Athletes of the Year

By STEVE GALLUZZO |  Sports Editor

Another exciting year of sports is coming to an end in Pacific Palisades and it’s time to look back at some of the local athletes who inspired us with their heart, desire and skill in 2016…

Equestrienne Lucy Davis lived the dream at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she helped the United States capture the silver medal in show jumping. Davis also advanced to the finals of the individual competition aboard her 12-year-old warmblood gelding Barron. Davis grew up near Mandeville Canyon and started riding ponies in Sullivan Canyon. She went to preschool at Calvary Christian before attending St. Matthew’s, then Harvard-Westlake High and Stanford University. The 23-year-old was the youngest rider in the field at her first Olympics.

Also enjoying success in the saddle was 13-year-old Fiona Sewell, who  rode her Hanoverian warmblood Karl Ernst to first place in the Onondarka Medal Challenge at the Del Mar International Show near San Diego in OCtober. The Corpus Christi 8th-grader beat 35 of California’s best riders.

Townsend Bell rose to the top of the auto racing world in June when he and his American teammates won the GTE-Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in only their second appearance at the world-famous endurance classic. He was behind the wheel for nine of the 24 hours and was the driver who eased the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia into the lead for the first time. Starting in fourth position, Bell led for 12 laps early at the Indianapolis 500 before finishing 21st after a collision on pit row.

Few basketball players are as exciting to watch as Los Angeles Clippers forward and Riviera resident Blake Griffin, who played in 35 games in the 2015-16 NBA season and averaged 21.2 points while starting the first 26 games this season.

Excelling on the hardwood for Palisades High in 2016 were Will Johnson and Chelsey Gipson. Johnson captained the boys squad and scored 24 points in the Dolphins’ Division I playoff victory over San Pedro. He added 20 points in a quarterfinal loss to Hamilton and received the Post Cup Award as the school’s outstanding senior athlete in June. Gipson led the girls to their second straight City Open Division title in March on her way to Western League MVP and City Player of the Year honors. She signed her national letter of intent with Loyola Marymount in November.

Henry Vogel captained Harvard-Westlake High to the CIF Division IV state title at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. The Dartmouth-bound guard was a key contributor throughout the Wolverines’ playoff run.

Sunset Mesa swimmer Jordan Wilimovsky did his community and his country proud at the Rio Olympics, taking fourth place in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle in a personal-best 14:45.03 and fifth in one hour, 53 minutes and three seconds in the 10K open-water swim at Copacabana Beach. The 22-year-old, who began swimming at the Palisades-Malibu YMCA pool in Temescal Gateway Park and was a Junior Lifeguard at Will Rogers State Beach, became the first U.S. swimmer to qualify for the Olympics in both pool and open-water events.

Also making a splash in the lanes was Pali High junior Kian Brouwer. After breaking three individual records and being part of two record-setting relays at City finals, he made history at the CIF state meet in Clovis, winning the 200-yard freestyle consolation final and making the championship finals in the 100 butterfly, clocking 49.43 seconds to take seventh. Brouwer signed with UC Santa Barbara in November.

It was a milestone season on the gridiron for Pali High and a big reason was senior tailback Innocent Okoh, who amassed a City Division I-best 1,965 yards and 19 touchdowns in 12 games as the Dolphins earned a share of the Western League title for the second year in a row. Teammate Quinn Perry made first-team All-City as a linebacker and punter and offensive lineman Syr Riley made the All-City second team after being named league Lineman of the Year.

Senior quarterback Chad Kanoff threw for 1,741 yards and six touchdowns for the Princeton Tigers, who tied atop the Ivy League standings.

In the NFL, Chris Conte is enjoying a stellar season at strong safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has played in 12 of the team’s 14 games, with 67 tackles (57 solo, 10 assisted) and two interceptions.   

Proving that perseverance pays off, placekicker Kai Forbath competed hard throughout camp to earn the starting job with the New Orleans Saints, but he was cut before the team’s season opener. In November, he signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings and, in four games with the team, has made all 10 of his field goals and five of seven extra point attempts.

In March, Pali High alumnus Mitchell Schwartz signed a five-year, $33-million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs and he has started all 14 games at right tackle this season.

On the soccer pitch, Kaitlyn Parcell capped off a record-setting career at Pali High by winning the Post Cup Award in June, then made an impact as a freshman at Santa Clara Univerity. The only player in program history to tally 50+ goals and 50+ assists in her varsity career, she finished her senior season with 17 goals and 20 assists while leading the Dolphins to their ninth consecutive league title and earning All-League and All-City recognition. She also founded “Big Sister Sports” – a program designed to help middle school athletes improve their skills, practice techniques and conditioning.

Rio marked the third Olympic Games for Ali Riley, a defender for the New Zealand women’s national team, which was third in group play and just missed advancing to the medal phase. Riley grew up in the Alphabet Streets and was a multi-sport star at St. Matthew’s.

Three Pali High wrestlers took first place in their weight classes at the City finals in February. Jake Adler won a major decision in the 145-pound division. Marcelo Maya  won the 160-pound title when he was declared the winner by default after being knocked unconscious by a head butt in the finals. Hamzah Alsaudi won the 195-pound title by edging San Fernando’s Alonso Alvarez in triple overtime. Kaila Osorio was the girls’ runner-up at 189.

