Athletes of the Year

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Another exciting year of sports is coming to an end in Pacific Palisades and it is time to look back at some of the local athletes who inspired us with their perseverance, passion and skill in 2022…

No Palisadian excelled more in his sport than Dillon Klein. A 6-foot-4 senior outside hitter on the Loyola High varsity volleyball team, Dillon was selected CIF Southern Section Division 1 Co-Player of the Year after guiding the Cubs to both the CIF-SS and Southern California Regional finals. Poised to begin his freshman season at USC, the nation’s No. 1 recruit is the grandson of former USC and LA Rams tight end Bob Klein. A Via Bluffs resident and Corpus Christi alum, he was Loyola’s leader in kills and aces.

Palisades High sophomore Martha Valkov had a summer she will never forget, taking the world of rhythmic gymnastics by storm after placing first in the Level 10 Junior Division—the highest level in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program—at the National Championships in Iowa. On a steady rise since taking up the sport at age 6, the Canyon Elementary and Paul Revere Middle school graduate was second in hoop, first in ball, fifth in club and first in ribbon. Her goal is to make the U.S. national team.

When it comes to distance running, Pali High junior Max Fields tops the list after repeating as City cross country champion in 15:08.9 and pacing the Dolphins to the Division I team title six months after he clocked 9:39.66 to claim the 3200 meter title at the City Track & Field Championships. Max also took second in the Palisades Will Rogers 5K, which returned on July 4 after a two-year hiatus. Three of the four race winners this year were Pali High graduates, starting with 2020 swim alum and ex-Will Rogers Beach Junior Lifeguard Darby Green, a Georgetown University junior who won the women’s 5K in 19:46. Men’s 10K winner Shane Brouwer, a 2015 Pali High alum and an LA County lifeguard along with siblings Sydney and Kian, ran the 6.2-miles through the Will Rogers Park switchbacks in 33:08. A little more than eight minutes later, MIT track team member and 2020 Pali High alum Sarah Bentley won the women’s 10K while home visiting family for the holiday. Her mentor and coach Charlotte Kane, meanwhile, was the first female finisher in the Palisades Development Turkey Trot 10K on Thanksgiving. Not to be outdone, Alphabet Streets mom Gwendolen Twist did her Janes Elite Racing Club proud with a time of 23:20.4 in cold, wet, windy and muddy conditions to place 12th overall and third in her age group in the Masters Women 6K at the USATF XC Championships earlier this month in San Francisco.

Perhaps no one posted more impressive results on the tennis court than Marymount High freshman and five-star recruit Lexi Wolf, who got on a roll over the summer in the Girls 16s division of the USTA, winning three national singles events in a row. Over Labor Day she won the Los Caballeros tournament to earn a spot on Team SoCal to train in Carson with other top players and coaches. In September, the Riviera resident won the Agassi No Quit Level 3 National Tournament in Las Vegas. Her sister Kingsley Wolf, a 7th-grader at Corpus Christi, won the Girls 14s crown at the Woody Hunt Junior in Palm Desert.

Loyola High sophomore Braun Levi reached the quarterfinals of the U16 singles competition at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning his group and dropping only two games in the process. As a freshman in the spring he helped the Cubs reach the CIF team finals and advanced to the round of 16 of the Individual Doubles draw with partner Darren Ignatius.   

Pali High’s No. 1 player Michael Kaplan breezed to the City Individual singles title and led the Dolphins to their record 13th straight team triumph while fellow seniors and best buddies Noah Zaret and Luke Shuman paired up to capture the doubles title.

What a season it was on the gridiron for Pali High senior offensive guard and nose tackle Nathan Spoonamore, who was selected Team MVP and earned Western League Offensive Lineman of the Year honors after his instrumental role in Palisades’ march to the City Division I final.

Other local players who stood out on their prep football squads in the fall include El Medio Bluffs resident Henry Wendorf, who threw for 2,490 yards and 15 touchdowns as the varsity quarterback at Harvard-Westlake. Over at Loyola, linemen Nathan Turk (who was CYO Athlete of the Year for his multi-sport prowess at Corpus Christi) and Max Meier along with quarterback Jack Thomas helped the Cubs’ freshman squad go undefeated.

Oaks Christian senior punter and placekicker Aidan Flintoft from the Highlands demonstrated why he has committed to Stanford, converting 39 of his 41 extra-point tries and six out of six field goal attempts (including a 50-yarder) with 47 touchbacks and a 39.0-yards-per-punt average.   

