Marissa Williams Tops Athletes of the Year List

Another exciting year of sports has come to an end in Pacific Palisades and it’s time to look back at some of the local athletes who inspired us with their determination and skill in 2014…

Many Palisades High athletes enjoyed stellar seasons in their respective sports this year, but no one impressed more than Marissa Williams, who solidified her legacy as the best female distance runner in City Section history.

As a junior in the spring Marissa became the first girl to triple at the City track finals by sweeping the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter events. She started off her triple crown with a resounding victory in the 1,600, winning by over 13 seconds in 4:57.88. Forty minutes later she took the lead on the final turn to win the 800 in 2:15.75 and then she completed the trifecta by winning the eight-lap race by almost 36 full seconds in 10:49.72. At the state finals in Clovis, she was seventh in the 1,600 in 4:53.64 and 14th in the 3,200 in 10:40.38.

In her senior cross country debut Marissa broke the Seaside Invitational course record in a personal-best 15:59.8 and she went on to win her third consecutive City title in a course-record 16:33.11. A week later she clocked 17:02 on the 5K state finals course in Fresno and was runner up for the second straight year. She ended her remarkable season by placing 13th in a field of 199 runners at the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon.

In a community rich in tennis talent Roscoe Bellamy stood out from the crowd this year, rocketing up the junior ranks to become one of the top players in the world in his age group. Earlier this month in Bradenton, Florida, the Palisades Tennis Center trainee won the doubles title at the Eddie Herr International Championships for the second time, taking the 14s division with his partner Keenan Mayo of Northern California. The duo did not drop a set en route to the championship. In addition to his doubles triumph, he made the semifinals in singles, losing 6-4, 7-6 to eventual-champion Nicolas Mejia.

In April, Roscoe made the 16s singles semifinals at the Anaheim Open. In May, he won the 14s singles division at the USTA National Sweet Sixteen and paired with Mayo to win the doubles title. In October, he won the 16s singles and doubles titles at the USTA National Selection Tournament in Stockton and the 16s singles title at the Orange County/J.P. Yamasaki Junior Tournament. He was third at the Junior Orange Bowl Championships in Coral Gables, Florida.

Another local junior on the rise is Katie LaFrance, who won the 16s consolation singles title at the USTA Nationals in Grand Blanc, Michigan. In November, she played in three women’s ITF events in Latin America — reaching the quarterfinals in singles and the finals in doubles at the Chuquiago Junior Open in La Paz, Bolivia, upsetting the No. 1 seed at the Patuju Junior Open in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and playing the Junior Open Regatas in Lima, Peru.

Pali High’s junior duo of Maddy Prins and Lizzie Belokonnyi went undefeated in City competition, captaining the Dolphins’ tennis squad to its second consecutive title, then winning the Individual doubles crown at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.   

Jake Sands won six matches on his way to the Boys 14s singles championship at the Ramada Junior Tennis Tournament in February. In August, he won the 14-and-under mixed doubles division of the 30th annual San Diego Junior Tournament with partner Lindsay Hung of San Clemente. In May, brother RJ Sands upset reigning singles champion Jaime Barajas, 6-4, for a crucial point in Pali High’s 15-14 1/2 victory over El Camino Real in the City finals.

Just before turning 17, Kaitlyn Van Konynenburg received an early birthday present from her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding appropriately named “Wish List.” At the Pennsylvania National Horse Show she won a class and was selected best child rider on a horse. Then, at the Washington International Horse Show she won a class and rode to several second-place ribbons on “Triton Z” and her mother’s new horse “Now How Z,” but Kaitlyn saved the best for last, winning the Reserve Champion on “Triton Z” in the Small Juniors and the Grand Champion Large Junior on “Wish List” at the National Horse Show in Lexington, Kentucky.

Zach Senator ruled the pool in water polo, scoring five goals for Pali High, which won its third consecutive City title in November. He was named the team’s MVP after leading the Dolphins in goals (71), assists (69) and drawn penalties (59). Zach also played on Westside Aquatics’ 16U team at the USA National Junior Olympics in Palo Alto and was fourth in the 500 freestyle at the City swim finals in a personal-best 4:49.24.

Tristan Marsh won the 200 individual medley, swam the butterfly leg on the 200 medley relay, anchored the 400 freestyle relay at City finals and won the Post Cup as Pali High’s outstanding senior athlete.

