Greenberg Vaults to Top

So much for a “sophomore slump.” Last year, Palisades High freshman Jamie Greenberg set the girls’ frosh/soph pole vault meet record of 9′ 0″ at the South Bay Championships in Torrance. On Saturday, Greenberg came back as a sophomore and won the varsity girls pole vault with a jump of 10′ 2,” topping girls from 16 other schools. Greenberg said her goal is to help Palisades win the City track and field team title this spring: “I hope I can contribute a few points at City [finals] because our team is looking strong and I think we have a good chance this year. We have some amazing athletes. Coach [Perry] Jones, Coach [Ron] Brumel and their assistant coaches are so knowledgeable and have been very supportive.” Greenberg was not the only Dolphin to bring home a first-place medal from the two-day meet at West High. On Friday night, freshman Laura Carr cleared 8? to win the frosh/soph pole vault. Sophomore Grant Stromberg won the 3200 meter race in a time of 9:53:54, breaking Peter Gilmore’s school sophomore record. It was the third fastest varsity time in Palisades High history. Freshman Drake Johnston took 7th place in the same race with a time of 10:18:28. Sophia Stone won the girls? 3200 in 11:45:11 (the fourth fastest time in school history). The medal count grew on Saturday, starting with Erika Martin, who won the varsity long jump with a leap of 17 feet. The Wake Forest-bound senior also finished second in the 100 hurdles a school-best time of 14.65 seconds. Dennison-bound senior Lauren Gustafson was 7th place in the 800 meters in 2:28:33 while younger sister Kendall, who broke her wrist in practice the previous week, competed in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. Kendall, a freshman, is one of the top track and field athletes in the country in her age group. Freshman Jacklyn Bamberger won the 3200 in 11:14:52 (the second fastest time in school history), Eric Lopez ran sixth in the 800 meters, clocking 2:00:32 (the fifth fastest time in PaliHi history) and Kolmus Iheanacho was fifth in the shot put with a throw of 47′ 5″ (the third best mark in school history). Earlier on Friday, Palisades’ varsity boys and girls teams both defeated Fairfax in a Western League dual meet at Stadium by the Sea. Even with many of their top athletes resting for the South Bay meet, the Dolphins still won easily, as Martin won the 100 hurdles and Mariah Fisher won the 300 hurdles.