Pali Girls Repeat; Boys Finish Eighth

Halfway through last Wednesday’s City Section Swim Championships, the only drama left in the girls’ varsity competition was in the race for second place. Palisades had already staked its claim to a second consecutive title and the only thing left for the Dolphins was to finish their final meet as strong as they started it. Mission accomplished. With multiple swimmers in every event, Palisades’ girls lapped the 10-team field on the way to finishing with 302 points, well ahead of Western League rival Venice, which took second with 171. Granada Hills finished third with 164 points at John C. Argue Swim Stadium, located next to the Los Angeles Coliseum. “It feels great, it’s such a relief,” said Dolphins’ Coach Maggie Nance, who was spared a push into the pool for a celebratory swim because she is eight and a half months pregnant. “A lot of my kids were tapered for the prelims last week, so not everybody swam faster today.” Palisades advanced 17 girls to the finals and won as much with sheer numbers as with sparkling times. The Dolphins’ 200 medley relay team of Kristen Fujii, Alyssa Machida, Nicole Washington and Julie Wynn set the tone in the opening event by winning in 1:56.51’over two seconds faster than its qualifying time. Jasmine Punch followed with a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle, then Hayley Lemoine and Sophia Perelshteyn placed third and fifth, respectively, in the 200 individual medley. “Julie [Wynn] and Patrice [Dodd] are the only seniors, so everyone else will be back,” Nance said, already looking towards a possible three-peat next spring. “Losing Julie is huge. She scored in four events today so that’s a big loss. But we have so many good freshmen and a promising crop of girls entering Pali next year that will give us a good chance.” Dominating the sport is nothing new for the Dolphins, who have captured 28 swim titles since 1981–17 by the girls and 11 more by the boys. The girls last won three consecutive titles from 2001-03 under previous coach Merle Duckett. “These girls will only get faster,” Nance said, referring to her younger swimmers who continue to drop times. “Ana Silka and Hayley Hacker are two freshmen to watch for next year. They had an outstanding meet.” Pali widened its lead in the 50 freestyle when Washington, Fujii and Wynn finished second through fourth. The 100 butterfly was the only event in which the Dolphins did not have a top six finisher, although Washington won the consolation final in 1:09.78. In the 100 freestyle, Wynn was second in 56.33 and Lemoine was fifth in 57.46. Freshman Shelby Pascoe swam third in the 500 freestyle and the Dolphins’ 200 freestyle relay team of Dodd, Lemoine, Washington and Fujii clocked a 1:44.68 to take second. Fujii was second in the 100 backstroke (1:02.17) and Hacker was sixth (1:08.17) while Machida swam second in the 100 breastroke (1:12.04). Pali capped the meet off in style, beating Granada Hills by 52 hundreths of a second in the 400 freestyle relay (consisting of Cheyanne Kampe, Punch, Wynn and Lemoine). The Dolphins’ margin of victory nearly equaled that of last year, when they outdistanced runner-up Cleveland 316-180 1/2. Frosh/soph swimmers Elizabeth Ebert and Katherine Lemoine didn’t make their events initially because they were taking AP exams. But after the meet was over, Ebert swam a race by herself for time. “It was great,” Nance said. “All of her teammates were cheering for her and she was the only one in the pool.” Palisades’ varsity boys, which had its string of consecutive City titles snapped at four last year, finished eighth overall with 75 points, one behind Reseda. Junior Carl Kaplan was fifth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.45, sophomore Eric Pietraszkiewicz won the consolation final in the 100 breastroke and placed third in the consolation final in the 200 individual medley and senior captain Vladimir Ufimtsev won the 500 freestyle consolation finals in 5:31.76. Andrew Le was first in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke. “All the boys swam well,” Nance said. “Five years ago, we won City with only six boys. The reason is that they all scored high. If you can go first in every event, it can make a huge difference.” Unlike the girls, Palisades’ boys lacked the depth to compete for the team title and none of their three relay teams finished in the top six. The 200 medley relay won the consolation race in 1:50.89 and Pali’s 400 freestyle relay was second in the consolation final in 3:42.02. Cleveland’s boys won the meet with 297 points, well ahead of second-place Birmingham (184).

