Pali High Golfers Aim to Regain City Championship

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

No school in the history of the City Section has won more boys golf championships than Palisades and the Dolphins are determined to add one more to their record total this spring.

The Dolphins have won 22 team titles since 1968 but Coach Dave Suarez laments that it is not 23. His squad was a heavy favorite to win for the third year in a row last May but got upset by Granada Hills—giving this year’s group all the motivation it needs to reclaim the trophy.

Suarez has one of his deepest teams ever. The roster features freshmen Cenna Austin, Cayden Kim and Jake Norr; sophomores Logan Eskigian, Ian Monahan, Cole Richter, Kaezan Shah and Grant Bigalow; juniors Jackson Bloom, Michael Conner, Mason Geller, Jacob Leatherman and Luke Schultz; and seniors Nic Wilson, Liam Husain and Levi Salzman. Suarez has the luxury of fielding many different lineups, with practice rounds determining who will earn spots in certain matches.

The Dolphins carried a 5-2 record into Wednesday’s league match versus Cleveland at Encino Golf Course. Palisades has defeated El Camino Real, Chatsworth, Cleveland and Brentwood. Its only losses are to Southern Section teams, Oaks Christian and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. The Dolphins’ match against Granada Hills at Knollwood was stopped prematurely because of lightning and has been rescheduled for May 3 at Griffith Park’s Harding course. The Dolphins take on Crossroads at Harding today and play Harvard-Westlake on Monday at Griffith Park’s longer Wilson course. Palisades will host Granada Hills on April 17 at Rancho Park and plays Windward the next day at Woodley Lakes. League Finals are May 9 at Harding and the City Finals are Wednesday, May 15, also at Harding.

The top two teams at City Finals qualify for the Southern California Regionals on Wednesday, May 22, at Los Serranos Golf Club’s South Course. Granada Hills has won the second-most City team crowns (13). Palisades won five in a row from 1982-86 and three straight from 2013-15. Since taking the reins from James Paleno in 2021, Suarez has piloted the boys to back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022 and the girls to three straight (2021-23).