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 2025…

No one drew more oohs and aahs than Palisades High football player Demare Dezeurn, who dazzled fans week after week with his speed, athleticism and showmanship. The junior transfer from Alemany was a human highlight reel on offense, defense and special teams and was named Western League Player of the Year after leading the team with 27 touchdowns—21 receiving, one rushing, three on interception returns and two on kickoff returns. At the postseason team banquet, Dezeurn was given the Joe Spector Award as Varsity MVP. He caught 64 passes for 1,372 yards at wide receiver and added five interceptions and three pass deflections at free safety.

Quarterback Jack Thomas passed for 3,284 yards, 43 touchdowns and only three interceptions and was named Western League Offensive MVP while Liam Hudson was selected Western League Offensive Lineman of the Year and won the team Pancake Award. Linebacker Enzo Allen led the team with 121 tackles and Tavian Talbert was named the team’s top defensive player.

Also showing excellence on the gridiron and in the classroom were Loyola High captains Max Meier and Nathan Turk. A three-year starter at defensive end, Meier finished his senior season with 113 tackles (19 of those for losses), 11.5 sacks and 30 quarterback hurries. The two-time All-Mission League selection received 24 Division 1 offers before signing with Stanford. Turk, an offensive lineman credited with 68  pancake blocks in 2025, not only excels at football but is also a wrestler and plans to shot put for thr track and field team in the spring. He has a 4.55 GPA, is Vice President of the student body and has been on student council all four years. He has committed to Harvard. The two have played together since their days at Corpus Christi School, where they won the CYO flag football championship.

The Palisades High girls volleyball team captured its 31st City Section title in the fall, paced by junior outside hitter Ashlynn Sells, who had six kills in a three-set sweep of Venice in the finals. She was named Open Division Player of the Year. Joining Sells on the first team were senior libero Lucy Neilson, senior outside hitter Tulah Block and junior setter Christie Turner. Over at Marymount, liberos Karys Campos, Declan Eastman and Gabrielle Bartle helped the Sailors reach the Southern Section Division 1 and SoCal regional semifinals.

On the sand, Miles Partain continued his success on the AVP Tour, winning the Huntington Beach Open with partner Andy Benesh in May and on the college courts, Dillon Klein was named a first team All-American after pounding 338 kills for USC. Fellow Loyola alum Cooper Robinson totaled 365 kills in 28 starts for UCLA, which reached the NCAA Finals in May. Elia Rubin led the Stanford women’s team with 393 kills.

The Most Resilient Award has to go to Black Belt Tamar Springer, whose comdominium burned down in the Palisades Fire. Nevertheless, she collected gold medals in Traditional Forms and Traditional Weapons in the 50-and-over division of the annual Compete Karate Tournament at the Ontario Convention Center in February.

In tennis, seniors Nicole Nguyen and Anne Kelly claimed the City Individual doubles title two weeks after helping Palisades High capture its 30th girls team title. The boys won their 16th consecutive team title in the spring and post Cup winner Lorenzo Brunkow beat his friend and teammate Neel Joshi to win the City Individual singles title. Caleb Scott paired with Max May to win the Individual doubles title, beating teammates Zach Cohen and Teddy Brainard in the finals. Loyola’s Cooper Schwartz and Braun Levi won the Mission League doubles title and advanced to the semifinals at Ojai. 

In February, three talented Palisades High seniors did their school and community proud by taking first place at the NBTA California State Baton Twirling Championships in Perris. Martha Valkov teamed up with identical twins Grace and Noelle Hardy to form a formidable threesome that not scored the most points in the competition but also walked out with a five-foot tall trophy for being the Most Inspirational team. The cherry on top came the next day when Noelle was crowned champion of the Miss Majorette of California Pageant and Grace won the state Strut title. In March, the trio was at it again, taking first place in the All West Regional Championships at San Diego State University.

Racquetball player Brett Elkins proved the value of experience when he and partner Ed Erickson from Arkansas won the World Seniors  championship in thr 55-60 age division, going undefeated and knocking out the No. 1-seeded duo. Coached by his son Cody, Brett took second plade in singles, upsetting the No. 1 seed en route to the finals.

On the basketball court, Palisades High guard and leading scorer  Elly Tierney made the All-City Open Division squad along with forward Riley Oku and on the boys side point guard Jack Levey made the Open Division team along with shooting guard Tommy Pickens.

The Palisades Recreation Center’s Coed Minor Division All-Star basketball team did not lose a game on its way to the Citywide Tournament championship, beating Pan Pacific 36-33 in a thrilling final April on 10. The team consisted of 9-year-old Kai Bowman, 10-year-olds Knox Redick, Beckett Thomas, Kinglsey Citron, Dax Skinner and Matthew Bundy and 11-year-olds Arjun Srinivasan, Hunter Ma and Josh Ahdoot. The squad racked up 358 points and allowed only 149 in eight games.

In girls soccer, Palisades High’s two leading point producers made the City’s inaugural Open Division team: Mechal Green (22 goals, 17 assists) and Leila Jafari (17 goals, 10 assists). Senior midfielder Jack Spirito was the boys’ lone All-City representative.

It was another successful season for auto racing phenom Jaxon Bell, as the 2021 Pali High graduate and oldest son of 10-time Indy 500 driver Townsend Bell teamed up with Ford Koch to make their first International Motor Sports Association podium at Road Atlanta in October in the Fox Factory 120 race­—the final event of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Championship. Competing with the Toyota Supra GT4, the duo qualified fifth and finished second while logging the second and third fastest laps among the 54 drivers in the class.

The sport of golf is challenging, but identical twins Chase and Jack Zucker make it look easy at times. The Paul Revere students get stellar grades on the links and in the classroom. Both also play guard for their AAU basketball team Bucket Boys that recently received the distinction of being an Adidas sponsored program.

