Standing out from the Crowd

Krista Slocum and Paris Hays Win Post Cup as Outstanding Senior Athletes

Krista Slocum has a lot in common with fellow Palisadian-Post Cup winner Paris Hays. Both love spending time at the beach, snowboarding and hanging out with their friends. Both are also accustomed to winning, which explains why they have been chosen this year’s outstanding senior athletes at Palisades High. Friends since they were seventh-graders at Paul Revere Middle School, Slocum and Hays even sat next to each other at last Friday night’s Senior Awards Program in Mercer Hall. Now they have one more thing in common–an honor shared by only 65 other athletes in the school’s 45-year history. Slocum was co-captain of the girls’ tennis team, led the Dolphins to their first City Section championship in seven years and won 34 of her 39 singles sets–most of those at No. 1, where she was up against the other teams’ best players. A four-time All-City selection, she finished third out of 64 players in the Individual tournament. “I wanted my team to win City, which we did,” says Slocum, who lives in Topanga Canyon. “I also wanted to play singles in the Individuals and beat my seeding. I was seeded sixth and came out third, so I was happy.” Displaying uncanny cool under pressure, Slocum went undefeated in Western League matches, losing only 10 games in 10 pro sets. Her success is born out of belief in herself. “No matter your opponent, your biggest competition is yourself,” she explains. “I never let an opponent bother me because I will get too frustrated. Tennis is an extremely mental game, so I just try to relax and take one point at a time.” When Slocum was a sophomore, teammates voted her “most inspirational” and that, she says, meant more than any personal triumph. “I felt you can always win a match or a tournament but it doesn’t take talent to be inspirational, rather just a positive attitude and a generous heart.” Slocum’s concentration helps her in the academic arena as well. Her favorite class is AP English because she views writing as a form of self-expression. “You can never write enough in life and there is always a brilliant book to read that will engender some epiphany,” she says. What impresses PaliHi tennis coach Bud Kling most about Slocum are her determination and adaptability. “Krista is a fierce competitor, she never says die, she always hustles,” he says. “She’s also extremely flexible during her matches. If she has to hit hard and use the power game to win, she will. If she realizes the other girl hits as hard as her, she can mix it up, slow the pace for five games, then go back to hitting hard. She’ll do whatever it takes to win.” Whether during practice or in matches, Slocum made a conscious effort to provide more leadership as a senior. “Being a team captain has been the biggest learning experience for me,” she says. “It has taught me the value of responsibility and dedication, along with patience. I’ve tried to set a positive example by being cooperative and loyal to my team.” Slocum’s next step is to continue her tennis career while she majors in Communications at UC San Diego and she is confident the lessons she learned between the lines will prove valuable outside of them too. “Tennis teaches you that nothing is really over until it’s over and that you must see something all the way through in order to succeed,” she says. Hays not only won all of his races this spring, he clocked personal-best times when it counted most. At the City finals in May, Hays won the 50 Freestyle in 21.82 seconds, won the 100 Freestyle in 47.76 seconds and swam the anchor legs on Pali’s winning 200 Medley Relay and 200 Freestyle Relay. However, his most satisfying result came in a meet at the beginning of the season. “I am most proud of winning my two individual events at the Beverly Hills Invitational because it was really competitive this year,” Hays says. “Our varsity finished fourth behind just Harvard-Westlake, La Canada and Palos Verdes. That meet proved we could be a powerhouse even in other CIF divisions.” Though Hays achieved all of his personal goals, one goal was not reached. Palisades’ quest for a fifth-straight City boys title fell three points short. Yet, like Slocum, he showed leadership in what is primarily an individual sport by working hard in practice, taking his coaches seriously, befriending his younger teammates and sharing stroke and race advice with them. “Paris has been an incredible asset to our whole program,” PaliHi swim coach Maggie Nance says. “Having someone that fast sets the bar for the rest of the team. The younger kids come in and see what’s possible and what’s expected. I’ll miss his cheerful demeanor and obviously we’ll miss what we were able to accomplish as a team with his four first-place finishes.” Hays has grown so accustomed to breaking his own records the last two years that it’s a disappointment if he doesn’t. “If I don’t swim a personal-best that means something went wrong and there is still something I need to work on. When I feel good I have an impeccable mindset. The perfect race is one where I don’t remember what I was thinking about in the pool. It is time lost.” Lost amidst the attention he attracts from his athletic accomplishments is the reality that Hays is also among the top students in his graduating class. He will take his talent and smarts to the Ivy League in the fall when he begins his freshman year at Brown University, which he says has everything he has ever looked for in a school. “From its size, to the campus, to the swim team, to its amazing academics, to its social life, Brown has always been screaming for me,” says Hays, who is interested in studying political science, economics, business or international relations and plans to attend law school after college. “I narrowed my search down to two schools, Brown and Harvard. I went on recruiting trips to both campuses and both experiences reinforced my ubiquitous love for Brown.” Just as Slocum’s education on the tennis court has proved as valuable as the knowledge she’s acquired in the classroom, so too has Hays learned valuable life lessons in the pool. “Swimming has taught me the benefits of dedication, determination and discipline,” says Hays, who lives near The Village. “It has also taught me that good things usually don’t come about without working for them.” In being named outstanding senior athlete at Palisades High, Hays knows he has joined a special fraternity of Dolphins and he is proud to carry on that legacy. “Winning the Post Cup is great because the whole time I’ve been swimming, I felt as if I was only competing for my school, my club team and myself,” Hays says. “Now I know I’m swimming on behalf of the whole community. My victories are victories for the Palisades.”