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 perseverance and their passion in 2019…
No one gave us more inspiration than volleyball setter Keely McMahon and football/baseball player Jake Nadley. Their burning desire to be the best is what separated them from their peers and earned them Palisadian-Post Cup Awards as the outstanding senior athletes at Palisades High.
Gwendolen Twist, a 44-year-old mother of two from the Alphabet Streets, just got back from the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where she placed 10th in her age group to help The Jane’s Elite Racing team retain its title in the 40+ age group. She completed the challenging 6K course in the mud and rain at Lehigh University in 23:56, then returned 90 minutes later to run the Open Division race. Gwen won the Palisades Funding Turkey Trot 5K for the first time on Thanksgiving. Three weeks after winning the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon in May in a personal-best 2:51:49 she set another PR at the Grandmas Marathon (2:50:52) in Duluth, Minnesota, to place ninth out of 387 women in her age group. In July she clocked 5:29 to help The Janes win the team title at the Manhattan Mile in Manhattan Beach.
When it comes to amazing feats, Darren Wald takes the cake. In August the 48-year-old PPBA coach was in Sweden for Ironman Kalmar, where he completed the 140-mile event in a tad over 10 hours. Upon finishing, he hopped in an RV and drove across the border into Denmark for Ironman Copenhagen, which he completed in just under 11 hours. In all, Wald stroked, pedaled and legged a distance of 280 miles in less than 36 hours.
Jake Sands has come through in the clutch ever since he picked up a racket, but perhaps the biggest win of his tennis career came in April when the freshman pulled out a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over Cal’s Jacob Brumm at No. 5 singles to clinch the Pac-12 Tournament championship at Libbey Park in Ojai. He showed nerves of steel in notching the clinching point in the Trojans’ quarterfinal win against Washington State and won in straight sets in the semifinals against Stanford. Sands grew up in the Palisades and made history as a junior at Pali High in 2017 when he helped the Dolphins capture the Griggs Cup at Ojai by winning the CIF singles title—the first Palisades player to win the prestigious event since John Davis in 1980.
Jordan Wilimovsky of Sunset Mesa became the first man to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic team as the only American to place in the top 10 in the men’s 10-kilometer open water event at the FINA World Championships in Gwanju, South Korea in July. Needing only to finish among the top 10 at the World Championships in order to qualify for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, he placed fifth, only 5.1 seconds behind the winner. The 25-year-old from Sunset Mesa was a member of the Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team in 2004, participated in the Jr. Lifeguard program at Will Rogers State Beach and graduated from Malibu High in 2012. The 2020 Games will be his second Olympics. At the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro he was fourth in the 1500 meters and fifth in the 10k open water swim.
Riviera Country Club member Colette Rosenberg competed in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Golf Championship over the summer at Cedar Rapids Country Club in Iowa, shooting rounds of 81 and 84. The 58-year-old mother of three who lives off Bienveneda shot an 81 at South Hills Country Club in West Covina in July to qualify for the Senior Amateur.
Baseball brothers Tyler and Scott Heineman will remember a day in early September for the rest of their lives. On the same night Tyler got called up to the major leagues by the Miami Marlins, Scott hit his first major league home run—at Yankee Stadium of all places—for the Texas Rangers’ only run in a 10-1 loss to the Bronx Bombers.
Tyler didn’t get into the game in Pittsburgh, but the 28-year-old catcher made his MLB debut the next night as a pinch hitter, making he and Scott the 396th set of siblings to play major league baseball.
The Heineman brothers grew up on Radcliffe Avenue and their parents, Steve and Kathy, who are both from New York, flew to Pittsburgh to see Tyler suit up for his first game. However, Scott’s sister Emily, his aunt Debbie and his cousin Nick were in the stands to see him homer to right field off reliever Jonathan Loaisiga with one out in the ninth inning. It was Scott’s 14th major league game since being called up on August 2 and he got a hit against Detroit. The 26-year-old was selected the Rangers’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2018.
In January, the Palisades natives hosted their first Prime Time Charity Casino Classic at the Buffalo Club in Santa Monica and the poker tournament/silent auction raised money for the nonprofit organization to help at-risk children from low-income areas of L.A. Tyler started the 2019 season with the Reno Aces but was traded to Miami for cash considerations. He played in the PPBA until he was 10 and was drafted by the Houston Astros in 2012 out of UCLA after a prep career at Windward School. Scott played at Crespi High, then at the University of Oregon. He was drafted by Texas in the 11th round in 2015.