On the girls’ side, Mardell Ramirez was Pali High’s most prolific scorer in water polo and in swimming she won the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke events, led off Pali High’s 200 medley relay and anchored the 400 freestyle relay at the City swim finals.

He’s only a sophomore at Pali High, but Dane Elkins is already a household name in the world of junior racquetball. He played in his first international tournament at the IRF World Junior Championships in Cali, Colombia in October after winning the gold division doubles and mixed doubles at the Wilson National Junior Olympic Racquetball Championships in Denver. In January, he won the Boys 14s and 16s divisions at the California/Nevada Junior Racquetball Championships.

It was a busy summer for Jo Kremer, who was named to the inaugural American Volleyball Association High School Beach Volleyball All-America Team and earned a spot on the USA Beach Volleyball U-21 Junior National team. Now a freshman at Notre Dame, she and partner Julia Mannisto were silver medalists in the 18s gold division at the AAU Junior Beach National Championships and got to the finals of the West Coast AAU Junior Olympics in Hermosa Beach.

Will Bantle and Jackson Bantle also left their footprints in the sand. After captaining the freshman team at Loyola High, Will made the USA’s U-17 beach volleyball team, which competed in Acapulco, Mexico in July. Jackson, a starting opposite hitter at UCLA, played for the U-21 team in Larnaca, Cyprus along with fellow Palisadian Hagen Smith.

There was no sophomore slump for Dartmouth College’s Molly Kornfeind, who appeared in 59 sets and started 11 matches in her second season with the Big Green. She registered 85 kills, 15 assists, five blocks, three aces and was fourth on the team with 120 digs.

Steven Irvin powered Stanford University to the NCAA men’s volleyball finals in the spring. The Cardinal senior had 17 kills, 12 digs and four blocks in a five-set semifinal win against BYU and in the championship match he added 10 kills, five digs, four block assists and two aces against Loyola of Chicago.

Shane Skelly was picked one of the top 14-year-old defensive players in the nation by Rawlings Baseball. He racked up 62 hits, 10 home runs, 46 runs batted in and 22 stolen bases while hitting cleanup and playing shortstop for his Camarillo Venom 13U squad, which advanced to the PONY Super Region playoffs in the summer.

Cade Hulse was voted Pitcher of the Year in the Western League, made the All-City Division I team and won the Post Cup Award at Pali High after leading the Dolphins’ baseball team to the City semifinals in June. He also pitched for the City in the West Side All-Star Classic. Teammate Holt Maybank also excelled on the mound, throwing a two-hit shutout at El Camino Real in the City quarterfinals and tossing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts in the City vs. Southern Section High School All-Star Baseball Game.

Soccer star Courtney O’Brien enjoyed a truly remarkable junior season at Harvard-Westlake High. The Princeton commit made the All-CIF Southern Section Division 1 first team and topped the division in scoring with 22 goals and 11 assists. Teammate Mackenzie Howe, a senior midfielder, helped the Wolverines win the Mission League in February and was first in her age group in the Palisades-Will Rogers 5K Run.

Pali High captured the inaugural City Section boys lacrosse championship in the spring and Nate Galper was a huge reason why, scoring six goals and assisting on two others in the finals as the Dolphins prevailed 12-7 over Birmingham.

Having spent decades racking up medals in badminton, 90-year-old Lee Calvert tried her luck at table tennis at the Huntsman Senior Games in St. George, Utah in October and she returned home with one gold and two silver medals.

A repeat was in the cards for the Pali High boys golf team and freshman Ray Yang led the way, earning medalist honors six times and shooting a team-best 3-over par in the City finals.

Harvard-Westlake senior captain Maddie Oswald led the Wolverines’ field hockey team to the Sunset League title, piling up 21 goals and 22 assists and setting the school career scoring record. Yale-bound teammate Brooke Reese anchored a defense that was one of the best in the Southern Section.

Pali High quarterback P.J. Hurst, linebacker Alec Simpson, punter/kicker Ethan Erickson and wide receiver Herbert Acosta made the All-City Division I football team while Kenny Jones was an All-League defensive lineman in football and was a City finalist at heavyweight in wrestling.   

The Pali High trio of Gabriella Vavala, Katherine Armstrong and Sydney Shannon and Marymount High’s Melissa Schem made waves in crew, placing ninth in the Varsity 8 event at the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships.

— Steve Galluzzo