As successful and beautiful as actress/realtor Cindy Ambuehl is, her fianc’, actor Don Diamont, is no slouch himself. Born Donald Feinberg in New York on December 31, 1962, Diamont moved with his family to California and attended high school at Brentwood School, where he excelled at basketball and football. He worked for several years as a model before making his acting breakthrough as Carlo Forenza on ‘Days of our Lives’ in 1984. A year later, Diamont became Bradley Carlton on ‘The Young and the Restless.’ He left the cast in 1996, but returned in 1998 and continues to portray the playboy Carlton, who quickly rose from gardener to corporate executive on the show. In the August 15, 2006 edition of Soap Opera Digest, Diamont discussed his Jewish background. His storyline on ‘Young and the Restless’ paralleled his personal life when the top-rated series revealed that Carlton had been concealing his Jewish roots and was actually named George Kaplan. Carlton, as it turned out, was actually the son of a Holocaust survivor and, in a bizarre murder plot (although not so bizarre by soap opera standards), Carlton/Kaplan had survived the murder of his family by crazed Nazi commanders from his mother’s past. Ergo, Kaplan changed his name to Carlton. Elsewhere in TV land, Diamont has also appeared on ‘The Fall Guy,’ ‘Diagnosis Murder’ and ‘Baywatch.’ In feature films, he appeared in the Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson tete-a-tete, ‘Anger Management,’ and in the Keenan Ivory Wayans comedy, ‘A Low Down Dirty Shame.’ Diamont is also known in Dayton, Ohio, as the Morris Home Furnishings spokesperson, and he is an active supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, as he has a niece who suffers from the illness. The success of his earlier career as a model obviously still lingers. Diamont has appeared on the cover of Playgirl twice, and in 1990, People declared Diamont one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world”the first daytime drama actor to receive the magazine’s honor. Obviously, fianc’ Ambuehl agrees. There is little doubt that Diamont is this girl’s best friend.
Actress and fashion designer Cindy Ambuehl is now a fulltime agent with Coldwell Banker in Pacific Palisades.
By MICHAEL AUSHENKER Staff Writer You might say that these days, actress Cindy Ambuehl is ‘keepin’ it real”as in ‘real estate.’ Ambuehl, who starred as Renee Peterson on the long-running CBS primetime series ‘JAG,’ has turned her real estate hobby into a full-time profession by joining Coldwell Banker’s Pacific Palisades office on Sunset. ‘I’ve been dabbling in real estate for 20 years,’ says Ambuehl, and it has now become her true passion. ‘It’s really conducive to family life”a perfect transition for me. If I could survive acting, I can survive real estate.’ By family, Ambuehl means the household she shares in Santa Monica Canyon with her fianc’ and fellow actor, Don Diamont; their twin boys, Anton and Davis, 5; and Diamont’s children from a previous relationship, Lauren, 18, Sasha, 16, Alexander, 13, and Luca, 7. If Diamont’s name sounds familiar, it’s mainly because he’s been a daytime television staple for 22 years, appearing as Brad Carlton on the venerable soap opera ‘The Young and the Restless.’ There was a time for Ambuehl when ‘location, location, location’ meant hopping from set to set to earn her paycheck. A working actress, she spent the 1990s playing in episodes of hit shows such as ‘Cybill,’ ‘Frasier,’ ‘Charmed,’ ‘Silk Stalkings,’ ‘Diagnosis Murder,’ ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ ‘Caroline in the City’ and ‘The Love Boat: The Next Wave.’ Ambuehl played Jerry Seinfeld’s love interest on an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ called ‘The Burning’ ‘ the one in which Jerry is stunned to learn that his new girlfriend has a mysterious “tractor story” that she is concealing from him. Ambuehl also worked in movies, playing opposite Rodney Dangerfield in one of the comedian’s last features, 1997’s ‘Meet Wally Sparks.’ But as an actress, she is probably best known for her work on ‘JAG.’ Originally debuting in 1995 on NBC, the military-themed criminal justice drama, starring David James Elliott and Catherine Bell, became a primetime hit when it was rescued from cancellation by CBS. It ran for a solid decade before its 2005 cancellation. Ambuehl’s recurring role”the quirky, outspoken love interest and comic foil who kept Elliott’s character on his toes” appeared on the show from 2000 through 2003. The ‘JAG’ stint came right as she worked on Fox Television’s critically acclaimed (but quickly canned) Hollywood satire, ‘Action,’ starring Jay Mohr. ‘I was only supposed to do ‘JAG’ for three weeks,’ Ambuehl says, ‘but when ‘Action’ got canceled, I did it for four years.’ Another career highlight for the 43-year-old actress: playing on the short-lived ‘Head over Heels’ with one of her best friends, Eva La Rue, who now stars on another CBS juggernaut, ‘CSI: Miami.’ Ambuehl credits all of the comedy work she’s done as indirect training her for her current profession. ‘We try to lighten up the burden for our buyers and sellers,’ says Ambuehl, who adds that an actress’s perseverance also comes in handy. ‘I remember testing three times with Mel Gibson for a role on ‘What Women Want.’ You go through these experiences, you walk into a room and you perform in front of people. You learn to work the room.’ Today, Ambuehl is most proud of her real estate work with partner Lauri McNevin and Coldwell’s Palisades office manager, Robert Sedway. Ambuehl credits Sedway as ‘a phenomenal leader. He really supported me in my transition from actress to real estate agent.’ Of McNevin, a Palisades resident who has worked in real estate for 11 years, Ambuehl says, ‘We make a good team. When we work with people, in this very, very scary market, I love the fact that Lauri has the educational background as well as the common sense. Lauri and I show every property ourselves, we take every phone call ourselves, we show up to the party. We’re very hands on.’ As working moms, the women feel they have an edge in finding homes to accommodate families. Family is important to both Ambuehl and McNevin (a mother of two), and they are empathetic regarding their nesting clients. In fact, Ambuehl points out that they fill in for each other with babysitting chores so that ‘we actually work seven days a week.’ If there is a reason that Ambuehl shifted from acting to real estate, it can be summed up by one word: family. Acting ‘was not conducive to having children. It was really important to me [to be a full-time mom].’ Ambuehl has always put her personal life over career. ‘I left ‘JAG’ when I was eight months pregnant. Now that the writers strike is over, I can still dabble in that which I love, but I am also going to work in real estate, which is my total focus.’ So why does she prefer the buy and sell over acting these days? ‘I’m loving the feeling that I’m helping people,’ Ambuehl says. ‘I feel that Lauri and I come from such a place of honesty and hard work, we’re giving them a peace of mind. And that’s a good feeling. I’m taking care of people.’ Although Ambuehl didn’t receive her real estate license until 2007, her interest in property transactions has always coincided with her original vocation. ‘I’ve been buying and selling homes all of my career as a hobby in Orange County,’ says Ambuehl, who was born and raised in Yorba Linda, where her parents still live. McNevin is a seasoned pro, having left a five-member team in her native Austin, Texas, to come work in California two years ago. She and Ambuehl met through their sons. Ambuehl and her fianc’ Diamont socialize with another Palisadian on ‘Young and the Restless”’Eric Braeden, who enjoys the Palisades life with his wife, Dale. Ambuehl laughs as she tells the Post that Braeden loves to joke with Diamont that the name of their soap should be re-titled ‘The Young and the Rest of Us.’ So what exactly brought Ambuehl and Diamont to town? ‘I always wanted to be near the beach,’ Ambuehl says. ‘So we really looked hard in the Palisades and Santa Monica because combined we have six boys and we needed a big place to accommodate everyone.’ They found their dream house serendipitously, just driving around and looking at open houses. Ambuehl directed renovations of their Spanish Mediterranean estate and did all the interior design. What Ambuehl really loves and appreciates about the Palisades is that it reminds her of her Orange County roots: ‘The Palisades, too, has that small-town feel. It feels very much like home.’ ‘I love that it’s a small town, after coming from Austin,’ McNevin chimes in. ‘It’s such a smaller city than Los Angeles, and such a wonderful relief. It feels so good to come here and have my own space.’ Together, Ambuehl and McNevin have negotiated home sales primarily on the Westside, having closed deals in the Palisades, Brentwood, Santa Monica and Malibu. When she’s not turning around properties, Ambuehl spends her down time lunching at Tivoli Cafe or enjoying brunch at Mayberry’s. McNevin enjoys those local restaurants, but also lists Il Carpaccio on Palisades Drive as a new fave. ‘We just went to Riordan’s new place and we loved it,’ says Ambuehl regarding The Village Pantry on Swathmore. Ambuehl feels closely connected to the Palisades. She adds that whenever she and McNevin make a sale, ‘a portion of our commission goes to a local school in the community in which we sell a house, on a sale-to-sale basis. So we’re giving back to the community.’ Some might question Ambuehl’s enthusiasm to dive into her new profession at a time when her industry is experiencing its darkest days in more than a decade. But Ambuehl shrugs off such pessimism. ‘The real estate market is taking a hit, but I survived two Screen Actors Guild strikes,’ she says sanguinely. ‘We’ll survive this just fine as well. Last year, we had $15 million in sales and over $20 million in listings. I’m not intimidated at all by it.’ In addition to her real estate business, Ambuehl is a fashion designer. Her clothing line first hit QVC in 2005, and she will debut her new line on The Shopping Channel in Canada on March 14. Her line–hip, funky and contemporary–consists of blouses, pants, dresses and skirts and pants. She and Diamont have also completed hosting a DVD titled ‘Tips for New Parents,’ joining with Eileen David and Hunter Tylo from ‘The Bold and the Beautiful.’ Still, Ambuehl is a fulltime realtor these days, though she still gets a kick out of the effect her previous life can have on the locals. Sometimes, people will double-take when they enter Coldwell Banker’s office and find that familiar face working the phones. ‘It’s really funny,’ Ambuehl says, giggling. ‘When I first came aboard, I got a lot of people who felt that they already knew me. ‘Were you on so and so?” Which begs the question: Are these customers happy to have TV’s Renee Peterson handling their real estate dealings? ‘It depends on whether they like the character I played!’ she says with a hearty laugh. Cindy Ambuehl and Lauri McNevin have a Web site: ambuehlmcnevinhomes.com. For more about Ambuehl’s clothing line, go to cindyambuehl.net.
It strains our sense of artistic nobility and reverence for classical tradition to think of Michaelangelo’s ‘David’ as having once been ‘decorated’ with a gilded wreath and a gilt-bronze belt, and leaning on a gilded tree stump. Can we imagine that the ‘Venus de Milo,’ that icon of classical purity of form, may have been embellished with color? Indeed, when we think of Greek and Roman sculpture, we automatically assume monochromatic forms to be the standard; the highest compliment. But most ancient sculpture was painted with vibrant colors that have faded over time. In the new exhibition ‘The Color of Life’ at the Getty Villa, curators have assembled 40 works of art spanning 4,000 years to highlight the power of color from the ancient world to modern times. The conventional assumption that classical sculpture must have been white has been reinforced in certain periods of art–particularly in the Renaissance and Neoclassic periods–as the paradigm of the ideal. ‘Color, no color, it goes in waves,’ says Eike Schmidt, associate curator of sculpture and decorative arts at the Getty. He explains that, despite the evidence of color as discovered in remnants of pigment often found between fingers and toes or in nostrils of ancient statues, a philosophical preference for monochromatic purity persists. There is a widely held belief that color diminishes the essence of beauty in classical sculpture–the mastery of the chisel and the purity of material. In the 18th century, David d’Angers’ bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson was criticized for its dark patina, which gave the great statesman the skin tone of an African, Schmidt says. ‘In the 19th and 20th centuries, monochromatic art was used to reinforce political ends. The fascist governments favored white marble as a symbol of the supremacy of the white race.’ And yet, as we learn in this exhibition, color has been used as a powerful adjunct in sculpture throughout the history of art. Greek and Roman statues, carved in white marble or cast in bronze, were colored to achieve a heightened emotional response. Color also contributed a more beautiful, heroic or awe-inspiring likeness, Roberta Panzanelli writes in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition. Panzanelli, the senior research specialist at the Getty who conceived of the exhibition, says ‘Color inspires religious veneration, and, in relief sculpture, color can help make the figure or narrative legible to crowds of distant viewers.’ One of the most startling examples in the exhibition of polychromy is the partial reconstruction in plaster of Greek images, which have been painted as they might have looked in the 4th or 5th centuries B.C. Three different reconstructions are displayed of the Peplos Kore, a 530 B.C. marble statue of a young girl wearing a long, richly decorated garment. The vivid hues of the first painted cast suggested by R. M. Cook are not as scientifically based as are the other examples, Schmidt says. ‘Vinzenz Brinkmann looked at the ancient work using raked light and ultraviolet analysis of the surface of the piece and could identify signs of two or three lost colors, or paint ghosts.’ While the exact coloration of the work cannot be certain, these highly pigmented reconstructions shake us out of our belief that Greek sculpture was pure white. Many of the pigments used in antiquity continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Common minerals included malachite (green), azurite (blue) and hematite (red), which were ground into fine powder and mixed with a binding agent. ‘Different colors have a longer life than others,’ Schmidt says. ‘Mineral pigments remain longer than organics, and objects that have been buried have a better chance of keeping their coloration.’ Throughout the exhibition, we see color and tint used in a variety of media. While, in most cases, pigments were applied to the surface of the marble, sculptors, such as Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier, created coloration by skillfully using different materials. In ‘Goat Tender of the Colonies’ (1861), Cordier created a sumptuous bust combining the deep bronze for skin tones with the variegated Algerian onyx-marble for the cloak. In recent decades, artists have once again focused on color in traditional media–sculpture, painting–and new media. ‘Sculptors like Jean Arp and Henry Moore celebrate the intrinsic color of the material’the variety of bronze patinas, stone intrusions and wood grains,’ Schmidt says. Attitudes about color in sculpture have, once and for all, been liberated as the distinctions between painting and sculpture have blurred. For Pop artists, color was arbitrary, and today sculptors create work with either strong hues or neutral tones, depending on their conceptual idea. Superrealists, such as John De Andrea and Duane Hanson, create figurative sculptures made directly from human models with such painstaking realism as to unnerve viewers. In ‘Dying Gaul,’ De Andrea reproduces the pose of a Hellenistic sculpture, adapting the classical subject and pose. De Andrea cast his polyvinyl figure directly from human models, then sanded the piece and painted the cast in oil, reproducing every mole and wrinkle on the model’s body. Whereas Greek and Roman artists strived for an idealized form, De Andrea emphasizes literal realism. Far from representing the symbol of heroic defeat, De Andrea’s ‘Dying Gaul’ appears burdened with the psychological defeat of modern man. ‘The Color of Life’ exhibition teaches us that while we think about the image of sculpture as a relatively colorless shape in the post-modern age, we no longer apply strict rules as to the use of color. The exhibition continues at the Getty Villa through June 23. Roberta Panzanelli will lead a one-hour gallery talk at 3 p.m. on March 28 and June 6. Eike Schmidt will lead a talk at 3 p.m. on April 11 and 25. For tickets to the Villa, call (310) 440-7300 or visit www.getty.edu.
Peter O’Neill Schecter and Mary Adela Fuentes Rojas
Peter O’Neill Schecter and Mary Adela Fuentes Rojas were married on August 11 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Peter, born and raised in Pacific Palisades, is the son of Joanie Schecter and the late Philip Schecter. He attended Corpus Christi School and Palisades High School and graduated from UC Santa Barbara. Mary is the daughter of Maria and Carlos Fuentes Rojas of Cochabamba, where she graduated from college with a degree in business and marketing. Both have just returned from Bolivia, where Peter completed his volunteer service in the American Peace Corps and will proceed to Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Public Policy in Pittsburgh.
Ellen Teresa Smith and Jeremy Rush Denise were married on Friday, October 12 at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica. The Rev. Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, pastor of St. Monica’s, officiated at the nuptial mass. A reception at the Bel-Air Bay Club followed. The bride, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Smith of Pacific Palisades, was attended by her sister, Mrs. Timothy Brady of Santa Monica, as matron of honor. The bridegroom, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Denise of New London, New Hampshire, was attended by his brother, Peter Denise, as best man. Other attendants included Peter Smith, brother of the bride; and Betsy and Charlie Brady, niece and nephew of the bride. The bride is a graduate of Corpus Christi School, Marymount High School, and University of Notre Dame. She received a master’s degree in teaching from the University of San Francisco and taught kindergarten for several years. She currently works as an instructional reform facilitator in the San Francisco Unified School District. The bridegroom is a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York. He works as a project manager with BCCI Construction Co., a construction management firm in San Francisco. After a Hawaiian honeymoon, the couple will reside in San Francisco.
