Wilson Sporting Goods, the largest tennis equipment manufacturer in the United States, has named Palisadian Walker Kehrer to its Junior National Elite Team for 2006. Kehrer, a freshman at Brentwood School, earned the Wilson sponsorship on the strength of his National Top 10 ranking in 2005. Kehrer, who just turned 15, finished ninth in singles and was the United States Tennis Association’s No. 1-rated doubles player in the country in the boys’ 14s. He is already among the top 100 players nationally in the U-16 age division. “Wilson has a long history of supporting players who represent the best in our sport, both on and off the court, including Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport and Venus and Serena Williams, when they were up-and-coming juniors,” said Alex Murosan, National Junior Team Manager for Wilson, which is based in Chicago. “As the top tennis company, Wilson keeps up to date on the most promising junior players in the nation and Walker is one of them.” For Kehrer, the Wilson honor builds on a junior career that began at the Palisades Tennis Center when Palisadian Steve Bellamy first opened its doors in the mid-1990s. Under the tutelage of private coach Ross Loel, Kehrer has moved steadily up the USTA ranks. At the National Junior Hardcourt Championships in August in San Antonio, Kehrer earned the Sportsmanship Award, given to only one person in a field of 192 players nationwide. More recognition followed. TennisRecruiting.com, the nation’s top collegiate tennis recruiting site, ranks Kehrer the No. 2 college prospect in California, No. 2 in the Southwestem United States and No. 15 in the nation among freshman boys. It also recognized Kehrer’s tournament schedule as the sixth toughest in the country amongst players in his age group. In addition to training with Loel, Kehrer also plays in The Gate Junior Tennis Academy at Mountaingate Country Club and has long worked on conditioning and injury prevention with Taylor Isaacs, a world-class trainer who has aided world class athletes such as David Beckham. Kehrer hopes to play on the varsity tennis team at Brentwood this spring.
Paly Second at Westchester
Paly Y showed strength placing second in the annual Westchester swim meet held last weekend at Loyola Marymount. Paly continue to dog San Pedro Y, which wins almost all of the Southern California Y meets simply because of its team size. Paly’s team has grown and is almost at the point where it will have at least one relay in each age group. “Our swimmers are among the most competitive in the Y league,” coach Kameron Kennedy said. “San Pedro beats us only in sheer number of swimmers.” Six-year-old, Hunter Loncar swam five events. He was disqualified in the 25 Breast, but finished first in the other four: 25 Fly, 25 Free, 50 Free and 25 Back. Caroline Carswell also six, took fourth in the 25 Free and 25 Breast. “Our swimmers continue to do so well,” Paly co-coach Eric Butler said. “I couldn’t be prouder of their effort. Many of our kids swim four, five times a week after school and it shows. Nine-year-old Courtney Carswell took two seconds in the 200 Free and the 100 Breast, fourth in three events: 200 IM, 50 Breast, 50 Fly and a fifth in the 100 I.M. Overall she earned 117 points for the team. For the boys in the same age category, Nicholas Edel once again proved that Pali was a force to be reckoned with by taking first in 200 IM and the 200 Free. He sprinted to a second in the 50 Breast and 100 Free. In the 50 Free, he placed third. The 11 & 12 year old girls were led by Catherine Wang. Swimming eight races and never placing lower than a third, Wang had three firsts in the 50 Fly (31.70), 200 Free (2:15.07) and 50 Free (29.17). Her second place finishes were in the 100 Breast, 100 Free and 100 Fly. Her third place finishes came in the 100 and 200 IM. Olivia Kirkpatrick took third in the 100 Breast. Having a strong meet was 13-year-old Alexandra Edel who took first in the 400 IM (5:06.74), knocking eleven seconds off over her previous swim, and in the 200 Free (2:09.74). Edel swam to second in the 200 IM and 200 Breast, as well as placing third in 100 Free, 100 Breast and 50 Free. She placed fourth in the 100 Fly which was her lowest finish. Alison Merz placed second in the 200 free and 50 Free. She also took fourth in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 Breast. Danny Fujinaka,13, continues to stream through the water. Even though he still has another year in the 13 &14 age group, he took first in the 100 free in the blistering time of (56.01). He also took second in the 100 Fly, knocking a second off of his previous time. He swam a fourth in the 200 I.M. and fifth in the 100 Back. In the 15-and-over girls, Erica Drennan continues to be a mainstay for the Y team. At this meet she took a second in the 100 Fly, third in the 100 Back and fourth in the 200 I.M. and 100 Free. Hudson Lofchie, who had no time in the 200 IM before this meet swam it in (3:07.08) which was good enough to place third. “We’re in great shape,” Kennedy said. “By the time Y Champs come in February, I expect all of the swimmers to be peaking with personal bests.” The next Y meet is the Regional Meet January 7th and 8th.
