By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When they looked across the net in Tuesday’s afternoon’s City Section individual doubles final, Caleb Scott and Max May saw familiar faces staring back at them­—those of Palisades High teammates Teddy Brainard and Zach Cohen.

In an all-Dolphins matchup, Scott and May used their experience  and shotmaking to prevail, 6-2, 6-3, but there were really no losers for anyone wearing the uniform, as Balboa Sports Center became the battleground on which Palisades’ boys tennis program completed its latest “triple crown,” though the last leg would have to wait a few extra days.

Palisades won its 16th consecutive championship earlier this month and when its top two players, Neel Joshi and Lorenzo Brunkow, won their semifinal matches against other opponents Monday it guaranteed the Dolphins a sweep of the team, singles and doubles titles.     

“This is our second full season playing together so we have a lot of set plays,” Scott said. “The team title is assured so it doesn’t feel like as much of a win. We had to put everything on the line in individuals.”

“It’s a bit easier playing our teammates because we know what they do,” May added. “Our serving and our net play are our strengths.”

In the team final May 1, the senior pair won both of their sets at No. 1 doubles and earned the championship-clinching point before being subbed out for their last match. Scott played with Joshi at the Ojai Tournament but his regular partner is May and the No. 1 seeded duo clicked throughout the five rounds of the individual bracket.

Playing for third-place one court over on Tuesday were Palisades’ Ben Babikian and Tristan Kiperman, who beat El Camino Real’s Isaac Cline and Chin Kanthakhan 6-3, 6-4.

“I’d rather play a team from a different school,” Babikian said. “We paired up for this tournament becaudse we’re both seniors. Tristan’s net play really stood out today.”

“The best part about Ben’s game is that he’s consistent,” Kiperman added. “He gets a lot of balls back in play.”

Both Kiperman and Babikian will attend the University of San Diego in the fall, though not to play tennis. No matter, they have enjoyed plenty of wins in their high school careers.

“It’s amazing to think our team has not only the two best [singles] players in the City, but also the three best doubles duos,” Scott said.

Last spring, Brunkow became the fifth Palisades player in a row to win the City singles title (Joshi won it the year before) and the two friends will play each other next week to determine the 2025 champion. Tuesday’s final was postponed because Joshi woke up sick after gutting out a three-set win in the semifinals.

Showing why she was one of the Palisadian-Post’s top athletes of the year in 2024, Brentwood School sophomore Amelia Sarkisian won the 1600 meter race in a personal-best 5:08.41, took second in the 800 in 2:21.82 and won the 3200 meters in a time of 11:04.73 at the Gold Coast League Track & Field Championships on April 29.

On May 10 at the Southern Section Division 4 prelims in Carpinteria, she was the top qualifier in both the 1600 (in a time of 5:12.02) and the 3200 (in a time of 11:29.91) and last Saturday in Moorpark she won the 3200 in 10:55.96.

In November, Sarkisian covered the three-mile Woodward Park course in Fresno in 17:31.8 to take first place by 15.6 seconds in the Division V girls race at the CIF state cross country finals. That came after winning the Southern Section title in 18:13.2 and the Gold Coast League individual crown in 17:01.40 while leading the Eagles to second in the team standings. She clocked 17:17.4 to win the White Varsity Girls A Division race at the Woodbridge Classic in Irvine.

Palisades High coach Maggie Nance is used to leaving the City Section Championships soaking wet after a celebratory plunge in the pool. This year, she left dry as both the boys and girls finished second May 10 at Valley College, but she was as  proud of this year’s group as she has been for any of her winning teams because of the trials and tribulations so many of her swimmers faced in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire that damaged their campus and forced them to train and compete elsewhere.

“We didn’t have the numbers we typically do and a lot of our fastest swimmers transferred out,” Nance said. “The kids performed so well today, I really can’t be disappointed.”   

The boys accumulated 314 points to finish well behind first-place Granada Hills (473) but way ahead of third-place Cleveland (259.5). After tying Granada Hills to share the title last year, the girls settled for second this time with 252 points. Granada Hills won with 426.

Anthony Navarrate placed second for the boys  and Emme Federman was second for the girls in the diving competition days before the meet, earning their teams 17 valuable points.

The girls’ 200-yard medley relay, consisting of Nicole Magnusen, Noa Levertov, Bailey Gair and Sabrina Kim, was second in 1:55.19 while the boys’ medley foursome of William Ryan, Riley Amis, Christopher Goodman and Roi Levertov won in 1:38.17. Levertov won the 50 freestyle sprint in 21.96 and Riley was second in the 100 freestyle.

Showing why he is one of the best beach volleyball players on the planet, Palisades High graduate Miles Partain teamed with Andy Benesh to win the AVP Huntington Beach Open on May 11. The duo beat  fellow 2024 Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans 21-14, 21-14 in the finals and did not drop a set in four tournament matches. It was their second Huntington Beach title together (they also won it two years ago, their first AVP title as a team).

Partain and Benesh were second in the group stage at the Summer Games in Pari, then upset the Italian duo of Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai in the round of 16. They  fell to Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar in the quarterfinals but took fifth place.

