By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Palisades High baseball coach  Mike Voelkel has never been to give excuses. As he enters his 18th season at the helm he and his players face a grim reality: having to play every game away from George Robert Field. However, he and they are excited about the challenge to be “road warriors” and expect to produce better results than last year when the Dolphins finished with a losing record for only the second time in Voelkel’s tenure and were eliminated in the first round of the City Division I playoffs.

“Sure, the fire and not being able to play or practice on our own field will have a huge effect on us, but we’ll figure out a way to deal with it,” said Voelkel, who needs to wins to reach 300 at Pali High. “Everyone’s counting us out since we don’t have a field. The  bottom line is we need to be tougher—and smarter. It really comes down to that.”

On January 29 the team got a surprise visit from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who gave them a 20-minute motivational talk and answered questions during a players only workout at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. Last Thursday, Joe Torre and Billy Crystal stopped by practice to wish the team luck and offer their condolences to the 14 players who lost their homes or got displaced as a result of the Palisades Fire.

Crystal and his wife Janice, who were co-honorary mayors of Pacifica Palisades from 2018-20, lost the home the couple had lived in since 1979, where they raised their children and grandchildren, and the fire also destroyed decades of baseball memorabilia Crystal had collected over the years.

“He was as human as human can be,”Voelkel said of the six-time Emmy Award winning actor,  comedian and filmmaker. “I don’t think he cracked a single joke. He was very concerned about the kids and their plight.”

Torre was a nine-time All-Star during a major league career that spanned from 1960-77, including stints with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. He later became one of the most respected managers in the game, leading the New York Yankees to four World Series titles from 1996-00.

“None of my players were even born when Joe managed that great Yankees dynasty,” Voelkel joked. “It was a cool experience for our guys and something I’m sure they’ll remember the rest of their lives.” 

“As of now, we’re playing every game on the road, but we have a full schedule as always and we might have games at neutral sites here and there,” Voelkel said. “I expect us to be better than last year. At times we’ve looked pretty good. Obviously, there are more variables added this year but I’m optimistic. Our pitching should be good and so far defensively we’re  not bad. It’ll come down to being able to score runs, have productive outs and situational hitting. It has to be a team commitment. You have to be willing to do it for the benefit of the team.”  

The varsity roster features nine seniors and 10 juniors and two sophomore pitchers, one of whom (Caleb Gitlin) Voelkel slated for the opening day start. The other, Hudson Ramberg will also play shorstop. Senior Max Miller is No. 2 in the rotation and will also play center field. Jett Teegardin will be No. 3 in the rotation and also play infield. Ryan Hirschberg, Isaic Buenrostro and Asher Cohen will handle the catching duties and patrolling the outfield will be three returners: Noah Andrews in center, Jack Curlin in left and Logan Bailey in right.

Also seeing action on the mound will be Parsa Imankhan, Roman Hawk, Jude De Pastino, Ian Sulivan, Yamato Yukimoto and Jack O’Brien.     

In the new Western League format, teams will play each other three times, not twice, and Palisades takes on defending champion Venice twice out of the gate. The teams split their two meetings last year.   

The Junior varsity squad, under new coach Darryl Washburn, will be led by ace pitcher and first baseman Lars Refnes, who led his PPBA Pony Division team to the championship last summer.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor      

Guiding his team to the City Section Open Division semifinals in his first season was quite an accomplishment for Palisades High boys basketball coach Jeff Bryant, but after Monday’s night’s  77-47 loss to No. 1-seeded Chatsworth at Roybal Learning Center he was already looking ahead to the SoCal Regional playoffs.

“It’s a new season,” he said. “The next day or so will be tough  but we’ll regroup and get ready to play more meaningful basketball. Hopefully we can get back to this kind if moment.”

The Dolphins earned an automatic berth into next week’s regional tournament by virtue of making the Open bracket as one of the City’s top eight teams.   

