Category: Sports

By Harleen Kaur

 

Varsity and JV Softball finished off the regular season strong; Varsity with a record of 9-3 and the JV team ended with a final record of 7-0.

Varsity faced a challenge when they played against Prospect and lost with a score of 8-6.

“We hit really well in the first inning and we started out really strong but we hit a road bump,” said Varsity Outfielder and Catcher Kylee Nielsen.

Meanwhile, the JV team’s last game was against Gunderson and the game ended with a victory for the Pirates with a score of 10-0.

Varsity made a comeback after a losing streak with a win against Willow Glen with a score of 10-2.

“This was a really important win because (Willow Glen’s) coach happened to be our old coach,” explained Varsity Pitcher Kailani Medina.

Both teams practice two times a week in preparation for two games a week.

“We practice hitting and situations that would happen in games to prepare us for when they actually happen during games,” said JV Catcher and Right Fielder Emalina Martinez.

Varsity has been practicing very hard in order to make it into CCS (Central Coast Section) playoffs.

“I’ve been working hard to fix my mistakes because I make them a lot but I’m learning how to get over them and grow to become a better player,” said Varsity Right Field and Pitcher Miranda Torres.

After the outcomes of Varsity’s last few games, Varsity made it to CCS playoffs.

“I’m very proud of us making it to CCS and hope we do well even though we have to go to Palo Alto,” stated Nielson.

Many players enjoyed playing at various games but some games stood out more than others.

“The game against Westmont has to be my most memorable of this season since it was in the rain and it was a challenge,” shared Martinez.

The Varsity team shared their aspirations and goals for next year’s season.

“I would want to make sure more often that everybody knows that they are a part of the team and that everyone plays a part,” explained Nielson.

The softball girls also expressed a grievance.

“On a less serious note, I would like it if we wore less white pants at games because they are so hard to wash,” said Nielson.

Many girls hope to train harder to improve for next year’s season.

“We compare ourselves to other girls but in a sense where we tend to look up to each other and want to be like each other,” stated Martinez.

By Terry Tang

Track and Field started off their season with their first win against the season against Prospect High School. Since then they have also competed against Pioneer High School and Oak Grove High School.

“I initially joined track for the sport, but I enjoyed it for the people. I love the friendships that I built with people I usually don’t talk to at school and also the coaches that I’ve grown with,” said sprinter Jacob Alviar.

Their most recent meet is a quad meet including James Lick, Sobrato and Lincoln High School.

“It was kind of pressuring running against other players because everyone is so good and fast so I always feel like I need to do my best to help the team,” said sprinter Jennifer Luong.

While there are regular meets there are invitationals specifically geared towards the high achieving athletes with outstanding abilities. The key difference between invitationals and meets is that invitationals are more competitive.

“Invitationals are definitely different from regular meets because at regular meets it’s usually only between two schools, but at invitationals it’s dozens of schools and the level of competition is definitely up there,” said Luong.

The track team had ran two previous invitationals: St. Francis Invitationals and Serra Top 7. Their most recent invitational would be Quicksilver Invitationals on Sat., April 6.

“(Serra Top 7 Invitationals was especially hard because) I was tired from fantastic and I was kind of sick,” said sprinter Gabriel Pasion.

“The invitational weren’t necessarily hard, but they were very intimidating at first because everyone is so good,” said Luong.

Some challenges so far are in the season are injuries which are fairly common during midseason and having to commute to a different school to practice on a track since Piedmont’s track is still under construction.

“The hardest thing I’ve faced so far in the season was not having a track HAHA,” said Alviar.

“This year’s team was absolutely amazing. We supported each other, and we grew such a strong connection with the teammates and coaches. I’m really proud of everyone, they did so well during our meets and improved so much. I can tell that everyone tried their best to get better meet after meet,” said sprinter Alexia Canales

(BVALs) Blossom Athletic Valley League and (CCS) Central Coast Section are also happening soon with BVALs happening on Thurs., May 2 at Westmont High School. CCS is spread out across three dates with CCS Top 8 happening Sat. April 13 at Leland High School; CCS Semi Finals, Sat., May 11 at Gilroy High School; and CCS Finals on Fri., May 17 at Gilroy High School.