A new star is on the rise for the Palisades High girls lacrosse team. Her name is Elexus Ray and   she broke the school single-season scoring record with 113 goals,  including nine in the City finals against El Camino Real.

Palisades High’s boys water polo team was not selected for the Open Division bracket in the fall but still won a City title­—its 18th  overall—thanks to the cat-quick reflexes of goalie Aidan Moriarty, who made 12 saves, and five goals by Hudson Mirzadeh in an 8-7 victory over Granada Hills in the Division I final.

Tyler Heineman, who grew up in the Palisades, was the backup catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, who won the American League pennant and lost to the Dodgers in an epic seven-game World Series.Heineman appeared in 61 regular-season games in 2025, batting .289 with 43 hits, three homers, 20 RBIs and 25 runs scored in reserve of Alejandro Kirk.

After leading the Palisades High baseball team to the quarterfinals of the Division I playoffs, senior outfielder Logan Bailey was picked for All-City honors.He tied for third on the team with22 hits in 25 games, was third in runs scored with 24, led the team in doubles (six) and triples (two), had a .355 batting average and swiped a team-high 17 bases. Bailey finished the year with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage after collecting 40 put-outs and two assists in 42 total chances with zero errors. Not surprisingly, Bailey earned All-Western League first team honors along with pitcher/first baseman Roman Hawk and pitcher/designated hitter Ian Sul-livan. Palisades finished 18-11.

On the college diamond, Jack Gurevitch, a former PPBA All-Star and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High standout, enjoyed a breakthrough season at the University of San Diego. The junior infielder led the Toreros in batting average (.371), OPS (1.158), runs (56), hits (85), homers (17), total bases (156), runs batted in (56), slugging percentage (.681), walks (35) and was second in RBIs (56). In the field he had a .984 percentage with 325 put-outs and 39 asssists as the Toreros went 19-5 in the West Coast Conference.

Zach Ritts had an afternoon to remember in March. In the second game of a doubleheader against Asbury, the Oberlin College third baseman stole seven bases to set a school and North Coast Athletic Conference record. His total tied him with three other players for the second-most steals in a single game in NCAA Division III history. Ritts grew up in the Highlands, played in the PPBA, went to Marquez Elementary and Paul Revere Middle School and was the opening day pitcher for Palisades High his senior year.

Palisades High soccer alum and 2016 Post Cup Award winner Kaitlyn Parcell, who lost her childhood home in the Palisades Fire, led Fortuna Hjorring to the Denmark Premier League title and the Danish Cup championship.

At the City swim finals, Palisades’ medley relay team of William Ryan, Riley Amis, Christopher Goodman and Roi Levertov took first and Levertov won the 50 freestyle sprint.

On the college gridion, Miller Moss enjoyed a stellar senior season at Louisville, throwing for 2,679 yards and 16 touchdowns while leading the Cardinals to a 9-4 record, capped by Tuesday’s 27-22 victory over Toledo in the Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl.

The Palisadian threw two scoring passes to receiver Chris Bell and ran for another score in a 24-21 upset of then No. 2-ranked Miami in a nationally-televised game in Florida in October.

A remarkable career came to an end November 2 in Chicago when Angel City FC captain Ali Riley, who grew up in the Alphabet Streets, played her last professional soccer game.

She grew up playing for the Westside BReakers and SoCal  United club teams, was a two-time Mission League Offensive MVP at Harvard-Westlake and a four-year starter at Stanford, leading the Cardinal to the NCAA semifinals in 2008 and the finals in 2009. She played for the New Zealand National team at five FIFA Women’s World Cups (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) and four Summer Olympics (2008, 2021, 2016, 2020) and was 2010 Rookie of the Year with WPS champion FC Gold Pride. The next season she was a Defender of the Year finalist with WPS champion New York Flash. She won multiple league titles for Rosengard (Sweden) from 2012-18, played one season each for Chelsea FC in England and Bayern Munich in Germany and captained Angel City FC in the NWSL from 2022-25.

Dean Christopher is the Shohei Ohtani of Pali Dad Bod, one of the most revered bocce franchises on the planet. The front-foot right-hander with a strong, deep-left rail game led his team to a 5-0 record.

Off the court, he showed his tap-dancing skills at the “Holiday Soiree” to his room full of screaming, adoring fans.

Palisades High’s cross country teams swept the City Championships in November at Elysian Park. Senior Zach Cohen won the Division I boys race after finishing second in the City 3200 meter finals in the spring and fourth in the Palisades Will Rogers 5K on the Fourth of July. Cohen surged to the lead in the second mile and seventh in 20:49.0. Senior Louisa Mammen (21:16.7), freshman Maribel Henderson-Maclennan (21:21.0) and junior Zoey Morris (21:22.3) were 10th through 12th.

Brentwood School junior Amelia Sarkisian won the Varsity Small Schools race by more than two minutes at the Bellarmine/Sacred Heart Invitational in September in Griffith Park. In a field of 93 competitors, she covered the three-mile route in 19:43.0 to repeat as champion after taking first in the same race in 18:46.6 as a 10th-grader. Three days later Sarkisian won a third straight race

and fourth of the season with a 17:58.2 effort in the second Gold Coast League meet. She won the first Gold Coast League race Sept.

25 in 18:41.10 after capturing her third consecutive Brentwood Small Schools Invitational title in 17:59.3 on Sept. 13. She clocked a season-best 17:15.8 to place 64th

in the Girls Sweepstakes race at Woodbridge. Freshman teammate and Highlands resident Keaton Schaefer won the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving in 18:55 and Pali High alum Sarah Bentley was the first female finisher in the 10K with a time of 37:43.