Following in the footsteps of older brother Dane, who won the 2017 Post Cup Award his senior year at Pali High, rising racquetball star Cody Elkins is making quite a name for himself. In June he took the bronze medal in the 14-and-under Red Division at the National Junior Olympic Racquetball Championships in Portland and in July the Palisades High freshman-to-be stood tall on the wall at Marina Park in Huntington Beach, going undefeated in six matches to win his 14-and-under age group and the overall gold division at the World Outdoor Racquetball (three wall) Championships.
No one was better on the basketball court than Pali High junior Jane Nwaba, who led the Dolphins to the City Section Division I championship and the Southern California Regional finals while earning City Player of the Year honors. Caden Arnold played lockdown defense and made key shots to help the USA Youth Basketball squad win the gold medal at the European Maccabi Games in Hungary. A week before, Caden’s sisters Sammie, Taylor and Elise, led their LA Westside team to gold at the U.S. Maccabi Games in Atlanta with help from their Pali High teammate Sofia Canter.
On the gridiron, former Pali High All-City lineman Mitchell Schwartz was named an NFL All-Pro first-teamer by the Associated Press for the first time in his pro career. The 6-foot-5, 320-lb. starting right tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs, was also selected as a first team All Pro selection by ProFootballFocus and Bleacher Report. He had never missed a snap in his eight seasons and 121 games until a knee injury briefly forced him out of the Chiefs’ 35-32 loss to the Tennessee Titans in November, ending his ironman streak at 7,894 snaps.
Pali High went undefeated in league for the first time in 32 years thanks to running back/receiver Max Palees and linebacker Syaire Riley, who shared the Joe Spector Award as varsity MVPs.
Dartmouth-bound Jack Dyett did it all for Brentwood School. In eight regular season games the 6-foot-5, 210-pound wide receiver/defensive end from the Huntington ccounted for 826 yards with a team-best 49 catches for 625 yards and six touchdowns. On defense he had 43 tackles (nine for losses) and four sacks. He even played a whole game at quarterback, throwing for two scores in a 37-25 win.
Quarterback Miller Moss put up impressive numbers in his junior season at Bishop Alemany High in Mission Hills. In 12 games he threw for 3,094 yards and 28 touchdowns.
Marshall Howe, varsity quarterback at Harvard-Westlake High, had a stellar junior season, throwing for 1,800 yards and 16 touchdowns in nine games.
It all came down to the last event at the City Section track championships in May and Pali High’s Kenny Davis, Nick Mendez, Nnamdi Onwaoze and Shayne Larimer took second place in the 4×400 relay to clinch the Dolphins’ first boys tean title by a half point.
Davis also took second in the long jump and third in the 300 hurdles, Onwaoze won the 110 hurdles in a personal-best 15.26 and won the 300 hurdles and Chandler Hooks was third in the 110 hurdles.
Erica Bagby cleared 11-09 to win the girls pole vault title, Brittany Darrow was second by three seconds in the 800, Sarah Bentley was third in the 1600 and Miranda Schriver was second by three seconds in the 3200.
In cross country, Bentley was third in the Division I girls race at City Finals and Lucas Schriver was second in the Division I boys race.
Highlands resident Ken Rideout was the 10K runner up in the Turkey Trot and finished third in the Palisades Will Rogers 10K on the Fourth of July. In April, he turned to his hometown to complete the Boston Marathon in 2:35:43—good enough for eighth place in his age group and 222nd overall.
Lifelong Palisadian Natalie Gigg beat former Pali High runner Natalie Marsh to win the Will Rogers 5K race in 18:39. Gigg, 24, was third in the women’s 10K last year.
Pali High’s boys volleyball team put together a historic season in which it set a program record for wins and captured its third straight City title. Leading the way were senior captain and City Player of the Year Marcus Partain, his younger brother Miles Partain (who then enjoyed a successful summer on the AVP Tour), outside hitter Akhil Tangutur, middle blocker Justin Howard and twins Vance and Mason Mallory.
After Palisades beat El Camino Real in the City final and reached the regional semifinals, Coach Carlos Gray called it the best high school team he’s ever coached.
Led by local players Sophia Globe, Addie Edwards, Elia Rubin, Kerry Keefe and Ava O’Connor and coached by Palisadian Cari Klein, the Marymount High girls volleyball team won the Mission League and made the CIF Southern Section and regional semifinals.
Jessica Yang, a junior setter on the Trinity College women’s volleyball team in Hartford, racked up 367 assists, 167 digs, 30 aces and 24 kills in 23 matches.
California Yacht Club rower Talia Koch competed in the Head of the Charles in Boston with schoolmate Alexandria Lange and they took third place out of 46 boats in Women’s Youth Doubles.