   At age 22, Partain became the youngest USA beach volleyball player in Olympic history. He won three City titles at Palisades, was valedictorian in 2020 and played for Pac6 Volleyball Club. In 2017, he and his older brother Marcus became the youngest duo to make the main draw of an AVP event.

The temperature was high last Thursday at the City Section Track & Field prelims and no team was hotter than Palisades’ boys 4×400 relay, which won its heat while posting the day’s fastest qualiyfing time. The foursome of Harrison Carter, Jayden Joch, Armani Lindley and Ronin Sherertz ran the four-lapper in 3:21.92, better than five full seconds ahead of second-place Granada Hills, and hopes to repeat its performance in today’s finals at Birmingham High.

The Dolphins’ 4×100 boys relay was fifth and also secured a spot in the finals in a heat-best time of 43.59 seconds. In the sprints, LeHenry Solomon clocked 11.32 in the 100-meter dash but just missed qualifying for the finals while Lindley ran the 200 in 22.72 to nab the eighth and last qualifying spot.  Sherertz was the fourth-fastest qualifier in the 400 meters with a time of 49.80.

Andrew Razo broke two minutes (1:59.69) in the 800 and was seventh overall, easily advancing to today’s finals, while  fellow junior Jackson Taylor (2:02.35) also qualified.

Freshman Theo Mayeda ran the 1600 in 4:41.84. Marley Duff was 12th in the 110 high hurdles (16.84) and 10th in the 300 hurdles (42.59).

For the girls, Kalee Herd ran the 100 in 13.38 and the 200 in 27.83. Skyla Jones qualified for the finals in the 400 with a personal-best time of 59.55. Annie Refnes won her 800 heat in 2:21.13 and cleared 4-10 to advance in the high jump.   

Kendal Shaver (5:32.63) and Amelia Halpin (5:37.95) got the last two qualifying spots in the 1600. Ava Bondar (49.56) qualified in the 300 hurdles, the Dolphins’ 4×200 relay was third and  the 4×400 relay of Jones, Shannon Cantwell, Herd and Refnes had the second-fastest qualiyfing time (4:09.34).    

Following his team’s two-stroke defeat to Granada Hills on May 7 at Knollwood Country Club, Palisades High boys golf coach Dave Suarez gave what he called “the longest post-round  talk of all time.”

His players took his motivational speech to heart six days later, claiming first place at League Finals  with a collective score of 393 on Griffith Park’s Wilson Course. The Dolphins were led by reigning City individual champion Luke Schultz, who carded a 74 (33 on the back nine). Jake Norr and Grant Bigelow shot 79s, Cole Christopher carded an 80 and Michael Conner and Mason Geller each carded an 81. Joseph Wong of Granada Hills shot a sizzling six-under-par 66 to capture medalist honors and establish himself as the favorite heading into yesterday’s City Finals on Griffith Park’s shorter Harding Course. He and two teammates tied for the low score with 37s in the  Highlanders’ earlier 201-203 victory over Palisades.

Granada Hills finished second on May 14 with a team score of 399, followed by Cleveland (470) and Chatsworth (472). Palisades beat runner-up Granada Hills by 10 shots for its 23 City title last spring.          

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

There were plenty of tears being shed and hugs being exchanged  in the visitors’ dugout last Saturday afternoon at Carson High after Palisades’ season ended in a 6-0 loss to the second-seeded Colts in the City Division I quarterfinals.

“It hurts right now, but when you look back someday on what you’ve had to endure, not having a field but finishing runner-up in league and making it to the second round of the playoffs, you’ll hold your heads high,” said Mike Voelkel, who has coached the program to 316 victories and 11 league titles in his 18 seasons. “We got beat by a better team.”     

The seventh-seeded Dolphins (18-11) were held to one hit in the first three innings but threatened in the fourth before stranding runners at second and third. Carson’s Juno Carillo hit an RBI single in the third and another run scored on an error. The Colts tacked on four more runs in the fourth and only two Dolphins reached base in the last three innings.

After a bye in the first-round, Palisades traveled to 10th-seeded Kennedy last Thursday. Palisades scored three runs in the first inning and another in the third. Center fielder Noah Andrews threw a runner out at the plate in the sixth to keep his team ahead. In the bottom half, Jack O’Brien hit an inside-the-park homer to score three runs and in the seventh reliever Ian Sullivan allowed one run but struck out to batters to nail down the 7-4 win. Jett Tegardin allowed three runs on three hits with eight strikeouts in six innings.

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Injuries have plagued the Palisades High softball team all season long but after finishing third in the Western League the Dolphins got seeded ninth in the City Section Division I bracket and traveled to eighth-seeded Verdugo Hills on Wednesday (result unavailable at press time). If victorious, the team will take on No. 16 Cleveland or No. 1 Port of Los Angeles in the quarterfinals Friday at 3 p.m. The semifinals are  May 28 and the final is May 31 at noon at a neutral site.

Palisades has never captured a City softball title, but advanced to the Division II final in 2021 (losing at home to Gardena) and the Division I semifinals last spring.

The Dolphins (10-6) are led at the dish by junior Kharlee Sanders (.529 batting average, 22 RBIs, four home runs, six stolen bases and a 1.158 slugging percentage) and senior Amanda Brown (24 hits, 22 runs) and in the circle by freshman pitcher Sarah Feldman (51 strikeouts in 42.3 innings).