In the quarterfinal round Feb. 19, fourth-seeded Palisades blew out No. 5 Venice 81-52, avenging a 30-point defeat to the Gondos in their Western League finale only five days earlier. Tommy Pickens led the way with 22 points and five assists, Jack Levey had 17 points, five assists four rebounds  and Julian Cunningham added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Dolphins, who notched their first-ever Open Division playoff victory.

Monday’s contest marked a huge step up in competition but Bryant’s squad hung tough early, playing even with the Chancellors in the second quarter and trailing by only nine points at halftime. It was right where Bryant wanted his team to be, but Chatsworth stretched the lead to 19 by the end of the third quarter led by one of the best players in the country— USC commit Alijah Arenas—who finished with 31 points. The son of  former NBA star Gilbert Arenas will face Tajh Ariza (son of former NBA player Trevor Ariza) and No. 2 Westchester in the finals Friday night at Southwest College. Pickens again led Palisades (19-11) with 12 points, Kye Davis had eight and Mikal Sims and Jack Levey had seven apiece.

“We believed all week, we’re built for the playoffs” Bryant said. “In the Venice game we followed the gameplan to a T. Tonight, we were up against a great player and we wanted to make it hard for him to catch it and trust his teammates. To their credit, they made shots.”

Pali High’s girls faced league rival and top-seeded Hamilton for a spot in the Open finals Tuesday. Last Thursday, the No. 5 Dolphins traveled to Woodland Hills and knocked off No. 4 El Camino Real  58-47. Riley Oku had 15 points and Sincere Aubrey added 12.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It is time to play ball at the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association, only this year’s opening ceremonies will not be at the Field of Dreams, rather at Cheviot Hills Pony Baseball (located at 2551 Motor Avenue in  Los Angeles).

Longtime Commissioner Bob Benton reports that opening day festivities will begin at 7:30 a.m. this Saturday and Councilwoman Traci Park (District 11) will throw out the first pitch.

Despite damage to the gymnasium and tennis pro shop at the Palisades Recreation Center, the diamonds are intact but will not be available for games this spring.  Benton had to find a viable option and is proud he was able to do so at a facility close to the Palisades and also with four fields.

There will be six PPBA teams in the Pinto (ages 7-8) and Bronco (ages 11-12) Divisions: Red Sox, Tigers, Orioles, Cardinals, Dodgers and Pirates, to join one Cheviot Pinto team and six Bronco squads. The Mustang (9-10) Division will feature seven PPBA teams (the six listed above plus the Yankees) and three Cheviot teams. There will be two teams representing the PPBA in the Pony Division (ages 13-14): Pali Blue and Powder Blue.

“Cheviot’s board of directors and President are all in and I have to say the outpouring of support we’re receiving from all over California is incredible,” Benton said.  “Since we’re playing in a different league all of our teams will wear Palisades uniforms and hats.”

As for the Shetland Division (for beginning players), Palisades’ four or five teams will participate in the Santa Monica Pony League.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It was a long, grueling day February 5 at Roybal Learning Center for the City Section Wrestling Championships and after many close matches and high drama, Palisades High finished in eighth overall with 164.5 points and seventh in the boys’ standings with 133.5. Birmingham won both the boys and girls titles with 536.5 combined points.

Nick Bertram was third in the 175-pound boys division and Matthew Hsu was third at 190 pounds. Bertram won his first two matches on pins before losing by one point to Canoga Park’s Antonio Hernandez in the semifinals.

Bertram, who was the No. 1 seed, rebounded to pin Angel Calderon of of Birmingham in the first period of the third-place match.

Hsu won in sudden victory versus San Fernando’s Brandon Arana in the third-place match.

Jude Perez was fourth in the 113-pound division, Caleb Kim was fourth at 126 and Vincent Meiseles was fourth at 165. Coming in fifth in their divisions were Soushyant Saberi at 138 and Demid Salnikov at 150.

