Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Fall sports continue to perform, retain high hopes

Written by: Boot Bullwinkle, Lawrence Chen, Rani Shiao, Klaire Tan, and Alvin Wang


Girls’ Volleyball

The varsity girls’ volleyball team has had ups and downs this season, but has maintained high goals for the remainder of the season. “I know we can be amazing,” senior co-captain Nitika Johri said, “but we have to learn how to play with each other since we have such varying experience and style.”

The Lady Titans started the fall by winning the Blue Division at Spikefest 1 and have continued to put up a good effort in league play. They are currently 10-9 overall, and 2-4 in league play. “We’ve been really good at coming back,” senior co-captain Mika Munch said. “We’ve come back from a game down multiple times to win, and that’s been really encouraging for us.”

The girls have five league games and a tournament remaining and, with their eye on the Palo Alto game, the girls’ volleyball team is looking for revenge. “We’re really excited for Paly because we know we can beat them, and it’s senior night,” Johri said. Their next game is on Tuesday, Oct. 16.

Boys’ Water Polo

The boys’ water polo team has run into some obstacles as they progress into the season. After a string of losses, the Titans are looking to recover and get back on track for the rest of the season.

“Although we recently hit a rough patch we rebounded strong with a win against Homestead,” senior Harrison Waschura said. “We’re hoping to build some more momentum as we continue league and tournament play.”

While the team remains confident that they’ll be able to turn it around, they face a tough road ahead. The Titans are likely to do much better, as players are starting to recover from injuries that hampered the team earlier in the season. “Ari Wayne was out for the start of the season with a shoulder injury, and just recently got back in,” Waschura said. “We’re incorporating them back into our lineup and that should help us jump right back into playing strong.” Tomorrow, the Titans will square off against the Los Altos Eagles in hopes of avenging a 13-10 loss one month ago.

Girls’ Tennis

After moving down a league last year, the varsity girls’ tennis  team has since been working to bring their game back up. As part of their plan, the girls are practicing on ball placement and being aggressive during matches. So far, their hard work has paid off, and the varsity girls’ tennis team has been undefeated in the league with a record of 9-0.

The key to their victories is the sense of unity in the team, according to sophomore Laurie Perng. “Everybody here on the team has good chemistry and works together well,” she said. In addition, the girls try to bring their game and sportsmanship to the tennis court during matches. “Before each game, we prepare ourselves to respect our opponents,” Junior Antoinette Nyugen said.

Ultimately, the girls’ tennis team is aiming to prove themselves this season and eventually move back up a league. First, however, the girls are focusing on continuing their winning streak. “Hopefully, we’ll fight it out and come out on top,” Nyugen said.

Football 

The football team continues a decent start in the El Camino Division with an overall record of 3-2. “We’ve had the toughest non-league start in the El Camino league this year, so we know what it’s going to take to prepare week by week to win,” senior Andre Guzman said.

Two early wins against San Mateo and Carlmont highlighted the team’s areas of excellence, but also exposed areas that need improvement. “We need to improve in all categories every week, from our blocking to our passing and running game,” Guzman said. “There is always something to be improved. Defensively, we have to work a little more on swarm tackling and wrapping up on tackles.”

Despite the losses against Capuchino and Palo Alto High Schools, the football team is looking forward to the season. “[Our] goals for the season are to win every [league] game and bring home a league title,” Guzman said. “I’m confident in our passing game to pick apart secondaries and move down field to score quickly.”

Girls’ Golf 

For a first year team, the girls’ golf team is doing a phenomenal job of beating down the opposing teams, with a league record of 3-0 and a non-league record of 5-1. “We haven’t won by slim margins either,” junior Jayshree Sarathy said. “We consistently beat other teams by 50 to 80 shots, which in golf is a really big deal.”

Despite the solid wins, the team is working on making every single shot count.  “If every player improves a little bit and puts a tiny bit more into each practice and each match and each shot, we can definitely make huge progress as a team,” Sarathy said.

Sarathy has many goals for the season. “Our goals as a team are to break 200 on a regulation length course,” Sarathy said. “We also hope to achieve our personal goals, reach our target scores, and break our own previous lows.” The team hope to be league champions and qualify for Central Coast Section (CCS) and beyond.

Girls’ Water Polo

The girls’ water polo team has high hopes for the current season, aiming to make it into the final four again this year at the CCS playoffs. Due to the loss of seniors, the team is now approaching the season with a different strategy, according to coach Mark Hernandez. “Last year’s team was as explosive as any I’ve ever coached,” he said. “This year, we’re still working to develop our firepower, but we’re becoming an elite defensive team.”

The girls are now working to improve their offense which has been affected by the loss of last year’s seniors. “We’ve gone back to the drawing board on offense, and have worked to get more players involved—and confident—on offense,” Hernandez said.

The girls’ water polo has been off to a good start —so far, as they’re undefeated in the league.  “We’ve re-established ourselves as a team that can hold a team to its season-low in goals,” Hernandez said.

Cross Country

The cross country team continues strong as the season progresses. Despite the loss of several key seniors, the team still has not stunted in performance.

“We are still trying very hard.” Junior Neel Thronson said. “We lost a lot of crucial seniors such as Andrew Prior and Michael Underwood, but we got a lot of good freshman such as Arjun Suhdev, Kunal Singh and Isaiah Katz.”

The cross country team, however, will need to improve on several important aspects. “The only problem right now is that kids are usually worn-out and tired by the time practice starts,” coach Craig Blockhus said. “However, I’m still proud of their dedication to the sport and their great work ethic.”

The team is still putting in its full effort and is training extremely hard in order to prepare against tough opponents.

“We have a lot of potential this year and I have really high hopes for what we will achieve,” Thronson said.

Leave a Comment
Donate to The Oracle
$550
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Henry M. Gunn High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

Navigate Left
Navigate Right
Donate to The Oracle
$550
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All The Oracle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *