Compiled by LAURA WITSENHAUSEN Associate Editor Students at St. Matthew’s Parish School have been busy collecting money to contribute to the tsunami relief efforts. Students have been encouraged to do jobs at home and bring in and share the money they have earned. Funds have also been raised at school through the sale of special reminder wristbands, a bake sale and a talent show. Preschool II students made pins and note cards for sale. The note cards were created with two methods. In one process students dipped their colored chalk drawings into water, then lifted them out to discover a unique piece of art. The other process involved painting with frozen watercolor ice cubes. ‘We saw the devastating effect water had in Asia,’ said teacher Amy Weiss. ‘Our use of water has created something beautiful.’ The preschoolers raised over $200. o o o The 6th, 7th and 8th grade students of Corpus Christi School presented a $10,000 check to Barbara Curtis, principal of St. Raphael’s Catholic School in South Los Angeles on February 28 to benefit the school’s scholarship fund. In appreciation, St. Raphael School’s gospel choir, led by vice principal Peter Scott, performed a soul gospel concert for the entire Corpus Christi student body. The Corpus Christi students raised the money from a giant flea market on January 22 as part of the school’s outreach program. These funds will provide one-year scholarships for four students at St. Raphael’s, Corpus Christi’s sister school. The unsold items from the flea market were donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Venice. The Corpus Christi Outreach Committee would like to thank Ralphs and Gelson’s for their donations of bags and butcher paper, and Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Joyce for sponsoring the hot dog stand. o o o MIRANDA HALLEY has been named to the Lewis & Clark College dean’s list for the fall semester of 2004. The dean’s list honors academic achievement each semester. Miranda is a freshman at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. o o o BRIAN BUCE, a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, was named a National Merit Scholarship finalist. As such, he is being considered for one of 8,200 National Merit Scholarship awards, worth $33.9 million, which will be offered in the spring. He is the son of Robert and Barbara Buce. o o o Two Palisadians were named to the dean’s list of Emory College, the undergraduate college of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. They are SHANNON GARRISON, daughter of Phillip Gregory Garrison and Kathleen Maria Garrison, and JEREMEY KLEIN, son of Dr. Irv Klein and Sue Obadiah Klein.
Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Founder Alvin Mills Conducts Sunday at Revere
Alvin Mills was 13 years old when he first heard the L.A. Philharmonic perform in downtown Los Angeles. Maestro Pierre Monteux was conducting. ‘I couldn’t believe that one person making motions could produce all this sound,’ Mills says. ‘I saw this little man’Monteux was 5’ 4” ‘ hardly moving. He had a small beat and, all of a sudden, big sounds were coming out.’ Mills, who’s also a short, compact man with a warm openness, knew then that he wanted to conduct. Years later, when he was in his mid-20s, he had the opportunity to study under Monteux at the Ecole Monteux in Hancock, Maine. ‘One hour with Monteux was like a lifetime,’ says Mills, who took four trains and a bus to get there from California. Mills made his debut as a conductor with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra, which he founded in 1953 with the late Robert Turner. He had been a pupil of Turner’s at UCLA, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music. The community orchestra began with about 15 or 20 members who performed in a tiny dance studio on San Vicente near 26th St. ‘We rented chairs and had to buy light bulbs because the studio only operated during the day,’ Mills says. Over the years, the orchestra moved around to various venues, including University High School, before settling at Paul Revere Middle School Auditorium. They have been offering their free Sunday afternoon concerts there for over 35 years. Each season, the ensemble presents four free concerts, depending on budget. The Brentwood-Westwood Symphony is supported by fundraising, with donations from various organizations and some help from the city or county. Mills, 84, is fascinated by the diverse group of musicians, ranging in age from 17 to 75. ‘I look around and I see a psychiatrist and he’s sitting next to someone who’s only 24,’ he says. A Midwesterner, Mills began studying the violin with Julian Brodetsky at age eight, when he moved with his family from Chicago to Southern California. ‘I loved the violin right away,’ he says. ‘I became the classical [musician] of the family.’ His mother, Lillian Heuring, was a jazz pianist who played for the silent movies, and his father, Harry Mills, was a jazz drummer. Even Mills’s stepfather became a musician later in life, taking up the viola when he was in his 80s. Mills also studied under Peter Meremblum at USC , and in his early 20s, he was a performing member of the Kansas City Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony, playing under the direction of Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, Efrem Kurtz, Eugene Ormandy and others. ‘Stokowski was tough but I learned a lot from him,’ says Mills, who earned his master’s degree in music from Mount St. Mary’s College in 1961. His sensitivity as a conductor comes from both his early experiences as a musician and from Monteux’s instruction. ‘Musicians in an orchestra are very fragile people and their feelings are what make them play,’ Mills says. ‘I try to follow Monteux’s advice about respecting a musician’s feelings.’ For example, Monteux taught him ‘when you stop an orchestra, be sure to tell them why.’ So Mills will often tell his musicians to start the piece again or try playing it differently ‘for my sake.’ ‘A good teacher has a great deal of respect for his students and knows what they can and can’t do,’ Mills says. ‘I’ll get them to work in such a way that they’ll do more [than they thought they could].’ The number of performers at each concert depends on the program. About 50 to 60 people will play in this Sunday’s performance, which includes pieces by Dvorak, Schubert and Bach. Mills has arranged the Bach piece for his orchestra. In addition, soloist Dennis Trembly, the first bassist of the Hollywood Bowl Symphony, will perform Nino Rota’s ‘Divertimento Concertante.’ Tiong-Kiat Yeo will be assistant conductor. Other great artists who have played with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony under the direction of Maestro Mills are: Martin Chalifour, concertmaster of the L.A. Philharmonic; Mark Baranov, assistant concertmaster of the L.A. Philharmonic; Evan Wilson, principal violist of the L.A. Philharmonic; Gary Gray, principal clarinetist of the L.A. Chamber Orchestra; and John Novacek, internationally acclaimed pianist. Mills has particularly enjoyed working with David Shostac, the principal flutist of the L.A. Chamber Orchestra, who was 13 years old when he began to play with the orchestra. ‘He still treats me like a father and I treat him like a son,’ says Mills, who has five of his own children and eight grandchildren. Leonard Slatkin was also a teenager when he started with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony. Today, he is the conductor of the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. Sheryl Staples, assistant concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, and Timothy Landauer, principal cellist with the Pacific Symphony, also started with Mills’s orchestra. Devoted to encouraging talented youth and building an interest in classical and contemporary music, Mills initiated a music education outreach program in 1994 to bring music to children of the inner cities and Westside public schools. His orchestra performs about six of these outreach concerts per year, usually for students in grades 4, 5 and 6. ‘I prefer elementary school-age children because they’re more receptive and open,’ says Mills, who also teaches students a bit about conducting during his visits. As a conductor, Mills, who only makes about $600 a concert, looks upon the orchestra as his needy child. ‘I won’t retire as the conductor of the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony,’ he jokes. Mills spent most of his life as an instrumental teacher, working at various schools in Glendale. He currently teaches an instrumental ensemble class at the Westside Community Adult School. His position as conductor and music director with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony was jeopardized once, in 1992, when the board considered replacing him with ‘an ambitious conductor who wanted to come in,’ according to Mills. Letters of support poured in and he kept his job. That same year, Mills married Grusha Paterson, a singer and dancer who concertized throughout Los Angeles with her Continental Gypsies group. Originally from Russia, she grew up dancing in New York under Nadia Chilkovsky and Martha Graham, and was at one point partnered with Michael Kidd, who later won fame as a Broadway choreographer and producer. After marrying Mills, Grusha began working as executive secretary and general manager of the orchestra, in charge of preparation and publicity for concerts. She says she likes to sit in on and tape the main, Saturday rehearsal before each show. ‘I tell Alvin what mistakes I hear,’ she says. ‘He’s a miracle maker’he tells them and fixes it all for the concert.’ Working with people for 52 years may be one reason why Mills hears words and laughing in the music he conducts. For example, he wrote the words ‘for peace of mind’ to the famous musical phrase in Beethoven’s Fifth, ‘Dit-dit-dit-daaaah.’ He also has an affinity for Spanish music, having studied in Madrid, Spain, at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica in 1970. The orchestra rehearses every Tuesday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. ‘I teach it like a class,’ says Mills, who is a member of ASCAP and the National Association of Composers, USA. ‘What I try to do is encourage and inspire them.’ Sunday’s concert, March 13, takes place from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at Paul Revere Middle School, 1450 Allenford. Admission is free Contact: 829-3149.
