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).

For the second year in a row the Palisades High boys volleyball team began the City Section Open Division playoffs on the road at Granada Hills. Last spring it was the Dolphins who swept but on May 7 the Highlanders returned the favor with a 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 quarterfinal victory, bringing an abrupt halt to Palisades’ bid for its first City title since 2022. It is the team’s earliest postseason exit since head coach Carlos Gray assumed command of the boys program in 2014.

Palisades was seeded No. 5 in the eight-team bracket after placing second in the Western League behind Venice, which was seeded No. 1 in the Open and fell in four to third-seeded El Camino Real in Saturday’s final at Birmingham.

The Dolphins finished 24-10.

Palisades has won a record 17 section titles since 1974—six more than the next closest school (Chatsworth)­—all of them in the top division. The last five of those titles have come under Gray