Pali Beats Roosevelt to Reach Semifinals

The first two games of the City playoffs could not have been more different, but at this point in the season the Palisades High baseball team will take any win it can get. Two days after Johnny Bromberg’s clutch pitching eked out a 2-0 win over Sylmar in the first round, the Dolphins’ offense came alive Friday in a thrilling 9-8 quarterfinal victory over Roosevelt. The reward for holding serve at home was exactly what the Dolphins hoped they would have before the playoffs began–an opportunity to play top-seeded Chatsworth (28-4) in the semifinals with the winner advancing to Saturday’s championship game at Dodger Stadium. “I’ve been wanting to play them [Chatsworth] since 10th grade so now I’ll have my chance,” a jubilant but arm-weary Cole Cook exclaimed after his gutsy complete-game effort against Roosevelt. “This was a huge win for us and hopefully we can carry our momentum into next week.” Friday’s game pitted two of the best pitchers in the City against each other in Cook and Martin Villanueva, who had tossed a five-hitter with nine strikeouts to frustrate the Dolphins 9-1 on March 5. Anticipating that Roosevelt would start its crafty left-hander again, Dolphins coach Tom Seyler invited lefty alum Nick Kaufman to practice Thursday so his batters could adjust to left-handed pitching. It worked. Palisades teed off on the Rough Riders’ ace, scoring eight runs on six hits in the first three innings. Eric Verdun started the barrage in the first with a RBI double to center field, then scored on a fielding error. The fourth-seeded Dolphins (23-9) added four more runs in the second when Austin Jones drew a bases-loaded walk to force home Oliver Goulds, Verdun executed a squeeze bunt to score Zach Dauber and Andy Megee singled to plate two more runs. On most days, a five-run cushion would be more than enough for Cook, who had reeled off nine wins in a row since losing Palisades’ season opener. But when he hung a slider that Jesse Castellanos whacked over the left field fence to lead off the second inning, it was clear the Dolphins’ 6′ 6′ right-hander was struggling with his control. “Both pitchers were up in the zone and whenever that happens runs are going to score,” Seyler said. “I thought about pulling Cole a couple of times but every time I talked to him between innings he said he had no doubt in his mind he was going to finish that game.” The fifth-seeded Rough Riders (32-3) scored six runs on six hits in the third to take go ahead 7-6, but Pali regained the lead in the bottom of the frame on a two-run homer to center by Oliver Goulds, who also made two dazzling catches at third base to rob Roosevelt of extra base hits. “They were laying off the bad pitches and really made me work,” said Cook, who struck out six but gave up 13 hits and needed 128 pitches in seven innings. “As the game went on I started locating my offspeed stuff better. Once [the pitch count] gets into triple digits you just have to find something extra.” Roosevelt almost regained the lead in the fifth when Jonathan Torres doubled with two on, but Pali right fielder Alex Meadow chased the ball down and relayed to shortstop Andy Megee, who fired to catcher Garrett Champion in time to tag out Alfredo Acevedo at home plate. “That was a key play that cost us a run,” Roosevelt Coach Scott Pearson lamented. “This was a game between two evenly-matched teams and they were able to capitalize on our mistakes.” With the score tied 8-8 in the bottom of the fifth, Cook doubled and scored the decisive run on Dauber’s two-out single to center. After Cook retired the first two batters in the seventh, Megee made a diving, over-the-shoulder catch on the edge of the outfield grass to rob Tony Martinez of a single and end the game. “The bottom line is that my team gave me nine runs today,” Cook said. “Without those runs, nothing I did would’ve mattered.” In the Dolphins’ playoff opener against 13th-seeded Sylmar (16-11), Bromberg matched Spartans’ ace Scott Taylor pitch for pitch through five innings. After Verdun scored from third on a changeup in the dirt to break a scoreless tie in the sixth, Bromberg doubled to score Megee for a 2-0 lead. With two outs in the top of the inning, Seyler had signaled for a curveball on a full count and Bromberg caught the outside corner to strike out Erick Lopez looking. Cook pitched the seventh for his first save. “I was able to throw strikes when I needed too,” Bromberg said. “The way the game was going I thought one run might win it.” Bromberg (9-3) threw 107 pitches, allowing five hits, three walks and striking out 10. Even Sylmar coach Ray Rivera was impressed. “We had several chances to score but you have to give their pitcher credit,” he said. “That kid battled through pressure the whole way and threw some great breaking balls when we weren’t expecting them.” The Chatsworth-Palisades winner will meet either Cleveland or defending champion Kennedy at 4 p.m. Saturday in Chavez Ravine.