George Wolfberg to Receive Civic Leadership Award on April 14
George Wolfberg, who at one point last year was chairman of two organizations in Pacific Palisades, will receive a special Civic Leadership Award at this year’s Citizen of the Year celebration April 14. He will be honored at the Riviera Country Club along with Citizen of the Year Stuart Muller and the new Sparkplug winners. As former chairman of the Pacific Palisades Community Council and current president of the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association, Wolfberg ‘exemplifies how a resident, after retiring, can make valuable, ongoing contributions to our community,’ said Palisadian-Post publisher Roberta Donohue. ‘I’m so impressed by George’s work over the years,’ said Joan Graves, a canyon resident and former Citizen of the Year. ‘He attends meetings and hearings downtown, he works behind the scenes in many positive ways, and he leads with quiet dignity. He has been simply outstanding as a community leader.’ Wolfberg joined the Community Council in 2001 after reading in the Post that an alternate representative was needed to represent Santa Monica Canyon. Within a year, he was recruited as chairman. Under Wolfberg’s tenure, the Community Council lobbied successfully for increased police presence in the Palisades and a strong voice in the city’s decision-making process regarding completion of the massive Potrero Canyon project. ‘I consider him my mentor,’ said current council chairman Norman Kulla. ‘He’s a straight shooter with knowledge and good judgment about city government.’ ‘In a quiet but forceful way, George gave power and credibility to community discussions by bringing city officials to Community Council meetings to listen to our concerns,’ said chairman emeritus Harry Sondheim. ‘He strengthened the council’s position by building on what came before him and taking it to a new level.’ Raised in Hancock Park, Wolfberg received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA and a master’s in public administration from USC before going to work for the City of Los Angeles, where he held a number of administrative positions, including being a key budget analyst. He also contributed to closing the final bid for the 1984 Olympics. In 1996, after 35 years with the city, Wolfberg retired, only to become involved in more volunteer activities. His earlier efforts with the No Oil! campaign in the Palisades had introduced him to the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association board, and when he stepped up to become president he helped bring about the organization’s revival. After his two-year Community Council term ended last July 1, Wolfberg remained on the board as chairman emeritus. Last month, in recognition of his non-partisan status and his leadership abilities, he was named chairman of the Potrero Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee by Kulla and City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. Wolfberg and his wife Diane have lived in Santa Monica Canyon since 1972. Diane is also a community activist, having lobbied for the ‘No Leaf Blower!’ ordinance passed by City Council. The Wolfbergs have three children, Anya, David and Michael’three reasons why Wolfberg became a devoted AYSO volunteer long ago. He continues to referee for the organization, adding yet another commitment to his retirement.
Swarthmore Merchants Face Troubling Times
‘It doesn’t look good for the town to have so many stores empty,’ a Swarthmore merchant, who asked not to be identified, told the Palisadian-Post last Friday. These days, rumors abound on the future of Swarthmore where there are currently three vacant storefronts, all owned by the same landlord’Palisades Partners, the largest landowner in the Village. Now the question many people are asking is: Which store is next? Could it be Bentons, The Sport Shop? Is it true that an out-of-area merchant is willing to pay ‘big bucks’ to take over the coveted 2,200 sq.ft. space, which is perhaps the reason the landlord rejected Benton’s latest lease proposal on Tuesday night? ‘Bob Benton has been in business here for 23 years,’ said Mike McCroskey, senior vice-president of CB Ellis Commercial Real Estate, who has been helping Benton with lease negotiations. ‘We made a fair offer. While the $2.50 Bob is currently paying may be below market, the $4.50 they are asking is too much. It’s gouging. No small business owner can afford that. I say $3.50 a square foot is more like it. I’ve told Bob so and I’ve also told the landlord.’ ‘Our local economy can’t support the kind of rent increases they are asking,’ said Chamber of Commerce president David Williams yesterday. ‘The landlord is just going to make it impossible for merchants on the street to stay in business. It’s as simple as that.’ Swarthmore merchants leasing from Palisades Partners were hit with a rent increase in January 2004. Most of them are now paying $2.50 a square foot, plus ‘triple net’ (a portion of sales to cover property taxes, insurance and maintenance). ‘The reason rents are going up on Swarthmore is because it was time to bring them closer to what they should be,’ said commercial leasing agent Gregg Pawlik of Coldwell Banker, who represents two of the vacant storefronts. One, the former site of Emerson LaMay Cleaners at 1045 Swarthmore (1,600 sq. ft.), has been vacant since April 2003 and is currently available for $4.25 a square foot. The second is the former Palisades Camera store at 1014 Swarthmore, which is available for $4.50, almost double what the former merchant was paying. Pawlik said that he has had inquiries to turn the 1,060-sq.-ft. space into, among other things, ‘a nail salon’ and ‘an upscale women’s dress shop.’ Pawlik also said he expects to list 1027 Swarthmore, which was voluntarily vacated by Billauer-Sato Chiropractic at the end of February, in the next couple of weeks. Asking price for the 1,092 sq. ft. space will be ‘in the $4 range,’ he said. ‘Can my business afford $4 or more a square foot? I don’t know. I will have to deal with that when the time comes,’ said Roy Robbins, who has owned his gift and stationery shop at 1030 Swarthmore for almost four years, and is vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. ‘What I do know is I can’t worry about a possible rent increase all the time. It’s paralyzing to me and my business. But it’s hard, given what’s going on. Most of us here are on month-to-month rental agreements.’ Ivy Greene, who has had a children’s clothing shop at 1020 Swarthmore for 10 years, agreed. ‘It’s scary living month-to-month. While they haven’t yet told us what the new increase will be, I hope it’s gradual so we can cope. I’d like to know how they came up with $4 a square foot. Is that market value? I don’t know. I’m just trying to run my business here.’ Will the prospective rent increase force Greene out of business? Is Swarthmore on its way to becoming another Montana Avenue? Is Palisades Partners, which owns all but four stores on the street, planning on eventually leasing most of the existing shops to large national retailers, such as the Gap and Banana Republic, as has been the buzz for months? Pawlik said it’s not the landlord’s intention to displace any of the existing tenants, pointing out that ‘no merchants have been evicted on the street. They either left voluntarily, as was the case with Billauer-Sato Chiropractic, or they were unable to come to an agreement with the landlord over the rent.’ ‘Everyone wants to blame the landlord for the vacancies, which is not quite fair,’ Pawlik said. ‘If all Palisades Partners cared about was money, they could have leased the sites long ago. Do we need more restaurants and hair salons on Swarthmore? They don’t think so. They’re looking for the right mix and that just hasn’t happened yet.’ As for Swarthmore becoming another Montana, where rents start at $6 to $7 a square foot, Pawlik said that ‘remains to be seen. And as for people thinking that big retailers are coming in here, it’s not going to happen. These storefronts are too small for them. However, I’m confident that we’ll have the three vacancies filled soon.’ Williams is skeptical, given the new rents. ‘What we are going to see is a revolving door of merchants. It’s going to be very bad for the town.’ McCroskey agreed. ‘The rents they are asking are simply too high. Swarthmore is not Montana Avenue and never will be because it doesn’t have the foot traffic. And any merchant who agrees to pay $5 a square foot will soon find out the business isn’t there and will want to pull out. What will happen to this community then?’ Merchants aren’t the only ones worried about the future of Swarthmore. ‘Why aren’t we doing more to protect the local businesses we already have?’ wonders long-time resident Richard Greene. ‘My willingness to pay a modest premium is useless if they are not there. We need and want a book store in the Palisades. Village Books opened up after Crown Books left town, remember?’ Yesterday morning, Bob Benton told the Post that he was still in shock over the landlord rejecting his latest proposal. Negotiations had been going on since November. Asked what his options were now, he said: ‘I don’t know. If we can’t resolve this, somehow, and I can’t find another location in the Palisades, I guess I will go out of business.’ The Post has not been able to identify the retailer who is purportedly willing to pay $5 a square foot for Benton’s space. Calls to Palisades Partners were not returned.
Sophomore Veronique Green Is ‘Pali Idol’
Veronique Green, who has been singing gospel music in her church choir since the age of 5, was named the newest Pali Idol at Palisades High School’s third annual singing contest on February 25. The contest is patterned after the popular Fox television show ‘American Idol.’ Beginning with 85 initial contestants through the course of several rounds, 11 finalists were chosen. The winner was chosen by a panel of judges as well as the Mercer Hall audience of 300. Veronique wowed the audience and the judges with her perfectly pitched rendition of ‘Fallin” by Alicia Keys. Then in the final round, with her low-key stage presence, she made what one of the judges called ‘a courageous choice’ by singing Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All.’ The judges were also impressed with Green’s powerful voice. A sophomore, Veronique sings in the choir of St. Matthew’s Baptist Church in Los Angeles, where her late grandfather was the pastor and her father is currently pastor. ‘Gospel is truly in me, and I also love R&B,’ she told the Palisadian-Post. Wearing a pink striped shirt and jeans skirt, Veronique came back for a final bow, singing John Legend’s ‘Ordinary People.’ Her grandmother and two cousins were in the audience to support her. Veronique will also get to compete in L.A. Idol, which is now in the works, with the other winners from various high schools. ‘I couldn’t believe it,’ she said of being named the winner. She picked the songs she did to show her range, and ended up with the title and a $200 prize. She is shy about performing, something she is still working on, she said. ‘I was nervous, but it helped that they had the lights off, so I didn’t have to see the crowd.’ Veronique, who also loves basketball and cooking, is now confident enough from her win to try out for ‘American Idol’ next year. Veronique had some tough competition. Her fellow finalists were two second-time contestants, junior Charles Hinham, who received a standing ovation with his first round a cappella medley of ‘Georgia on my Mind,’ ‘God Bless the Child’ and ‘Summertime.’ ‘You’ve redefined personal expression,’ said judge Dr. John Curtis. His second-round performance was ‘Gift from a Virgo,’ by Beyonc’. Also making it to the finals was Kiera Wells in her second year of competition, who combined a cool stage presence with a sharp performance of Lauryn Hill’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You.’ In the second round she shifted gears with a soulful a capella performance of ‘California Dreamin” Eight other contestants made it to the finals: Ari Coco, Ralai Lee, Jasmine English, Denise Kotlarenko, Gavin Jones, Ernestine Collins and Jasmine Daghighian. The PaliHi Leadership Class and their leadership and history teacher Chris Lee organized the event, and Lee and last year’s winner Annie Tippe were the hosts, even performing ‘Proud Mary’ together. The judges were principal Dr. Gloria Martinez; Dr. John Curtis, a PaliHi parent who edits onlinecolumnist.com; and three members of the KIIS-FM team, DJ Drew, Gina Da Latina and DJ Mike Vasquez. Unlike the TV show, all the members of the judging panel had positive feedback for the singers. The judges’ opinions counted for 20 percent and the audience response was 80 percent. In the final round the audience alone chose the winner. Previous rounds had winnowed the candidates to the top 11. ‘It was polished,’ said Chris Lee. ‘There was a nice camaraderie among the contestants, the audience got into it. Everyone was really supportive of each other.’
Krisiloff vs. Rosendahl in City Council Runoff
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Tuesday’s election turned out to be the preliminary event, not only in the race for mayor of Los Angeles but also for the Council District 11 seat. The final tally from Tuesday’s race forced a runoff campaign between grassroots activist Flora Gil Krisiloff and former public affairs television host Bill Rosendahl to replace termed out Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. Out of 37, 472 votes cast, Rosendahl garnered 44.7 percent, Krisiloff collected 41.4 percent, and lawyer/entrepreneur Angela Reddock received 13.8 percent. But despite the three-point spread, the runoff candidates took the final vote as an encouraging sign, heading toward the May 17 election. ‘I will continue to visit every community, meet with the leadership in each community and with groups to talk about issues,’ Rosendahl told the Palisadian-Post Wednesday morning. Krisiloff told the Post that she was pleased to have another two months to ‘meet the people so they can learn what I’ve done,’ especially in parts of the district such as Westchester where she is not as well known. ‘I feel now, after a year, I’ve built a broad-based coalition of supporters who are ready to take it much further for me. I’ve gotten phone calls from all over the district from people who want to be more active.’ While on the campaign trail, both candidates learned that quality-of-life issues dominate debate in the Palisades. ‘The Palisades is very focused and does provide more leadership in terms of commitment to keep their quality of life positive,’ Rosendahl said. When talking about specifics, he mentioned his desire to keep the Commuter Express line 430 to downtown in service. ‘The community wants to save the line, but the Department of Transportation says it’s not cost-effective. If we keep saying that it’s not cost-effective, nothing will go to the Palisades. These are hardworking people, they pay taxes, they deserve services.’ Rosendahl added that part of the problem is the government bureaucracy. ‘The bureaucracy needs to be energized. With DOT, we have to motivate them, they need to be part of the solution.’ Krisiloff reiterated that quality of life”the city services one expects”remains the leading issue in the Palisades. Talking specifically about the increased traffic on Sunset, from 26th Street to the 405, she recommended looking into the possibility of a reversible lane, a remedy that was used during the 1984 Olympics. She also stressed the need to coordinate with Caltrans to change the meter time on the entrance to the San Diego Freeway. While the issues for all three candidates in the primary were largely identical, the challenge was traversing the large district to get their name known and stand out to the voters. Reddock, who garnered 5,172 votes, told the Post that her campaign was focused and targeted, but was stymied by limited finances. ‘Unfortunately, what happens when your campaign is not well-financed, it is difficult to reach people.’ Contributions for Rosendahl and Krisiloff were robust, each taking in more than $250,000, most of which was used to pepper the district with campaign mailers that boasted endorsements, outlined plans, and in some cases, lambasted the other candidate. Rosendahl accused Krisiloff of negative campaigning, adding that he would not participate in a debate unless the ‘discourse is uplifting. ‘I’m certainly not going to tolerate her negativity, half-statements, lies, low-road stuff,’ he said. Krisiloff defended her mailers, calling Rosendahl ‘disingenuous for acting as if he wasn’t involved in negative campaigning.’ While agreeing that ‘the presentation [in the mailers] needs to be discussed,’ she claimed that ‘what my campaign sent out were facts. The facts are really important for voters to understand who their choices are. I’ve been transparent in putting out my 20-year track record. Bill did not reveal his track record, and I feel he has really concealed his role in the cable industry, and given a lot of misinformation. I believe if he can’t be transparent and make it an open book, then it is my campaign’s job to do so.’ Both candidates look forward to a spirited campaign. ‘Letting the people become well informed about their choice, that’s what we need to do,’ Krisiloff said. Rosendahl says, ‘I will continue to stay on the high road, be positive and talk about the issues.’
Swimmers Lap Santa Monica
The Palisades High boys and girls swim teams opened the season in fine form on February 28, easily outdistancing host Santa Monica in an intersectional meet. The Dolphins’ frosh/soph girls blanked SaMo 100-0, winning every place in every event, while the frosh/soph boys also posted a shut out, 96-0. PaliHi head coach Maggie Nance was equally pleased with the performance of her varsity teams. The Dolphin girls won 142-23 while the defending City champion boys looked the part, stroking to a 145-28 victory over the Vikings. Standout performances on varsity were turned in by freshman Kristen Fufii, who was first in the 50 Freestyle and Amanda Mohagen, who was second in the 100 Butterfly. Rachel Kent was runner-up in the 200 Freestyle while Cayley Cline won the 100 Butterfly in 1:08.41. Andrew Le won the junior varsity 50 Backstroke and Igor Bivol was second in the 100 Butterfly. Brian Johnson won the boys’ varsity 200 Individual Medley and 100 Backstroke, Gavin Jones swam third in the 100 Freestyle and second in the 100 Backstroke. Paris Hays was second in the 100 Freestyle while David Nonberg won the 50 Freestyle in 23.52 and also won the 100 Freestyle. For the girls, Chelsea Davidoff won the 200 Individual Medley and finished second in the 500 Freestyle. Patrice Dodd was first in the 100 Freestyle and Julie Wynn was second in both the 50 and 100 Freestyle events.