Brenna Moore, daughter of Diane and Paul (Pablo) Moore of Pacific Palisades, married Charles Kramer, son of Lynn Grant and Bruce Kramer, on June 16, 2007. The wedding took place in the ballroom of the Casino in Avalon on Catalina Island. Ragini Bhalla was maid of honor. The bridesmaids included friends Demetra Smith, Rocio Villalobos, Lisa Peju, and the bride’s cousin, Alexandra Thum. The best man was the bridegroom’s brother, Steven Kramer. The bridegroom’s brothers, Harrison and Jacob Kramer, and the bride’s brothers, Paul and Chris Moore, served as groomsmen. The bride graduated from Palisades High School in 1995, and Notre Dame University in 1999. She works as an interior designer in Santa Monica. The bridegroom graduated from the University of Miami and is a television editor and producer. The newlyweds honeymooned in Italy, where they visited Sicily, Venice, and the Dolomites. They make their home in Culver City.
Palisades resident Amy Kate Connolly rallied for votes for Disney Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
As a self-described Disney fanatic, Palisadian Amy Kate Connolly has achieved her dream come true’almost. The Palisades resident is one of 10 finalists for the Chief Magic Official for Disney Parks. If she wins the position, Connolly will become a Disney emissary officiating at new attractions and events, and developing magical guest experiences at various Disney theme parks worldwide. From more than 1,300 video applications, contest sponsors Disney and CareerBuilder.com, winnowed down the field to five women and five men nationwide. Connolly is the only finalist from Southern California. The 10 top video resumes will be voted on by Americans, and the top three vote-getters will take part in a three-day event at a Walt Disney World Resort that will test their creativity, enthusiasm, knowledge of the parks, and magic aptitude. This contest is part of Disney’s ‘Year of a Million Dreams’ celebration, during which one million prizes will be given out randomly at the park,’ Connolly explains. ‘If I win, I would be in charge of magic at the park from May 1 to April 30 next year. I would be most excited about the Fourth of July celebration at Disneyland this year, when a naturalization ceremony will be part of a dream come true for so many people.’ Connolly became clued into the contest ironically when husband David Trotti, a first assistant director for television, was searching CareerBuilder.com during the recent writers strike. ‘He read about the job and thought ‘My wife is a Disney fanatic. Why not?” The couple prepared a 58-second video, wherein Amy is miraculously anointed with magical powers, which she uses to turn herself into a fairy godmother. Using simple computer programs and a lot of imagination, the couple transformed their Palisades home into a magic castle, and finished the piece with a shot taken at Disneyland. ‘My whole thing is that there is a little fairy godmother in all of us,’ Connolly says. ‘My reward would be to see others’ dreams come true. When you witness something at Disneyland at the same time, like the fireworks show, that event binds you as a community, if just for a moment. Magical things are happening unexpectedly all across the park that make people feel special, and it builds positive memories for your whole life. ‘The contest is really about promoting dreams, ‘ she continues, ‘whether it’s a dream vacation or a dream job.’ While Connolly does not know how many votes her video has garnered–it’s a blind tally’she stresses that she is working it. ‘I’ve already put my own daughter Chelsea to work campaigning for me, ‘ she says. ‘She’s only four, but the preschool set is a pretty important demographic to me. ‘We can vote up until March 22. One of last year’s winners got 83,000 votes. I have only 73 friends. Maybe they can vote at least 10 times.’ To view the video, visit www.dreamcmo.com/amy.