Three former Dolphins made signifcant contributions at Santa Monica College: linebackers Noah Ghodooshim (6.0 tackles per game) and Max Palees (4.9 tackles per game) and quarterback Forrest Brock (200 passing yards per game, 16 touchdowns). Meanwhile, 2019 Post Cup winner Jake Nadley, a junior wide receiver at College of Idaho, had 29 catches for 397 yards and three touchdowns for the Yotes. Sy Riley, 2020 Post Cup winner, recorded 36 tackles for the University of New Mexico while yet another former Dolphins linebacker, Quinn Perry, captained the University of Colorado with 77 tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles.

Former Pali High wrestler Aaron Galef won silver medals in both the Greco Roman and Freestyle divisions at the World Maccabiah Games after transferring from Purdue University to San Francisco State. Charlie Addis,  James Van Wagenen and Ryan Woods won their weight classes to help Pali High to second place at the City Wrestling Championships in February.

If there were an award for most impressive individual performance the honor might go to rising superstar Katie Sakamoto for her points-scoring spree in the LA Recreation and Parks Citywide Minor Division All-Star girls basketball tournament. The point guard for her Pali Rec Center squad, she did her best Michael Jordan impersonation, pouring in 28 points in the regional final, 11 points in the City semifinals and 17 in the championship game. The 11-year-old from the Alphabet Streets attends Village School, plays club for The Wolfpack in Culver City and has been scorching the nets since the age of 5. This is not the last time she will make this list.

Several Palisadians dominated on the college hardwood, beginning with Stanford junior James O’Keefe. He started 24 games at forward in 2021-22, averaging 5.3 points and 4.8 rebounds and the 6-9 senior is off to an even better start this winter, averaging 6.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in his first 12 games.      

Chelsey Gipson, a two-time City Player of the Year and Post Cup winner in 2017, just guided her Women’s Drew League team to the final and five fellow Pali High alums are contributing to their college teams: Janelly Portillo at Golden West and fellow freshman Demonnie Lagway at CS Fullerton; sophomore Alexis Pettis at Eastern Washington; Jane Nwaba at Pepperdine and fellow junior Kayla Williams at USC.

On the golf course, Pali High sophomore Anna Song established herself as the player to beat in the City for the next two years after a finals-record 67 (6-under) to capture her first individual title. On the boys side, Gavin Loughran came within a stroke of qualifying for the state finals.

On the soccer pitch, right back Ali Riley, once a multi-sport star at St. Matthew’s, became the face of Angel City FC, a new women’s pro franchise in Los Angeles. Pali High alum and 2016 Post Cup Award recipient Kaitlyn Parcell is playing professionally for MSV Duisburg of the Women’s Bundesliga Premier League in Germany and scored her first goal Sept. 25.

Mechal Green seems to have the Midas Touch. She struck gold at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, leading the USA to the 16-and-under girls championship in the premiere sporting event for Jewish youth worldwide. The Marquez resident scored against Argentina in group play and Team USA went on to finish with a perfect 5-0 record. In February, Mechal co-captained Paul Revere to its second straight Delphic League ‘A’ Division crown, tallying the only goal in the final versus Harvard-Westlake. Left wing back Adelle Levi, a senior at Marymount High, led her 18-and-under team to victories over Australia, Mexico, Great Britain, Israel, Canada and Argentina before the USA settled for the silver medal after a loss to Israel.

Ex-Pali High All-City captain Francesca Van Norden shined in the midfield for UC Davis, where she started 17 games and logged 1,519 minutes, fourth on the team.

The third time was a charm for Huntington resident Greg Dunne, who navigated choppy currents in the Catalina Classic Paddleboard race in August. The 28-year-old covered the 32 miles from Catalina to Manhattan Beach Pier in six hours, 45 minutes and 12 seconds.

Making more waves was Riviera resident and Harvard-Westlake High grad Katharine Doble, who was fourth of 56 competitors in the Female One Person Dinghy Class at the Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships July 8-15  in The Netherlands. As America’s only entry in the event, Katharine accumulated 33 points across seven races to finish a scant three points out of third place.

Pali High’s Rachel Lande represented the USA at the World Rowing U19 Championships in Italy and took ninth in Women’s Pair with Marina Aquatic Center teammate Shannon Kearney, with whom she won by 11 seconds at the U19 National Trials in June. Rachel was sixth in the youth four at Youth Nationals and second in the four and pair at the Southwest Championships. She has committed to Yale and has been rowing since eighth grade.