 

 

By Andrew Wong

 

On March 28, PHHS Swim team hosted the annual Senior Night during their meeting. Hosted in every last home meet of the year, Senior Night’s purpose is to congratulate all senior members for their hard work and dedication towards the team. Underclassmen and juniors work together to give the seniors gifts and posters.

“I remember the past 3 senior nights where a lot of the seniors and swimmers would be crying!” reminisced Varsity Captain Andrew Do.

“I’m super excited for senior night! I’ve been on the team for all four years and I’m excited to see what the underclassmen prepared for us!” exclaimed Varsity Captain Chloe Nguyen.

Juniors Leslie Ton and Megan Nghiem arranged the plans of Senior Night, gathering the whole team to come together to paint posters and pitch in money for gifts. Each day, the swim team held poster painting days where everyone gathered around to help after school. Each member gets assigned into a group of three, and work together to create one poster for one senior. As well as each member pitching in as much money as possible to purchase these senior gifts, of which Ton and Nghiem are responsible for.

“It was pretty difficult to come up with something for their gifts because there was just so many seniors, so we ended up buying them a lot of snacks during the meet,” explained Swim team member Megan Nghiem.

“About 75 percent of the team contributed, usually the JV swimmers. We have days where we paint the posters, and this year I think it was like 3 people to a poster,” explained Junior Eric Nguyen.

During the same day of the home meet, underclassmen prepare the finalized products to tape against the walls. The coach presented the seniors an individual speech at the same time while presenting their gifts at the same time. Being presented many gifts of gratitude towards the seniors, the seniors are filled with excitement and joy from all the honor.

“It’s been a fun experience being on this team. Meeting new people on the team and competing against other schools has been fun,” said senior Edward Chew.

“It was super cool to see how awesome all the posters they made look! I went last because I was the captain, and I got pretty emotional! I’ve been on the team for four years so it was really heartwarming when Coach Jason said super nice words about me and everyone cheered along,” expressed Nguyen.

By Andrew Wong

 

The annual Science Olympiad competition took place last Saturday at San Jose City College. Along with this, Math Team will be participating in the annual SCVMA (Santa Clara Valley Mathematics Association) competition this Friday.

Science Olympiad is a regional competition in which participants compete in over twenty events covering subjects such as Physics, Earth Science and more. With this, they set themselves to answer questions and build electronics as a team.

The SCVMA competition includes high schools from across Santa Clara Valley. Contestants compete in one of several categories; there are categories for each high school math class (Math 1 through 3, Calculus, Statistics, Pre-calculus) and additional events open to all grades such as Leap Frog and Discovery Quest.

Science Olympiad has been preparing for this competition through study sessions. Those competing in the biology event attend biweekly practices, and other teams have been meeting up to practice usually once a week as well. Science Olympiad’s funding is self-raised and completely student-run.

“Our school has never qualified, and we usually rank in the lower half or near bottom because we’re a new school with no funding and no coach or teacher support,” said Co-President Kenneth Lien.

Despite this, the Science Olympiad team stays hopeful.

“We try to have study sessions at least once a week. Especially because it’s second semester and everything’s super busy right now, we try to have them whenever we can or when the team captains assign them,” says co-president Vivian Lin.

Math Team has also been preparing for SCVMA through weekly practices on Fridays. With math teacher Stewart Kuang’s help, they review math techniques and previous tests in order to compete against their strong opponents.

“I prepare for the math and physics contest by taking classes outside and doing a lot of problems at home. Giving a rough estimate, I would say I spend about ten hours per week on physics and five hours per week on math, if you only count the time that I really sit down and slowly do those subjects,” explains Math Team Vice Captain Gavin Yu.

Science Olympiad is determined to place higher this year, since they’ve also been practicing more.

“Every year we are improving. We’re set to beat records again because we did last year. We placed twice, actually,” says Kenneth.

Math Team is equally as determined to compete against their long-time opponents, Lynbrook, and other schools.

“Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. When you work together, you can solve more problems rather than working alone. I’m not really good at geometry but I’m really good at manipulating equations,” explains senior Asher Twu.

If the teams place, the top five winners of SCVMA will receive trophies and the top 15 will receive medals. If PHHS gets first place in Science Olympiad, they will be able to move onto the next competition.