So why were celebrities Priscilla Presley, Kristi Yamaguchi, Penn Jillette, Shannon Elizabeth, Marlee Matlin and Mario all spotted in Pacific Palisades over the weekend? Well, perhaps because actor Steve Guttenberg threw a shindig at his Palisades Highlands estate. Raison de fete? Guttenberg and said personalities will compete against each other as contestants on the new season of the contest show ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ The sixth season premieres Monday, March 17 at 8 p.m. on ABC. Our former honorary mayor, Guttenberg, will be paired with a ‘Dancing’ veteran, the lissome choreographer Anna Trebunskay. ‘She’s a world-class dancer,’ Guttenberg, 49, told the Palisadian-Post. ‘She appeared in past seasons dancing with Jerry Rice and Albert Reed and they were both really terrific.’ Before donning his dance shoes, Guttenberg sought advice from some previous ‘Dancing’ contestants he counts among his friends. ‘Tia Carrera and Vivica Fox,’ he said. ‘Vivica told me, ‘It’s a great show, have a lot of fun with it because it’s over before you know it.” But what about the judges ‘ Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Len Goodman? Won’t they spook ‘The Gute’? ‘They don’t intimidate me,’ Guttenberg said. ‘Intimidation is being in Iraq on the other side of the rifle. But this is a game show. It’s a lot of fun. It’s an uplifting, positive, life-affirming show, and the judges want you to do well.’ Surprisingly, the star of such ’80s blockbuster comedies as ‘Three Men and a Baby,’ ‘Short Circuit,’ the four ‘Police Academy’ flicks, and the classic ‘Diner’ said that he never had to pull a Travolta and bust moves on screen. ‘This is my first time dancing,’ Guttenberg confesses, though he has come dangerously close to shaking his groove thing on celluloid. Technically, one can not call it ‘dancing,’ the head-bobbing and fist-pumping he does in the 1980 Village People vehicle ‘Can’t Stop The Music’ (which Guttenberg either forgot about or would like to forget). In ‘Don’t Tell Her It’s Me,’ Jami Gertz attempts to give dance lessons to Guttenberg’s obese, cancer-survivor cartoonist, but fails miserably. (He engages her in a slow dance free of actual choreography–total cop out!). Also recall that the comic actor was nowhere to be found in that scene from ‘Cocoon: The Return,’ where the alien life force-empowered senior citizens breakdance. Some might argue that Guttenberg did some dancing in his first film, “The Chicken Chronicles.” “Chicken” or no “Chicken,” Guttenberg believes now is the time to strut his stuff on national TV. ‘They’ve been asking me for a few seasons and I never had the time,’ he said. ‘But this year’s my parents’ 50th anniversary and they love the show.’ ‘I’m thrilled about going on ‘Dancing’,’ said Guttenberg, who just wrapped ‘Major Movie Star’ with Jessica Simpson. ‘We’re in a very tough economy, we’re at war, we’ve got a very tough presidential race going on. It’s a great time for the country to have this show.’
Palisades High lacrosse captain Eric Rosen (left) fends off a Loyola defender during the Dolphins’ 11-8 loss Saturday. Photo: Jared Rosen
Two weeks into its season, the Palisades High boys’ varsity lacrosse team sits at 2-2 while the Dolphins’ girls squad improved to 2-1 with a pair of victories Saturday at the Rose Bowl. The boys rebounded from a 12-3 loss at Palos Verdes in their season debut to beat Brentwood, 10-7, in their first home game at the newly renovated Stadium by the Sea. That was followed by a dominating victory over Huntington Park. Last Thursday, the girls lost their home opener to Peninsula, 13-7, before rebounding to beat Culver City, 6-3, and Aliso Niguel, 4-2, at the Rose Bowl tournament in Pasadena. The boys’ junior varsity is 1-2 after losing to Loyola, 6-5, in overtime Saturday. Palisades beat Culver City, 6-4, to net its first win last Thursday. Baseball Mike Voelkel’s squad evened its record at 2-2-1 after a 6-6 tie with Roosevelt in the Royal tournament and victories over Taft and North Hollywood last week. Against Roosevelt, Jonathan Moscot had two hits, including a home run, and had seven strikeouts on the mound. David Skolnik went three for three with two runs and one RBI and Brett Whalen added two hits and two runs for the Dolphins. Palisades edged Taft, 13-12, on Friday, led by Julian Barzilli’s three hits (one a home run) and five RBIs and Alex Meadow’s three hits, two runs and four RBIs. The next day, the Dolphins routed North Hollywood, 11-3, behind six strong innings from Buck Traweek and another Barzilli home run. Softball Palisades went 1-1 last week, beating North Hollywood, 4-2, and losing at Washington, 5-2. The Dolphins trailed, 2-1, before rallying for three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, then holding on against the Huskies. Swimming So far, the primary concern for Coach Maggie Nance has been finding a place to swim. Once the competition starts, Palisades has had little to worry about. After lapping Granada Hills in their first meet, the Dolphins’ girls team scored a 128-48 victory over San Pedro Monday at the Venice pool. The YMCA pool is still closed for repairs, forcing Palisades to practice at Santa Monica High. “We’ve only been able to practice one hour a day so our times are slower,” Nance said. “You can see from our times that we’re not as fast as we should be.” Sophomore Hayley Lemoine (individual medley, butterfly) and senior Kristen Fuji (backstroke, freestyle) lead the defending City champion girls varsity, which is favored to win again. The JV girls won, 81-54, and the JV boys prevailed 72-33. The varsity boys lost to San Pedro, 109-63, despite another strong effort by sophomore John Cullen, who won the 100 backstroke for the second straight meet. “It would be nice for the boys to go top three [in City],” said Nance, who has 60 swimmers, more than she’s ever had in the program. “They need to step it up and show more work ethic.” Boys Tennis The Dolphins improved to 6-1 overall with a 7-0 shutout of Los Angeles CES in a Western League match on March 3. Singles players Brett Allchorn, Kyung Choi and brothers Oliver and Trinity Thornton combined to lose three games in four matches. Boys Volleyball In the first of two Western league showdowns against reigning champion Venice, the Dolphins outlasted their beach rivals, 25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-12 last Wednesday. Palisades is now in the driver’s seat in the race for first place.