On the soccer field, goalkeeper Connor O’Brien backstopped his U.S. Soccer Developmental Academy’s U16/17 team to the L.A. Galaxy Cup Developmental Academy tournament in April in Irvine. In the championship game, Real So Cal edged Nomads DA, 2-1, in overtime. He had three shutouts in pool play. The lifelong Palisadian from Pacific View Estates is a junior at Brentwood School. Meanwhile, his older sister Courtney wrapped up her stellar All-Ivy League soccer career at Princeton University.
Lily Gruber got the opportunity of lifetime when she was chosen to represent the United States at the Maccabi International Pan American Games in Mexico City. A senior on Pali High’s varsity soccer team, she not only made the USA squad but led it to the gold medal while being named team ambassador—an honor and responsibility she wholeheartedly embraced.
It was a year of change on the pitch for New Zealand women’s national team captain Ali Riley. In July, the 31-year-old left back who grew up in the Alphabet Streets and was a multi-sport star at St. Matthew’s signed with Bayern Munich in Germany after one season with English Women’s Super League side Chelsea, where game time was limited by injury.
St. Matthew’s eighth-grader Parker Turner played a huge role in the Falcons winning their first Pacific Basin League track and field championship in four years. He took first place in the 100-meter dash in 11.99 seconds and first place in the 200 meters in 25.02, going undefeated all the season in both events. He also anchored the Falcons’ victorious 4×100 relay team and took fourth in the high jump. Turner’s efforts earned 34 of his team’s 89 points. In the fall he played wide receiver and defensive back on the St. Matthew’s A-Division flag football team, which won the PBL crown. In the winter he was the leading scorer on the Falcons’ A-Division championship basketball team—the school’s first hoops title in 10 years.
A sophomore long stick middie on Loyola High’s varsity lacrosse team, Highlands resident Preston Barnes was named the team’s MVP after helping the Cubs capture their fifth straight Mission League crown and fourth consecutive L.A. County championship. He assisted on the clinching goal in Loyola’s 12-6 victory over Palos Verdes in the L.A. County final and was one of six Cubs named to the All-Mission League First Team in the spring.
After powering the Pali High boys team to its fourth straight City title and fifth in six years, senior middie Jack O’Rourke led the Dolphins to the L.A. Invitational Tournament championship.
Leading the Pali High girls team to its first City lacrosse title were senior twins Sammy and Ally Stahl, who two months earlier helped the girls water polo team win its first City title. The sisters shared the Mercer Scholar-Athlete Award, a $1,000 scholarship for students who play multiple sports.
Brentwood School senior Zach Hausner led the Eagles’ water polo team to the Southern Section semifinals and joined Pali High’s Maximo Speiser on the USA team at the Maccabi European Games.
Pali High senior captain Laurel Weitz took third place in the longboard competition and reached the shortboard semifinals in only her second Scholastic Surf Series event in October at Zuma Beach and she went on to have a successful season.
Henry Lovett attained the No. 1 ranking in the Southern California Tennis Association Boys 18 singles standings, a list that included 493 eligible players, after playing No. 1 singles for the Pali High boys team in the spring. He reached the Ojai semifinals, led the Dolphins to their 11th straight team crown and won the City Individual singles title.
Eighth-grader George Lazenby of St. Matthew’s won the Pacific Basin League singles title at UCLA and also helped the Falcons win flag football and basketball titles.
Windward School 8th-grader Sydney Ginestro went undefeated to win the Pacific Basin League Middle School tennis title in November. The El Medio resident also pitches on the softball team.
Gable Gering competed in Del Mar versus 33 other riders at the California Professional Horseman’s Association Equitation Medal in August and was Reserve Champion. The 12-year-old from the Huntington had an average score of 81 in the 14U age division. In July, she rode the same horse, Decklin, to fourth overall in the 15U division at the National Junior Hunter Finals.
Henry Mariscal of the El Medio Bluffs won the California Junior Golf Labor Day Tournament by 10 strokes. He was second in the Boys 12-14 age division of the SCPGA putting contest at Strawberry Farms. He plays football, basketball and golf at St. Matthew’s and is a PPBA All-Star.
Pali High senior Lucas Braun was named Western League MVP after pitching the Dolphins all the way to the City Open Division final at Dodger Stadium. He had an 8-0 record with 112 strikeouts and a 1.02 earned run average.
After he transferred from Palisades to Birmingham High, Aaron Galef won the City 145-pound wrestling title and was the Lower Weights MVP. Pali High’s Luke Hansen won the 160-pound title.
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