. “I’m looking forward to the weather getting better because swimming in the rain and cold is not fun, and getting faster as a team,” she said.

Boys’ Swimming

The boys’ swim team has had a successful beginning of the season, winning almost all of their meets. Freshman Nathaniel Yoon reflected on the team’s high performance. “We’ve had some hard practices this year with our new coach, and we won all of our meets so far,” he said. “The season has been going great.”

For Yoon, the swim team is filled with many familiar faces, despite this being his first year on the school team. “The team community is good and I know a lot of people because they are also on my other swim team,” he said. “There are some people that I don’t know as well, but we’re still a close team.”

The goal for the team this season is to compete and place highly at CCS, as well as continue winning at meets. “We’re trying to get first or second (in CCS),” Yoon said. “I think we’re doing well, so we might beat Paly this year. Overall, I’m
confident in our ability to compete at CCS.”

Boys’ Tennis

The boys’ tennis team has had a successful start of the season, winning most of their games and attending many tournaments. Sophomore Jerry Guo is excited to spend the rest of the season improving with his teammates. “I’m looking forward to CCS at the end of the season and also bonding more with my teammates to play as a team,” he said.

Despite their success, there have been some unexpected challenges. “There have been some injuries on the team, but there haven’t been any major lineup changes,” Guo said. “Also, many of our matches were canceled and rescheduled because of the rain, so we had four games in one week which was really tiring.”

Despite these setbacks, Guo is looking forward to spending the rest of the season with his teammates. “The team is really accepting and welcoming and there is a big sense of community within the team itself,” he said. “I really enjoy being part of the team, having fun and making memories.”

Track and Field

The track and field season started out slowly, due to many meets being canceled because of the rain and wind. Junior Jacob Hilbert explained the challenges that come with bad weather. “We had to reschedule some games and even had a tri-meet against two other schools,” he said. “It wasn’t the best situation, but it worked out in the end.”

Because the track and field team couldn’t find an official coach for certain events, such as sprints, the sprints team is led by team captains. “A student sprinter just stepped up and leads warmups,” Hilbert said. “There have been captains in previous years, but I think the captain’s work is definitely way more this year.”

Hilbert also highlighted his goal of competing at CCS this year, and how the team is helping him get there. “I hope to qualify for CCS with pole vault, since it’s my first year doing it,” he said. “It’s really nice having the team’s support and spirit encouraging me to improve.”