Courtesy of Sarah Lim

Lim holds up her bid to the 80th U.S. Women’s Open Golf Championship after tying for first in the 2025 US Women’s Open Qualifying – Northern California tournament.

Lim qualifies for PGA’s U.S. Open — one of the four major tournaments

Following her commitment to Princeton to play Division I golf last year, Sarah Lim qualified as an amateur for the prestigious U.S. Women’s Open tournament, a professional major tournament that runs May 29-June 1 in Erin Hills, Wisconsin. Lim’s qualification came after two years of competing in numerous tournaments, culminating in her performance at The Olympic Club Lake Course in San Francisco on April 28, where she shot par 72 and later 5 under at 67. Her two-round qualifying total was 139 for 36 holes. 

“I’m super excited that I qualified,” she said. “It’s one of the biggest — if not the biggest — tournaments in golf, and the fact that I qualified is so surreal; honestly, I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around it fully yet.” 

Lim attributes her qualification to her father, who she says was a caddy with her and was always with her along her journey. Having someone who helped her keep composed and who knew her strengths allowed her to play at her best, no matter the circumstances. 

Lim has sometimes had difficulties balancing her schoolwork and golf, but after years of hard work, she was able to achieve many important goals that she had been striving for the past few years. In the future, she hopes to be able to win major tournaments like the NCAA championship with her team in Princeton and become a professional golfer.

“During my tournament, I really just tried to stay focused and in the moment,” Lim said. “Something I think helped me mentally the most was acknowledging that I know I’m playing at my best right now and that I was able to trust that I’m just as capable as everyone else at the qualifiers.”

Iyer hits 1,000 career points for girls’ basketball

After four years of playing on the varsity team, guard Urvi Iyer hit the 1,000-point mark in an away game against Palo Alto on Feb. 7. Under the guidance of coach Manny Steffen, Iyer ended her remarkable final season with the program with a career total of 1,070 points, placing her third on the all-time SHS scoring list. 

Iyer has been playing basketball since fourth grade and has competed in both Amateur Athletic Union teams and school teams. Her accolades include being a two-time MVP in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, being two-time first team all-league in the El Camino League in the same years, participating in the Santa Clara County All-Star game, reaching 1,000 career points and committing to Haverford College to continue her basketball journey. 

Although her impressive achievements on the court are important to her, Iyer notes that the relationships she built through basketball made her experience playing a sport at SHS even more special. 

“I loved hanging out with all my teammates,” Iyer said. “We built so much team chemistry and I’ll always talk with them.”

Ace pitcher Chen surpasses 100 strikeouts in a single season

Left-handed pitcher and centerfielder Aiden Chen has been playing baseball for 10 years, and he has been on varsity baseball since his sophomore year. He played JV for the majority of his freshman year but was later promoted at the end of the regular season, ahead of CCS. Chen has earned First Team All-League honors every year he has been with the program, and the team clinched CCS bids in Chen’s freshman and sophomore years. Additionally, Chen and his younger brother, freshman Brandon Chen, combined for a no-hitter against Macdonald on April 3. 

Outside of school, Chen competed at the Pony League World Series for the San Jose Rampage as a freshman. He also played for Zoots and was named Five Tool All-Summer Team Honorable Mention in 2023. He has received numerous accolades from the likes of First Generation REACH Scholar, Mercury News Athlete of the Week and Chick-Fil-A Inspirational Athlete.

Chen capped off his final season piling up 103 strikeouts, leading all of CCS at the end of the regular season. In his final game, he had 18 strikeouts in a 1-hit shutout in a 8-0 victory against Lynbrook. 

“Breaking the 100 [strikeout] mark had been a goal of mine for years,” Chen said. “Hitting that goal on my last game will be a really special moment I’ll definitely look back on.”

Next year, Chen, who also hit a blistering .429 this season, will be joining Claremont McKenna College’s Division III boys’ baseball program. Claremont McKenna has increased its season win count each season for nine straight years, making two NCAA appearances during that span.

“Baseball has been the love of my life for a decade now, and I feel my best baseball is still ahead of me, so I’m super thankful to continue my career at the next level to be the greatest I can be,” Chen said.

Senior Cassidy Coghlan joins Division I rowing program at UC San Diego

Although she started rowing her junior year, Coghlan quickly fell in love with the sport and obviously had immense talent for it; she competed for the Los Gatos Rowing Club. Before she started rowing, Coghland played water polo for five years and was the varsity captain for two years at SHS. Due to multiple shoulder injuries, though, she decided to change paths and try rowing.

“I love rowing because it’s a very effort-based sport,” she said. “You get out of it what you put into it, and there’s very little things that get in the way of that. I loved my other sports, but your success could often be determined by other factors like how your coach or your teammates were feeling that day, so I appreciate how rowing is all about personal drive.”

With encouragement from both her parents, both D1 rowers from Harvard and UC Irvine, respectively, Coghlan’s determination and persistence helped her win multiple competitions with her club. One notable event included the San Diego Crew Classic — the national level regatta (race) in southern California from March 28-30 — where her boat placed first in the varsity B-quad 4x category. Coghland also placed first in the varsity B-quad category and second in the varsity B-double category at the Southwest Regionals, which is the national qualifier race for all high school-level crews in the southwest U.S. This qualified her for the quad — a four-person boat — event for the USRowing Youth National Championships in Florida this June.

Coghlan committed to UC San Diego on Nov. 11 after she officially toured the campus and received an offer in-person. 

“When I was touring UCSD, I realized that the facilities, coaches and everything about the school was everything I wanted,” Coghlan said. “The girls on the team were really awesome as well.”

Throughout her short but rewarding rowing journey, Coghlan made many memories with her team and hopes to extend her success and love of the sport as she moves on to her collegiate career.

“My favorite memory from rowing is all the insane sunrises and sunsets we get to watch during practice,” Coghlan said. “Winning with my teammates is also the most rewarding feeling I’ve ever felt — coming home from Southwest and Crew Classic with medals and a trophy was pretty sweet.”