By DEBBIE ALEXANDER Special to the Palisadian-Post The international Olympics are not until this summer in Beijing, but Canyon Charter Elementary School got a head start last week at its annual Olympics Day here in Pacific Palisades. The event arrived early this year, but children were pumped up and ready to run nevertheless. ‘The kids did extremely well and it was tough because the date got pushed up, but I trained them pretty hard,’ Coach Joey Medaglia said. Olympics Day is also a school fundraiser and some of the funds are already earmarked to purchase more sports books for the library. ‘It was great,’ shared parent Karen Parcell, who helped organize the event. ‘And we had a surprise guest later in the day future [National Football League] Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk from the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts. He was just terrific with the kids.’ Faulk set numerous school records at San Diego State and played in two Super Bowls with the Rams’a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000 and a 20-17 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI two years later. ‘He tossed the ball around with them and they were thrilled to meet a real big name athlete,’ Medaglia said of Faulk. According to third-grader Hank Korsan, the running seemed harder because he graduated to the big track, but proved worthwhile. ‘It was so cool to meet Marshall Faulk, even though I am a Green Bay Packers fan because my dad played for them.’ The object is for the students to do their best running in 10 minute intervals around the grass field. The two track sizes are 90 feet x 40 feet for grades K-2 and 120 feet x 60 feet for grades 3-5. ‘Thirteen laps on the big track is a mile,’ Medaglia added. On average the upper classmen top out at about 17 laps while the younger grades average about 20. Prior to hitting the track there is a quick warm-up with lots of stretching. Mrs. Durand’s first grade class agreed that Olympics Day was a blast. ‘Did anybody run 25 laps?’ Medaglia asked. A name was mentioned, but most kids shook their heads no. Olympics Day kicked off with the opening ceremonies, where each class paraded a colorful handmade banner around the yard. Ms. Henderson had everyone recite the ‘Olympic Oath,’ which encourages good sportsmanship. Prior to the big day, track & field star Khadevis Robinson and his trainer Ann Merrem visited the school and inspired the children. “The high level of enthusiasm, sportsmanship and positive energy generated by our Olympics Day created a very special day for our students, staff and parents,’ observed Principal Carol Henderson. “It was great to see everyone working together and having so much fun.” Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Gorman was worried because, for the first time, her class was scheduled to run right at 8:30 a.m. ‘It actually was wonderful and perfect,’ she shared. ‘I would be glad to do it that way again.’ Once again, donating old sneakers was encouraged for Nike’s ‘Reuse a Shoe’ program that recycles the rubber into sports courts in under-privileged neighborhoods. ‘My kinder, Peter had the most fun and he was so proud,’ parent Chiara Sussman said. ‘It was very festive, well-organized and the weather was fantastic.’ Each child got a special Olympics Day t-shirt, water, a Popsicle and a metal. As a special lunchtime treat, ice cream from Cold Stone was donated for the entire student body. Instead of gold, silver and bronze medals, two bikes from Helen’s Cycles and a $100 Best Buy gift card will be randomly given away to three lucky students after spring break.