Dolphin Hoops Finish Fourth Again
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Just as it did in last year’s inaugural tournament, the Palisades High girls varsity basketball team finished in fourth place at last weekend’s Palisades Beach Invitational, held in the PaliHi gym. Playing for third place, the Dolphins fell just short, losing 45-43 to New Roads. Marymount used a strong second half to defeat defending champion Leuzinger, 53-48, and win the championship. The tournament adopted the same format as last year. The eight teams were divided into two pools of four. The winner of each pool met in the finals, the runner-up in each pool met in the third place game and so on down. Palisades (2-2) defeated South Bay Lutheran in its first game last Wednesday, getting 21 points from Megan Coulter, who made three three-point baskets. In the second round of pool play, the Dolphins defeated Locke. Coulter led the way with 20 points and Jaega Haralumbus added 19. With a chance to win its pool and advance to the championship game, Palisades faced Marymount on Friday night. The Sailors won, 51-44, as Coulter was limited to 15 points. Against New Roads on Saturday afternoon, the Dolphins got strong contributions from Coulter, Haralumbus and Silvia Cuellar, but the Jaguars avenged a 44-43 pool play loss to Pali in last year’s tournament. Palisades took a similar road to fourth place as it had a year ago, winning its first two games before losing its last two. Ami Harris of Marymount was the tournament scoring leader this time, averaging 22 points a game. St. Bernard defeated Locke, 45-42, to finish fifth and Campbell Hall beat South Bay Lutheran, 53-36, in the seventh place game. Coulter and Sophia Jackson of Locke each averaged 19 points in four tournament games and Ari Brown of Campbell Hall averaged 16. Rounding out Pali’s squad were Jasmine Ashley, Elane Roepke, Zedra Slaton, Lindsay Gross, Tawana Briggs, Tueheka Huntley, Gabrielle Tanedo, Sarah Fukui and Erin Graham. Last year, Palisades beat St. Bernard and New Roads before losing to Inglewood in the final round of pool play and losing to Santa Monica in the third place game. Head coach Ronda Crowley, who guided the Dolphins to an 11-13 record and third place in the Western League in her first season last year, has entered her team in the West Coast Jamboree in Antioch, California, December 28-30. The Dolphins’ junior varsity team, coached by Ronda’s brother, Sheldon, opens the season this week at the Artesia Tournament. Palisades played Washington on Wednesday (result unavailable at press time) and travels to Crenshaw for a nonleague game Friday at 4 p.m.