In November, a bright new star was born on the prep cross country scene. Freshman Lila Copeland blazed to the City Division I title by over 17 seconds and led Palisades to its fourth consecutive team title.

Copeland covered the 2.91-mile course at Pierce College in 18:45.88 to become the second Palisades girl in three years to claim the individual crown, joining three-time champion Marissa Williams (now at California), who set the section and course record of 16:33.11 in 2014.

Junior Kimia Samandi placed second in the girls race while Brent Smith was fifth in the boys race and qualified for the state meet with teammate Ben Hamer (eighth).

Brentwood School’s James Kahn won the Brentwood Invitational for the second straight year, finishing 40 seconds ahead of the runner-up in a personal-best 16:60  on the three-mile course.

Charlie Sherman had a standout year on the course and on the track at Loyola High, placing 10th in a field of 128 runners in the Boys Sweepstakes Race at the Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational, winning the 2.93-mile Rosemead Invitational in a personal-best 14:10.4, winning the Mt. Carmel/Movin Shoes Invitational and taking second at the Bell-Jeff Invitational. The Riviera resident also won the Palisades-Will Rogers 5K on July 4.

Happy 31-year-old newlywed Katie DeWitt (who grew up on upper Chautauqua) was feeling pretty good herself after winning the Will Rogers 10K for the first time in exactly 41 minutes.

Nobody meant more to her volleyball team in the fall than senior setter Zoe Pelikan at Archer School for Girls. The Panthers’ captain played all 172 points in a four-set loss in the Southern Section playoffs and finished her senior season with 26 kills, 17 aces, seven blocks, 70 digs and a team-high 149 assists in 38 sets.

On the beach, UCLA-bound Alyssa Slagerman led Palisades’ girls squad to the IBVL Ocean Division title while brothers Marcus and Miles Partain led the Dolphins’ boys squad to first place in the Ocean Division, then advanced to the finals of the Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League pairs tournament.

In May, Jo Kremer helped USC’s sand volleyball team win the inaugural national championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama. She and her partner Zoe Nightingale  came to be known as Zo/Jo while winning all of their matches in straight sets at the NCAA Finals.

Pali High junior Ray Yang made four birdies on his way to an even-par 72 that earned him the City individual golf championship at Griffith Park’s Wilson Course. Eight days later, he sank a 25-foot playoff putt at the Southern California Regionals to book one of the last two spots for the state finals.

After shooting the Dolphins’ lowest score at all five league matches, sophomore Melanie Matayoshi became the first Palisades girl to qualify for regionals by carding a 95 at Balboa Golf Course in Encino.

Lee Calvert continued to prove that age is only a number by   winning two silvers and a gold medal in table tennis at the Huntsman Senior Games in Utah.

The 92-year-old Optimist Club member partnered with Joe Jenkins of Ohio to win the mixed doubles gold medal and paired with Fumi Asami from Japan to earn silver in doubles in the 81-85 division.

Tahitian Terrace neighbor Cynthia Cuza, who practices year round with Calvert, earned the bronze medal in singles in the 75+ division.   

Huntington rower Nicki Schindler got the thrill of a lifetime when she was named to the U.S. Rowing Junior National Team and was invited to compete in the women’s quadruple scull at the Junior World Championships in The Netherlands.In May she received the $5,000 CYC Darling Family Scholastic Award for excellence in junior rowing. She graduated from Marlborough High in June and was recruited to row at Stanford, where she plans to pursue a degree in bioengineering.

Redemption was the mission for Pali High’s boys lacrosse team in the spring and the Dolphins delivered by regaining the City title behind Macchio Rissone, who  tallied six goals and two assists  in a rout of Hamilton in the finals.

Pali High’s Dane Elkins continued his meteoric rise to the top of the junior racquetball rankings, winning  the boys 18-and-under singles championship and making the consolation semifinals in the men’s Open Division at the World Outdoor Racquetball Championships in Huntington Beach. He made the U.S. indoor squad for the second time after winning the 16s gold division doubles title with partner Ricardo Diaz of Stockton, and winning seven of eight matches to take third in singles at the National Junior Olympic Championships in Minneapolis.

Harvard-Westlake senior outfielder Jake Suddleson terrorized opposing pitchers all season, clubbing 11 home runs and earning All-Mission League and All-CIF baseball honors while leading the Wolverines to the Southern Section finals.

At Pali High, shortstop and pitcher  Harrison Hart was voted Western League MVP and made the All-City first team after batting .403 with, three home runs, 19 RBIs, 172 bases and 28 steals.

Camille Oswald, a junior on Harvard-Westlake’s girls water polo team, scored four goals, including the game-winner in the first round of the CIF playoffs. Her  15 goals in th team’s last five games helped the Wolverines win their ninth straight league title.

On the tennis court, Pali High sophomore Jake Sands won the 16s doubles championship at the USTA International Spring Championships, won the Fullerton Junior 18s singles title and reached the City Individual singles final.

Caroline Ross and Gigi Feingold won the girls’ City Individual doubles title earlier this month.