Palisades High’s boys water polo team entered this season in a very unfamiliar position. The Dolphins are used to being the hunted, but now they are the hunters after seeing their run of 11 straight City titles come to an end with an 11-4 loss to Cleveland in the section finals last fall.

That marked Palisades’ first playoff defeat in 13 years and snapped a 43-game postseason winning streak—then the longest active streak by any team in any sport in the City. Two of the best players during the Dolphins’ decade-long dynasty—Theo Trask and Oliver Grant—are now coaching their alma mater and while the long-term goal is getting the program back to a championship level, they are realistic about     how long it will take.

The team has been practicing at the north pool and student activities center at UCLA. On Monday the Dolphins will start practicing at 6 a.m. at Santa Monica High, where they will be until the end of the season. Last weekend, they participated in the Malibu Classic, finishing 1-3 at a tournament they used to dominate.     

“Not being able to use our pool has been tough but the biggest factor is our youth,” said Trask, who recorded a program single-season record 123 steals as a senior in 2018 while captaining the Dolphins to their seventh straight title. “We only have two seniors, Sean [Ellis] and Arjun [McIntosh] and six juniors. The rest are sophomores and we even have a freshman [Kai Gundershaug]. Two other players transferred out so we’re a younger, less experienced team than we’ve been in years past. You could say that we’re more motivated because we’re no longer the champions. It’s a two-year project. Cleveland is the favorite, but I’ll be very surprised if it’s not us and them in the finals.”

After dropping its first pool play game to Malibu 9-2 last Thurday, the Dolphins came from behind to stun Villanova Prep 13-12 on a length-of-the-pool shot by co-captain Oliver Ghiassi as the clock ran out. Sophomore driver Reed Winters led the charge with six goals and Ellis added four. The Dolphins closed out the tournament Saturday with losses to Thousand Oaks and Oak Park and dropped to 6-6 overall.     

Next is the Long Beach Poly Tournament this weekend. Rounding out the roster are goalkeepers Aidan Moriarty and Conor Durcan; driver Isaac Tishbi;  hole sets Hudson Mirzadeh, David Nance and Max Szymanski; and utilities Eli Benyamini, Fyodor Petrov, Eros Martinez, David Santiago and Joshua Wood.   

Head coach Cari Klein has the Marymount High volleyball team off to its fastest start since  2021 when the Sailors finished 35-0 and swept the sectional, regional and state championships.

The squad enters Mission League play with a 13-1 record  and full of confidence after not dropping a set on its way to the Hawaiian Island Labor Day Classic title August 30 in Hilo. The only drama the Sailors had was on the flight home when their plane had engine problems and had to divert to Oahu.

Klein lost her home in the Palisades Fire in January as did varsity players Karys Campos, Gabby Bartle, Ashton Santos and Declan Eastman.

Marymount’s lone setback was a four-set loss at Redondo Union on Sept. 2 but the Sailors rebounded two nights later to beat Mira Costa in five sets. Pacing the attack are hitter Sammy Destler (a Washington commit), setter Olivia Penske (Georgetown), middle Elle Vandeweghe (Southern Methodist) and opposite Makenna Barnes. Klein has led the Sailors to 10 section title and seven state crowns since 1998.

Playing its first home game of the season, Palisades High’s   junior varsity football team took the field at Santa Monica College last Friday afternoon expecting a back-and-forth battle and that is precisely what it got. Having edged the Highlanders 16-14 at home one year ago, the Dolphins  sought to set the stage for varsity and scored the initial touchdown on a swing pass. However, the Highlanders responded with 20 unanswered points before Randy Garcia-Lopez capped a long drive with a touchdown run to pull  Palisades within 20-13 late in the second quarter.

Granada Hills marched 70 yards on irs first possession of the second half to pad its lead, but the Dolphins answered early in the final quarter on a pass from quarterback Oliver Attar to receiver Jessee Wolfson. The Highlanders scored again to go     up 36-19. Attar connected with Wolfson again—this time on a 42-yard scoring strike with five seconds left­—but Palisades fell short, 36-25, and is now 1-2.

Palisades plays Brentwood today at Brentwood’s east campus (100 S. Barrington Place).  Kickoff is at 4 p.m.

No rivalry in City Section volleyball matches the intensity of Venice versus Palisades. When the Western League foes met for the Gold Division title Saturday at the Venice Invitational, players on both sides raised their level. Riding a 13-match winning streak to open the season, the Dolphins lost the first set 25-19 but rallied from eight points down to even the second set at 23-all before falling 26-24. Hitter Ashlynn Sells and libero Lucy Neilson earned All-Tournament honors. Palisades had swept the first of the teams’ two league meetings nine days earlier.     

The first meet of the year yielded promising results for Palisades High’s boys and girls cross country teams. On August 30 they traveled to Norwalk to compete in the Great Cow Run and the varsity girls took first out of 21 schools with 42 points. Daila Harnick (18:23.20), Zoey Morris (18:23.90), Louisa Mammen (18:24.60) and Kendal Shaver (a personal-best 18:25.60) swept the fifth through eighth spots, respectively, while Maya Bhasin (19:04.10) and Maribel Henderson-Maclennan (19:04.90) broke personal records to finish 16th and 17th. Eleanor Mammen was 22nd in 19:14.90 on the three-mile course. The Dolphins finished second to Granada Hills at the City Championships last fall.

The varsity boys came in fifth out of 24 teams with a score of 210. Zach Cohen was second individually in a personal-best  14:46.80—exactly two seconds behind winner Adrien Guerrero of Downey. Jackson Taylor also PR’d in 15:13.80 to place 11th, Theo Mayeda was 23rd in a career-best 15:26.40, Lajus Collins (16:49.80) and Thomas Butler (17:00.60) ran their fastest times  to date, Justin Funl clocked 17:09.80 and Mark Saba (who also established a PR) finished in 17:14.50. The Dolphins will try to win their fifth City Division I team title in a row in November.

In the frosh/soph girls race Hannah Sadzik placed fifth in a field of 276 runners in a personal-record 19:57.90 while Sadie Hedford was 16th in a PR time of 21:02.00.

The annual Palisadian-Post Football Contest, giving readers a chance to predict upcoming game winners, is back in season.

“Every week, the Palisadian-Post will have a selection of NFL and college football games,” according to the contest rules. “Check the team you think will win each game. The person with the most correct picks wins. In the event there is a tie, the tie-breaker will be used to determine the winner.”

There is an online submission process, making it easier than ever to participate. Contestants can simply download or copy their entry form, fill in their picks, take a photo and email it back to footballcontest@palipost.com by the 5 p.m. Friday deadline. The contest runs through the end of the NFL regular season.

The deadline to enter for Week 2 is September 12, at 5 p.m. The entry form will be posted no later than Thursday each week on the Post website, Facebook and Instagram. 

Only one entry per person per contest will be accepted. Winners will receive a $10 gift card by email from our new contest sponsor, The Yogurt Shoppe (located at 11726 Barrington Ct. in Brentwood Village). The Post thanks The Yogurt Shoppe for allowing us to continue this 30-year-old tradition. 

Good luck to all participants and happy prognosticating!