Dione Riedel, 75; Loved Golf, Animals and Babies
Dione Anita Riedel, a wonderful, warm, funny and generous woman, died suddenly on Saturday, November 26. She was 75. Born on August 3, 1930, Dione lived in Santa Monica Canyon with her mother and stepfather, Beatrice and Roby Wentz. She met her husband, Gordon Riedel, as a graduate student at UC Berkeley. The couple married in 1955 and bought their first home in Pacific Palisades in 1960, where they lived happily ever since. Dione attended UCLA and then earned her master’s in social work at Berkeley. She worked at the VA Hospital, Bay Cities Mental Health Clinic and in private practice, maintaining contact with some of her patients until the end. For many years, Dione enjoyed playing golf twice a week with her friends at Riviera Country Club, and every Sunday she would play couples golf with her husband and their close “golf” friends. She loved playing in weekend golf tournaments all over the state. She also loved all animals, especially dogs. She bred basset hounds, had a few of her own and would take care of all the neighbors’ and family dogs anytime. She loved to spend quality time with her family, traveling to great locations with her husband and her sister and brother-in-law, and she had a love for babies. She would stop all new mothers so she could get a good glimpse of their newborns. Dione was generous with everyone, and would give to her family and almost every charity that contacted her. She was a wonderful, funny and kind woman. In addition to her husband Gordon, Dione is survived by her sons, Robert of Tennessee and Mike (wife Adrienne) of Redondo Beach; daughter Robin Warner (husband Scott) of Pacific Palisades; grandchildren Dylan and Kyle Warner and Chelsea Riedel; and her favorite lab, Jake. A private memorial is planned.
Anita Jean Oakley, 83; Children’s Shop Owner
Anita Jean Oakley, former proprietor of several clothing stores in Pacific Palisades, died on November 30. The Bel-Air resident was 83. She was born in Altoona, Kansas on November 18, 1922. Her entree into the fashion business began modestly as she started working by stitching uniforms for Catholic school children. Oakley will be remembered by many Palisadians for the clothing shop that she owned in the village for many years. Her two children’s stores, Anita Jeans and Gage’s, were located on Antioch Street from 1950 to 1985. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Ross; daughters Linda E. Oakley and Ginney Bass (husband Henry); her sister Gertrude Erikson; four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Anita Jean Oakley, 83; Children’s Shop Owner
Anita Jean Oakley, former proprietor of several clothing stores in Pacific Palisades, died on November 30. The Bel-Air resident was 83. She was born in Altoona, Kansas on November 18, 1922. Her entree into the fashion business began modestly as she started working by stitching uniforms for Catholic school children. Oakley will be remembered by many Palisadians for the clothing shop that she owned in the village for many years. Her two children’s stores, Anita Jeans and Gage’s, were located on Antioch Street from 1950 to 1985. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Ross; daughters Linda E. Oakley and Ginney Bass (husband Henry); her sister Gertrude Erikson; four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Glen Doel, 85; Career Aerospace Engineer, Traveler
Glen F. Doel, a longtime Palisades resident, died on December 4 in Santa Monica, after a short illness. He was 85. Born on January 7, 1920 in Kilmur, Kansas, Doel graduated from Seaman High School in Topeka, and received his degree from Kansas State College in May 1943. After college, he was offered a job with Douglas Air Craft, where he met Marjorie L. McGuire. They were married on May 6, 1944 and enjoyed 55 years together, until her death in 2002. After Douglas Air Craft became McDonald Douglas, Doel worked for that firm as an aerospace engineer until his retirement. Glen and Marjorie enjoyed dancing together for many years. They were world travelers and in later years, after Marjorie’s death, he enjoyed lunching with lifelong friends, attending the theater, museums and films. He was preceded in death by his father Ray Doel, his mother Nancy, his infant son Glen in 1954, daughter Devy Gleneen in 1987, his wife, and his sisters Edith Bohon and Margaret Bol, both of Kansas. He is survived by nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces and three great-great-nieces. A service will be held on Saturday, December 10 at 2:30 p.m. at Forest Lawn Glendale, Little Chapel of Flowers.
Estelle Chapman Memorial At Calvary on Saturday
Estelle Chapman, a 50-year resident of Pacific Palisades and successful real estate salesperson for 40 years, passed away on December 1. A memorial service will be held in her honor on Saturday, December 10 at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary of Calvary Church, 701 Palisades Dr.
Just Testing
Testing Captions
Testing the captions for photos 2 and 3.