For the girls, Alicia Chow was fourth in the 105- pound weight class, Mikaela Mobasserywas fifth at 110 and Emma Bolch was fifth at 145 pounds.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Three talented Palisades High seniors did their school and their community proud last weekend, taking first place at the NBTA California State Baton Twirling Championships, held at Citrus Hill High in Perris.

Martha Valkov teamed up with identical twins Grace and Noelle Hardy to form a formidable threesome which not only accumulated the most points in Saturday’s competition but also walked out with a five-foot tall trophy for the Most Inspirational Team Award. The cherry on top came the next day when Noelle was crowned champion of the Miss Majorette of California Pageant—an honor Grace won last year­—and Grace won the State Strut title. Miss Majorette involves scoring in several disciplines (solo twirl, strut, modeling and interview).

While Valkov just joined the twirling team and is having a blast, the  sisters are feature twirlers for Pali High’s marching band and national team members of the United States Twirling Association. They live in Brentwood and though they had to evacuate during the Palisades Fire their home survived and they are back, though still doing soot and ash clean-up. Valkov resides in Santa Monica and her home was unaffected, though bad air quality and not being able to attend classes in person have made her latest triumph more gratifying.       

The Hardys began twirling three years ago when they found their mom’s old batons in the garage and wanted her to teach them a few tricks. They have had one of the fastest risings in the sport of baton twirling under the watchful eye of their mother Jacqueline Meaney Hardy, who won numerous state and national honors, including USTA’s Miss California. She was a feature solo twirler for the San Francisco 49ers and is currently a professional coach with USTA and NBTA. One of the girls’ other coaches, Dale White, also coached their mom back in the day. The twins are also stellar students, maintaining 4.0 unweighted and 4.5 weighted GPAs. Prior to twirling they were pre-professional dancers, having trained since they were 3 with some of the best teachers in the world, including instructors from the Bolshoi Ballet from Russia, the National Ballet of Canada, Pittsburgh Ballet and San Franciso Ballet.

Grace and Noelle are following in their mom’s footsteps. Over the summer they placed first in the qualifier at the National Championships in Dayton, Ohio, thus earning a spot on Team USA, and will represent their country in Torino, Italy in August in the category of Artistic Pairs. Together they are the 2025 California State Duet Champions, having held the crown for the past two years. They are also members of The ShowTwirlers, a competitive baton twirling team based in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Their training involves frequent travel to the east coast where they work with elite coaches PJ and Jon Burkin, Terri Dobos Young, the aforementioned White and locally with Jacqueline.

The sisters appeared on Spectrum News 1 two weeks after the Palisades Fire to share their thoughts  of dealing with the aftermath of the blaze, their efforts to reach out to friends and classmates, and having to adjust to online learning again after having coped with it a few years before during the COVID-19 pandemic. They hope to graduate on the football field in the spring in keeping with the school’s commencement tradition.     

Valkov’s primary sport is rhythmic gymnastics and she made a name for herself the summer before her sophomore year at the 2022 National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, where she took first place in the Level 10 Junior Division—the highest level in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program. Valkov started in rhythmic gymnastics at the age of 6 and rose steadily up the ranks by training four to five hours a day, six days a week, first at LA School of Gymnastics in Culver City, then California Rhythms  in Los Angeles. The Canyon Elementary and Paul Revere Middle School graduate has taken to twirling like a fish to water as one of the four discplines in rhythmic gymnastics is clubs (the others are ribbon, ball and hoop) and the summer before her junior year she placed fifth in the all-around competition and third in clubs in the Level 10 Senior (2007) Division at the USA Gymnastics Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Pali High trio will be back in action March 22 at San Diego State where it will compete in the All-West Regional High School Show Twirl Team Championships against teams representing the Western United States, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona Utah and Hawaii. By virtue of winning the state title the girls are eligible to contend for the national championship at the University of Notre Dame in July.