Published in the May 13-26, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo courtesy Oakwood High School
Oakwood High School varsity basketball team members celebrate winning the 2014 Gilroy High School Bob Hagen Tournament. All Oakwood athletes were recently honored.
Morgan Hill’s Oakwood High School recognized all of its student-athletes during its annual year-end “Night of Champions” Awards Night gala helded April 22.
“The incredible boys and girls sacrifice much as they work and train many, many hours to prepare to compete with other schools and to represent our school,” said Kort Jensen, Oakwood’s athletic director. “Oakwood arranges to play against many schools that have enrollments about 15 to 20 times the size of Oakwood. Our athletes need to put in many hours to allow them to compete at this high level. They do this while maintaining a very demanding academic load.”
Oakwood has a no-cut policy, he said.
“We then have to train and teach some of our athletes how to play and how to compete,” he said. “Oakwood has excellent teachers who have helped our student-athletes develop critical listening and learning skills. These skills have carried on to the sports field as our players really listen and then they follow all instructions without complaint and without pushing back. Because our student-athletes learn so well and so quickly, this allows all of our coaches to cover more needed instruction at a much faster pace.”
The Oakwood community is enriched by the athletic program, led by Kort Jensen, and majority of its students, coaches, parents and staff also contribute to make this opportunity possible, said Patty Crone, principal of Oakwood High School.
“Through their participation, our students learn the benefits of a balanced life and develop systems of time management, preparing themselves for the world beyond high school,” she said. “And we are proud that our teams and coaches represent us positively in the larger community.”
Students who were honored:
Co-ed Varsity Cross County: Khush Amin, Bobby Bagheri, Miles Batey, Garrett Cash, Kate Khojasteh, Jasmine Ladhar, Kyle McGregor, Matthew McGregor, Chris Marcotullio, jared Park, Quinn Rickard, Connor Riordan, Harjot Saran, Sidh Sikka, and Nathan Walker.
Girls Varsity Tennis: Katarina Johnson, Akansha Ravishanker, Eva de Vries, Marie Verberckmoes, Claire Weissinger, Niki Wolf, Iris Maria Indermitte, Delphine Verbeckmoes, and Eden Wolf.
Girls JV Volleyball: Emma Vollrath, Ivana Lai, Mayah Vandertuig, Cathy Dinh, Channing Bushman, Makaela White, Rachel Hill, and Roxanne Ohayon.
Girls Varsity Volleyball: Ivana Lai, Latai Saulala, Janine Bautista, Lindsey Boyd, Mayah Vandertuig, Niky Goodwin, Peti Saulala, Rachel Meek, Lauren Marshall, Maddie Hanson, Alia Insignares, Emma Vollrath, Megan McCarthy and Talia Hill.
Boys Varisty Soccer: Abhi Karthikeyan, Akshay Ravishaner, Ananmaya Veerina, Brenden Park,Chad Bottomley, Connor Riordan, Garrett Cash, Jake Godfrey, Jake Watts, Jared Park, Jaypreet Dhanota, Karmvir Thind, Khush Amin, Kyle McGregor, Kyle Moosman, Matthew McGregor and Rohit Panikar.
Girls Varsity Basketball: Nadia Ahmed, Jaine Bautista, Lindsey Boyd, Renee Gastelum, Sophie Koldewyn, Rachel Meek, Roxanne Ohayon, Latai Saulala, Peti Saulala, Mayah Vandertuig and Shoba Varma.
Boys JV Basketball: Sameer Varma, Aneesh Dundigalla, Daniel Marshall, Sukhpreet Pabla, Ajay Singh, Kyle Stickels, Purneet Pabla, Andrew Lyle, Daniel Millward, Cory Baldyga, Vijay Singh, Jimmy Marschke and Jeff Ruster.
Boys Varsity Basketball: Nate Schilling, Youssef Eshra, Evan Richards, Ekene Success Okechukwu, Justin Mortensen, Miles Batey, Ben Millward, Lukas Vinkhuyzen, Devon Johnson and Hargot Saran.
Co-Ed Golf: Taylor Andre, Nivvy Balakumar, Kindsey Boyd, Andrew-David Herrera, Matthew McGregor, Ajay Singh, Nina Singh, Vijay Singh, Scott Spano and Nicholar Wilson.
Boys Varsity Volleyball: Lukas Vinkhuyzen, Ben Millward, Vijay Singh,, Nate Schilling, oussef Eshra, Justin Mortensen, Chase Loesch and Jeff Ruster.
Girls Varsity Badminton: Ivana Lai, Anmol Kaur, Olivia Carter, Lindsey Boyd, Akansha Ravishanker, Ann Cheng, Cailey Anderson, Katie Richardson, Lauren Marshall, Rose de Vries, Sabrina Knappe, Nadia Ahmed, Janine Bautista and Mayah Vandertuig.
Boys Varsity Tennis: Nikhil Batra, Christian hardoy, Murray Kornelsen, Akshay Ravishanker, Brenden Park, Miles Batey, Jjaks Reyes, Will Molencamp, Ross Chapman, Daniel Marshall, Chad Bottomley, Sammy Varma, Nathan Walker, Chris Marcotullio, Connor Riordan, Sky Chamberlain, James Conn, Jake Watts, Andrew Lyle and Jared Park.
