Dolphin Girls Swim to City Title

Three hours of competition came down to the final event last Friday at the City Section Swim Championships. Palisades High seniors Ana Silka, Hayley Hacker, Shelby Pascoe and Hayley Lemoine knew if they took first place in the 400-yard Freestyle Relay, they would give their team enough points to win the title. Anything less or a disqualification and the Dolphins risked coming up short. Swimming the anchor leg, Lemoine touched the wall at 3:46.40–almost three full seconds faster than the foursome’s preliminary time Tuesday. Still, defending champion Cleveland won the event in 3:43.81 and it was only after officials added Wednesday’s diving points to the final totals that Palisades was declared the new City champion by a razor thin 409-405 margin at John Argue Swim Stadium next to the L.A. Coliseum. “It was a team effort,” Palisades High Coach Adam Blakis said. “The depth on the girls’ side is tremendous.” Palisades’ boys squad also had one of its best finals meets in years, coming within three points of second place Birmingham. Cleveland captured the City title. “I’m particularly proud of our boys to come that close to second,” Blakis said. “Especially considering we gave up a lot of points on diving.” Birmingham boys placed second, sixth and 10th in diving while the Dolphins had no divers. Unlike Cleveland, which won five individual races, as well as two relays, Palisades’ girls team quietly accumulated points through sheer numbers, placing multiple swimmers in every event. Ultimately, it was depth that carried the day for the Dolphins. “We needed every single person and every single race counted,” said co-captain Hacker, who swam second in both the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle. “Oh, yeah, we earned this, we worked so hard,” added fellow co-captain Silka, who took second in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle. Junior Sabrina Giglio swam a personal-best 1:11.95 in the 100 breaststroke and almost pulled an upset against Cavaliers’ senior Jessica Chong, who also went her best time (1:10.38). Junior Zoe Fullerton placed third in the butterfly, shaving two seconds off of her seed time to clock 1:02.61. “For all the seniors who lost last year’we’re back this year!” Lemoine said. “In a sport that depends on individuals, we pulled together as a team, supporting each other and that made all the difference,” added Pascoe, who was fourth in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle. Silka, Hacker, Pascoe and Lemoine were all promoted to varsity as freshmen, helping the Dolphins win back-to-back titles in 2007-08 and finishing runner-up to Cleveland last spring. “Last year we lost [the title],” Palisades Coach Brooke King said. “This year they really wanted it bad. Being part of that was exciting.” Seniors John Cullen, Lev Vaysman and Wyatt Elliott joined sophomore Henry Siegal to win the 200 medley relay. Cullen took first place in the 100 backstroke (55.90) and fifth in the 100 freestyle while Vaysman was fifth in the 100 breaststroke and 10th in the 500 freestyle. PaliHi’s boys’ team is young, with sophomores capturing a majority of their points. Andrew Hacker placed third in the 200 and 500 free, John Amis took fourth in the 50 free and third in the 100 free, Matthew Hammer placed fifth in the back and seventh in the 200 I.M., Stephan Kang took eighth in the 200 free and ninth in the butterfly and Gabriel Connolly (who was seeded 16th in the back, swam to a ninth). The same depth that saved the girls was a weakness to the boys, for while they placed in the top eight in almost every event, Cleveland had three or four swimmers in every event. “I felt like it was more a team effort,” said boy’s co-captain Cullen. “We almost beat out Birmingham.” “It was incredible,” added fellow co-captain Elliott. “I couldn’t have asked for a better last meet. The team has been steadily improving and it’s the best we’ve done in a long time.” Winning never gets old for Blakis: “I’m super stoked. Five years ago when I coached the team, we won a championship. I’m glad to be back winning another.”