Hanging ten is a form of art for Bodhi Sahakian who rode waves all the way to the Elite Eight of the Men’s Longboard Division at the Scholastic Surf Series California High School State Championships in April. Reaching the quarterfinals was nothing for the Pali High 10th-grader, who placed first at Emma Wood, Manhattan Beach, C Street, Carpinteria and Zuma and ranked No. 1 in his age group from LA to Santa Barbara.

In the pool, Pali High alum Sydney Brouwer made ripples as a Long Beach City College freshman, swimming the breaststroke leg on the 200 medley relay team and winning the 50 and 500 freestyles and 200 individual medley in a tri-meet against Pasadena and Rio Hondo. In the fall, she had 17 goals and 17 assists in water polo.

Elyana Goren scored seven goals for Pali High in the City water polo final and was one of Team USA’s key contributors in a silver medal run in the U18 water polo  bracket at the Maccabiah Games.

Behind the clutch saves of goalie John Possman and scoring acumen of Owen Grant, Pali High secured its 10th straight City boys water title and defended its SoCal Regional crown with an overtime victory over Rancho Bernardo.

When equestrienne Brooke O’Malley started her training with Meadow Grove Farm her one goal was to win the Onondarka Medal Final. In her last year of eligibility, she made that dream a reality. The St. Matthew’s 7th-grader was declared the winner of the two-day event at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal on a horse called Calvandani Z in November.

Pali High senior racquetball star Cody Elkins upset Oregon’s Lucas Bain and Samuel Schulze of Florida to reach the finals of the Boys Singles 21U Gold Division at the USA Racquetball National Junior Championships and paired with Schulze for second in doubles. He represented Palisades at the High School Nationals, gaining a spot on Team USA at the Junior World Championships.

It was a year of “firsts” on the bocce courts at Veterans Gardens and standing the tallest was Bob Thomas, who won the inaugural singles and doubles tournaments. 47-year-old Sean Whitely and his 51-year-old friend Darren Wald, who were side by side in 25 hours, 40 minutes, 24 seconds in the 100-mile Stagecoach Ultra Run from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon.

Tyler Heineman is proof that perseverance pays off. In May the 31-year-old Palisades native was claimed off waivers by the Pirates from the Blue Jays (for whom he played 10 games, nine at catcher, one as a DH) and was behind the plate in 50 MLB games in 2022, including 44 starts, for a total of 386.1 innings. He batted .211 with 30 hits, eight RBIs and 14 runs.

An array  of homegrown talents distinguished themselves on the diamond, beginning with ex-Pali High pitcher Lucas Braun, who was fourth in the Big West in ERA (2.91), tied for sixth in wins (7), ninth in strikeouts (77) and 10th in innings pitched (74.1) as a junior at Cal State Northridge. Starring for their high school programs were many former PPBA players, like Windward’s Skyler Chang, Oliver Yi, Truman Pauley, Anton Shelton, Kam Naficy, Ben Leshgold and Jack Gargiulo; Lucas Herman from Viewpoint; Andrew Citron, Marty Kaplan, Davis White and Dylan Tatum of Harvard-Westlake; Caden Abraham from Brentwood; and Notre Dame infielder Jack Gurevitch.

Lefty ace Mason Edwards had a big junior year at Palisades, posting a 6-4 record with a 1.20 earned run average and 102 strikeouts in 64.1 innings on the mound.

In softball, junior Katharine Steffes did it all for the Dolphins, leading them in RBIs (24), triples, home runs (3) and slugging percentage (.765) while playing first, third, catcher and outfield.

Miles Partain perfectly fits the Mr. Versatility mold in volleyball, being named MPSF Player of the Year and first-team All-American as a junior setter for UCLA. He claimed his first pro victory at the AVP Gold Series Atlanta Open with partner Paul Lotman.

While Ryan Pecsok (UC Santa Barbara), Will Bantle (Penn State) and Akhil Tangutur (UC Irvine) all earned All-Conference recognition, as did Stanford’s Elia Rubin and Duke’s Kerry Keefe on the women’s side, it was Daniella  Fenster who soaked in the experience of a lifetime as a member of the USA Girls U18 volleyball squad that won the gold at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. The senior middle blocker hailing from the Huntington, whose Archer School for Girls team won 21 matches and qualified for the Southern Section Division 5 playoffs, served the last two points to close out the fourth set in the finals against the host nation, which beat the U.S. in round robin play.

Senior libero Alexa Trapani had a team-high 296 digs to help Marymount post 30 victories and tie for the Mission League title.

Pali High’s boys team won the City Open Division crown behind the one-two punch of setter Blake Pecsok and hitter Gus Wibbelsman, who were voted Co-Players of the Year. James Rockwell and Matisse Lee-Maarek also made the All-City first team.

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