Rising Stars

Palisadian-Post Sports Editor Steve Galluzzo Highlights Star Student Athletes to Watch Out for this Year

Alexandra & Kingsley Wolf

In July, sisters Alexandra and Kingsley Wolf paired up to win the silver ball in the 16-and-under doubles division at the USTA Clay Court Nationals in Huntsville, Alabama. Seeded fourth in a draw of 128 teams, they upset the top-seeded duo in the semifinals before falling to the No. 2-seeded tandem in the final to take second place. Alexandra, or Lexi, is a junior while Kingsley, or Kiki, is a freshman at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. They live in the Riviera, trained for many years at Palisades Tennis Center and graduated from Corpus Christi. Lexi has moved up to the 18s division while Kiki remains in the 16s.

Lars Refnes

In May, Lars Refnes made it clear he is one of the most gifted young baseball prospects in the Palisades after he led Pali Blue to the Westside Interlock Pony Division championship at the Field of Dreams. He struck out 16 batters in a three-hit shutout victory over Pali Black in the final. That came after his 13-strikeout performance in five no-hit innings in the semifinals. Refnes’ combined 29 strikeouts in 12 postseason innings will go down as one of the finest pitching performances in PPBA history. He was one of the standouts at Pali High baseball tryouts and will play for the Dolphins in the spring.

Braun Levi & Cooper Schwartz

Tennis buddies Braun Levi and Cooper Schwartz enter their senior year at Loyola High School with great expectations after joining forces to become one of the top doubles duos in the CIF Southern Section, as evidenced by their run to the quarterfinals of the Ojai Tournament in April. Schwartz lives in the Riviera and transferred from Brentwood to Loyola before his sophomore year. Levi lives a few doors down from St. Matthew’s and attended Corpus Christi School before becoming a Cub. They played with different partners as sophomores but upon uniting last season, they won the Mission League doubles title.

Lauren Song

Now an eighth-grader at Paul Revere Charter Middle School, Lauren Song is one of the best golfers in her age group in Southern California. In May, she played on the school’s coed team that won the Delphic League boys championship at Sinaloa Golf Course in Simi Valley. Song carded a 4-over  31
for fifth overall. As a sixth-grader, she shot 3 over to finish in a three-way tie for third at league finals on the same course. Song’s older sister Anna is a senior at Palisades Charter High School and has won back-to-back City individual championships.

Amelia Sarkisian

After a stellar freshman year at Brentwood School, distance runner Amelia Sarkisian sits poised for a breakout sophomore campaign, having won the Gold Coast League cross country championship last fall while earning the girls Most Valuable Award and qualifying for the CIF state meet. In the spring she won her heat in the 800 meters in 2:32.25 and lapped several of her competitors on her way to first place in the 3,200 meters in 12:06.36 at the league track prelims. Then, in the finals, Sarkisian completed the sweep of the distance races by winning the 800-meter run by over one second in 2:39.34 and winning the 1,600 meters by almost 11 seconds in 5:30.07. Raised in the Alphabet Streets with athletic siblings, she used to play basketball at the Rec Center.

Mitchell Majors

Fourteen-year-old Mitchell Majors won his age group and placed third overall in 2024 the Palisades Will Rogers 10K on the Fourth of July, clocking 36:07. He also ran the Turkey Trot 10K in November, placing 13th overall and second in the male 13-16 age category in 40:31. Majors went to Marquez Charter Elementary School and recently graduated from Revere, where he broke a long-standing school mark in the “Sub Six Mile” by clocking 4:41. He is attending Viewpoint School in Calabasas this fall, where he will run cross country and track. He also competed in his first two half marathons this year: Surf City USA (taking second in the 1-14 male age group in 1:28:34) and Santa Barbara Wine Country (finishing first in the 1-19 division and 11th overall in 1:24:55).

Sloane Le Chang & Charlie Albores

As members of the Santa Monica Girls Fastpitch 12U Gold All-Star team this summer, Palisadians Sloane Le Chang and Charlie Albores helped their squad finish fifth out of 31 teams at the Western Nationals in Salem, Oregon—one of the highest finishes of any team in any age division in league history. Chang resides in the Highlands and is entering eighth grade at Calvary Christian School. She started in center field and was one of the team’s best hitters. She will age up to the 14Us next summer. Albores, who lives near The Village and is beginning seventh grade at Revere, was the starting second baseman and incredibly did not commit an error in 32 fielding chances at Nationals. She will remain in the 12U age group next summer.

Will Horowitz

Village School graduate Will Horowitz scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Suns to a 45-21 victory over the Grizzlies in the finals of Palisades Recreation Center’s Coed Major Division basketball championship in June, then he stepped back onto the court in the large gym to play with his older brother Jake for the Celtics in the Junior Division final. Horowitz has won two Pali Rec Center Major hoops titles and is starting seventh grade at Windward School this fall.

Zoey Morris

As a ninth-grader at Pali High, Zoey Morris pulled off a surprising upset in the City cross country Finals at Pierce College last fall, winning the three-mile Division I race by 13 seconds in a personal-best 17:41. In the spring, she captured the City 3,200 meters in 11:19.93 and was third in the 1,600. She will try to defend her cross country title while leading the Dolphins to the team championship in November.