Greenberg, Liberatore Win City Titles

It is no coincidence that Palisades High seniors Brian Greenberg and Angela Liberatore both won the pole vault at last Thursday’s City Track & Field Championships. After all, they share the same private coach–former state record holder Anthony Curran. And they both gravitated to the pole vault from other sports. After qualifying at 10-3 along with five others, Greenberg cleared 14 feet in the finals at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa to win his second consecutive City title. Greenberg, who studied martial arts prior to trying the pole vault, separated himself from the pack after the bar was raised from 12-9 and vaulters from Marshall, Verdugo Hills and Chatsworth all failed on their attempts above that height. Having vaulted 15 feet at an invitational this season, Greenberg not only sought to repeat as City champion, he also wanted to break the section record of 16-7 set in 1969 by Los Angeles High’s Bob Pullard. Although he didn’t quite reach that goal, he did better his winning mark of 12-6 last spring. Liberatore began the girls’ varsity, the last field event of the evening, among four athletes to clear 8-0 at the prelims. Staying relaxed physically and mentally despite the long wait, she easily cleared nine feet on her first attempt. She made 10-6 on her first try to take the lead and was the only girl to clear 11-0, which she did on the second of her three attempts. “Seeing Bryan win it right before definitely pumped me up,” said Liberatore, who vaulted a personal-best 11-6 in an all-comers meet at Cal State Los Angeles in December. “I trained all year, so it was time to do what I know how to do.” Unable to train on campus, Liberatore practices vaulting three or four days a week, mixed with sprint and weight training. She started competing in the gymnastics at the age of 10 and, not surprisingly, the vault was her favorite apparatus. Liberatore attended Paul Revere Middle School, visited Curran’s camp before ninth grade and made pole vaulting her primary sport after her sophomore year at Pali. She plans to walk on at UC Berkeley next spring. Tenth-grader Camille Liberatore, Angela’s younger sister, also qualified for last Thursday’s finals but could not advance out of the first round. Qualifying for the City finals in the high jump was Tuekeha Huntley, who cleared 5′ 0″ and finished fourth.

Thanks to the prodding of Paul Revere P.E. teacher Paul Foxson, organizers added a new event to the Palisades Optimist/YMCA Youth Track Meet. And it was only fitting that Revere athlete won the first-ever 60 meter hurdles boys’ race’14-year-old Malcolm Creer. “Our kids practice the hurdles a lot at school,” Foxson said. “I thought it would be fun for them to have a chance to try it in a real meet.” St. Matthew’s seventh-grader Cami Chapus won the girls’ race in 11.65 seconds and also won the 400. Max Takowsky won 9-10 shot put with a record throw of 21 feet, seven inches and his brother, Ben, won the 100 in the 5-6 division. Courtney O’Brien won the 9-10 girls shot put with a record distance of 17′ 6.’ Multiple winners were Creer, who also won the 13-15 high jump and 100; Evan Kendra (400 and 800 in the 3-4 division); Kade Schmitz (200 and 400 in 9-10 division); James Townsend (50 and long jump in 7-8); Arjun Jain (100 and 200 in 11-12); and Brandon Handelsman (long jump and 400 in 11-2 age group). Bennett Price won the 25 in the 3-4 division, Jack Tobin won the 6-and-under 50; Brock Wilson won the 4-and-under 50, Andrew Moritz won the 100 in the 7-8 group, Shane Hagins won the 11-12 shot put, Mario Arredondo won the 13-15 shot put in 38-9; Tyler Stephens won the 9-10 high jump and Rico Matheney won the 13-15 long iump in 16′ 1.’ Quincy Timmerman swept the 3-4 girls 25, 50 and 100 races; Shauna Hannani won the 50 and 100 in the 5-6 division and Gianna Woodruff won the 13-15 girls 100 and 200. Jessica Goodkin won the 13-15 high jump and long jump; Masury Lynch won the 100 and 200 in the 9-10 division; Lily Donnell won the 11-12 long jump and 200; O’Brien won the long jump and 100; Lara Floegel-Shetty won the 50 and 100 in the 7-8 age group and her brother Rohan won the 9-10 long jump and 100. Lucy Yu won the 11-12 shot put, Corinne O’Brien won the 13-15 shot put, Katie Barnes won the 9-10 high jump, Kassie Shannon won the 11-12 high jump and Caroline Bamberger won the 9-10 long jump.