Baseball Routs Channel Islands in Opener
If its first game is any indcation, the Palisades High varsity baseball team will go far this season. The Dolphins needed only six innings to mercy Channel Islands, 11-1, Saturday at George Robert Field for the first of what they hope will be many victories this season. ‘I’m happy with the way we played, I’m just a little disappointed that Channel Islands didn’t give us a better game,’ Pali co-coach Tom Seyler said. ‘Usually they field much stronger teams.’ Matt Skolnik had two hits, including a triple, and scored two runs while Dylan Cohen and Austin Jones each had two hits and two runs batted in. David Bromberg pitched the first three innings, Turhan Folse pitched two more (striking out five) and Seri Kattan-Wright struck out the side in the sixth inning. Jeff Dauber hit the game-ending double and Tim Sunderland was solid behind the plate in his first varsity start for Pali. Palisades was supposed to have opened the season last Friday at Oxnard, but the game was rained. In a rematch of last season’s City playoff game, San Fernando shut out the Dolphins, 3-0, on Monday behind the pitching of Matt Navarez, who allowed one hit with eight strikeouts in five innings and worked out of two bases-loaded jams. Bromberg was equally impressive for Palisades (1-1), pitching a six-hitter with six strikeouts, but Palisades committed four errors, three of which led to runs.
Becken Finishes 70th in First LA Marathon
Although Brad Becken loves to run, he had never tested himself at a distance longer than 10 kilometers. But after being the 70th male finisher in a field of over 25,000 participants in Sunday’s 20th running of the Los Angeles Marathon, the 24-year-old Palisadian will never have to wonder if he could hold up in a grueling distance event. Becken ran the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 57 minutes and 49 seconds. The men’s winner, Mark Saina of Kenya, clocked a 2:09:35. ‘My goal was to break three hours, so I’m happy with my time,’ Becken said. ‘I hit the wall at around the 30k mark and sort of limped home from there. I realized with two miles left that I was going to meet my goal, so at that point my main concern was just to finish in one piece.’ Becken runs daily through his Huntington Palisades neighborhood, down to the Via bluffs and across Sunset, but 20.5 miles was the farthest he had ever run at one time prior to Sunday’s marathon. He runs five or six 10ks a year, which he proclaims is his ideal distance. He won the Palisades-Will Rogers 10k in July, finishing in a personal-best 32:51 to hold off 2003 co-winners Nate Bowen and Tyson Sacco. ‘I’m planning on coming back and running Will Rogers again July 4 and hopefully make it two in a row,’ Becken said. ‘But I also want to run the marathon again. I had fun and it was a great experience. I’m a little sore right now, but it’s worth it.’ Becken is interning as a financial analyst at Fine Arts Entertainment in Beverly Hills. He was on the cross country and track teams at Davidson College in North Carolina, where he graduated with a degree in economics two years ago.
Defending Champs Prove Too Much for Pali Soccer
When the season began, 54 high school teams had dreams of playing in the City Section girls’ soccer championships. Palisades was one of two teams that lived its dream this year, although the final chapter did not quite produce the fairytale ending the Dolphins envisioned. Palisades’ remarkable playoff run, which included upset victories over seventh-seeded Fairfax and sixth-seeded Granada Hills, ended with a 4-0 loss to defending champion El Camino Real Saturday night at East Los Angeles College. The top-seeded Conquistadores (20-3-1) took command from the opening kickoff, scoring the only goal they would need in the fifth minute on a give-and-go from leading scorer Katie Oakes to freshman Megan Quinn, who one-timed a pass over Palisades’ freshman goalie Allison Kappeyne. Oakes scored on a header in the 28th minute and Niki Connolly added a goal on a turnaround shot to increase El Camino Real’s lead to 3-0 just before halftime. The 10th-seeded Dolphins (12-8-1), making their first appearance in a City final, generated little offense in the first 40 minutes. Inspired by coach Kim Smith’s halftime speech, in which she told her players they had nothing to lose, Palisades picked up the pace in the second half and played on even terms with a team on its way to its record-tying fifth consecutive City title. Despite several early scoring chances, the Dolphins found themselves further behind when Connolly snuck behind a defender and headed a cross from Quinn into the net in the 47th minute. Palisades’ best chance to score came on an indirect free kick nine from nine yards out, but co-captain Alex Michael’s shot was blocked by a wall of ECR defenders. Co-captain Kirsten Schluter, who scored the winning goal against Granada Hills in the semifinals, provided constant pressure on the wing while Michael, fellow captain Tia Lebherz and leading scorer Lucy Miller paced Pali’s second-half attack. Diana Grubb and Madison Glantz anchored the Dolphins’ defense. Kappeyne made eight saves for Palisades.
