Pali High Girls Shine at Track Prelims

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Carson has won the last eight City Section girls track and field team titles but the Colts’ reign is in jeopardy of ending courtesy of a deep and talented Palisades Charter High School squad under the guidance of head coach Rob Hockley.

The Dolphins are in solid position after last week’s preliminaries at El Camino College and will return there Friday, May 17, with hopes of taking their first title since winning back-to-back in 2012 and 2013, before Carson started its current streak.

While the Colts are known for racking up points in the sprints and figure to do so again in the finals, Palisades figures to counter with lots of points in the distance races, meaning the outcome could be decided by upsets or the results of several field events.

Freshman Zoey Morris, who won the City Division I cross country title in the fall, won Heat 1 of the 1,600 in 5:19.75 and turned in the third-fastest time overall behind only Canoga Park senior Angelina Valladares (5:13.50) and Santee junior Angeles Feliciano (5:19.37).

Morris is also the favorite in the 3,200 meter race while teammate Gabriella Gilyard boasts the third-fastest time going into finals.

Carson won its heat in the 4×400 relay in 4:05.98, second only to Granada Hills (4:03.99) while Palisades’ foursome of Kalee Herd, Clara Fleckenstein, Skyla Jones and Mikayla Murphy qualified in the No. 7 spot in 51.19.

Sophomore Annabelle Refnes easily posted the fastest 800 time at prelims (2:21.03) while also anchoring both the Dolphins’ 4×400 and 4×800 relays. She could also pick up valuable points in the high jump, after being one of 10 competitors who cleared 4-6 to qualify for finals, along with teammates Anisa Watkins and Harper Given. Senior Kyra Morris, Zoey’s sister, also made the 800 final, clocking 2:28.46.

Murphy won her heat with the fourth-fastest time in the 100 meters (12.21 seconds), while junior Ava Bondar notched the ninth and last qualifying spot in the 300 hurdles.

Granada Hills has won the last two boys titles and could do so once more paced by sprinter Jordan Coleman, who ran the second leg of the Highlanders’ 4×100 relay (which had the fastest qualifying time), and won his heats in the 100 and 200 meters.

Venice junior Nathan Santa Cruz was the top qualifier in the 400 meters, clocking 49.08, but Palisades junior Roni Sherertz (50.02) won his heat and was 41 hundredths of a second faster than Heat 3 winner, Justin Hart of Granada Hills. Another junior, Jayden Joch, also qualified for the Dolphins in 51.73. Sherertz (22.67) also made it to the finals in the 200.

Sophomore Andrew Razo was among 12 qualifiers in the 800, and Zachary Chang, Joch, Sherertz and King Demethris clocked 44.32 to qualify eighth in the 4×100 relay. The Dolphins 4×400 of Joch, Harrison Carter, Zach Master and Sherertz ran 3:28.68, second to Dorsey (3:28.17) and the 4×800 relay took third behind Granada Hills and Venice. The top three seeded runners in the 3,200 hail from Palisades: two-time City cross country champion Max Fields, Blake Sigworth and Axel Mammen.

Ricardo Martin leaped 20-7.5 to round out all qualifiers in the long jump and was sixth at prelims in the triple jump (41-7). Palisades won its only boys team championship in 2019. There was no finals meet the next two years because of the coronavirus pandemic.