2023 Year in Review: Athletes of the Year

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Another exciting year of sports is coming to an end in Pacific Palisades and it is time to look back at some of the local athletes who inspired us with their perseverance, passion and skill in 2023…

No one thrilled fans at Stadium by the Sea and George Robert Field more than three-sport star Amari Yolas, who won the Palisadian-Post Cup Award in June as the outstanding senior athlete at Palisades High. Gifted with blazing speed, Yolas made the All-City Division I first team in football while starting on offense, defense and special teams and made the All-City squad after scoring 12 touchdowns. In the spring he used his innate instincts to shine on the baseball diamond too, chasing every fly ball in center field and leading the Dolphins in batting average (.477), runs (41), hits (42) and stolen bases (32) and making All-City. In his off time he was also a sprinter in track and took second in the 100- meter dash at City Finals.

In terms of sustained excellence, no athlete at Palisades High performed at a higher level than junior golfer Anna Song, who was one of 12 girls across the nation who traveled to Benahavis, Spain, to represent the United States in the PING Junior Solheim Cup in September. Two months later she repeated as individual champion while leading the Dolphins to their third straight City team title. She capped her remarkable season by taking second at the CIF state championships at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach. An early commit to Stanford, Song bogeyed two of the first four holes, but was steady from there, making four birdies and 10 pars over the final 14 holes to card a two-under par 69 and finish three shots behind winner Zoe Jiamanukoonkit of Torrey Pines. The only other player in the field of 54 to shoot under par was Kacey Li of Temple City, who was third at -1. Song earned her spot in the state tournament by tying for eighth at the SoCal Regionals in Chino Hills.

The runner-up at regionals was Song’s friend and Highlands resident Kaila Elsayegh, who finished 5-under then lost on the first playoff hole to Donina Zhou of team champion Santa Margarita. Elsayegh, a junior at Marlborough, tied for sixth at state with an even par 71.

What a rookie season auto racing phenom Jaxon Bell enjoyed in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series. The 2021 Pali High graduate and oldest son of Palisadians Townsend and Heather Bell was able to record six wins and 11 podiums in 16 races, including two victories and three fastest laps in his last four races on the circuit.

In April, Jaxon made his dad (a three-time Top-10 finisher at the Indy 500) very proud with a pair of first-place finishes in his debut April 3-5 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Three weeks later Jaxon swept both races at NOLA Motorsports Park in Louisiana. In the third event at Virginia International Raceway he was fourth in the first race and 12th out of 16 drivers in the second. At Road America in Wisconsin in mid-August, Jaxon was third in both races. Several weeks after that, the Series shifted to Lime Rock Park where he finished 14th in Race 1 but rebounded to take second place in Race 2.

The former Pali Elementary and Calvary Christian School student, who grew up playing PPBA baseball and flag football at Palisades Recreation Center, as well as tackle football at Pali High, took seventh in the first race and 13th in the second race October 10-11 at Sebring International Raceway in Florida. After qualifying third in the West Coast stop at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca near Salinas in early November, Jaxon won Race 1 and was second in Race 2. The final Series stop was Nov. 22-24 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and Jaxon was second in Race 1 and first in Race 2. He was third in the final standings with 437 points behind winner Sebastian Wheldon (456 points) and runner-up Joshua Alianell (440) and added a feather in his cap by placing third in the second race of the Music City GP in October at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—his first GRCup trophy finish.

In October, Nathalie Bagby competed at the first National Pickleball League Championships and was one of the event’s standout players, helping her Indy Drivers team win the title in Glendale, Arizona. The NPL is the first and only professional pickleball league for Champions Division (age 50+). The Indy Drivers reeled off seven of eight matches to defeat regular-season winner Austin Ignite and victoriously lift the NPL Championship Cup at Chicken N Pickle. The league was founded in 2022 by Champions Pro players Rick Witsken, Michael Chen and Beth Bellamy, wife of ex-Palisades Tennis Center owner Steve Bellamy.

Behind Bagby’s stellar play, the Drivers captured the title in dramatic fashion as they reeled off seven of eight matches to defeat regular-season winner Austin Ignite and lift the NPL Championship Cup. A total of $100,000 in prize money was awarded at the three-day tournament.

A number of local distance runners shined in 2023, including Pali High senior Ava Baak, who won the Post Cup Award alongside Yolas after taking first in the 1600 meters at the City Track & Field Finals in the spring, clocking 5:05.68—a personal-best by over 10 seconds. She followed that with a 5:11.85 effort at the state prelims in Clovis.

Baak also clocked 18:51 to finish second among females in the Palisades Will Rogers 5K on the Fourth of July and posted a time of 18:12 as the women’s runner-up in the Palisades Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. She is a freshman engineering major at the University of Michigan.

Another Wolverine, Noah Wexler, won the Will Rogers men’s 5K in 16 minutes flat. The former Pali High cross country and track runner had just completed his freshman year in Ann Arbor, where he is majoring in Sports Management.

In October, 17-year-old Palisadian Leo Craig, a senior captain on the cross country team at Harvard-Westlake High, decided to get his daily run in by entering the Palisades Lutheran Church 5K Run/Walk for the first time and he won in 16:25—the fastest time yet in the event’s three-year history.

Two freshmen girls emerged as rising stars on the high school cross country scene in the fall—Palisades’ Zoey Morris and Brentwood’s Amelia Sarkisian. Morris pulled off a surprising upset in the City Finals at Pierce College, winning the three-mile Divison I race by 13 seconds in a personal-best 17:41—astonishing considering she had clocked 18:09.5 to finish second behind Pacheco at prelims a week before. Sarkisian won the Gold Coast League title in 21:33 after having broken the school two-mile record with a 13:12 effort. In December she ran 20:29 in the 5,000 meters at the Footlocker West Regional Championships.

The second time was a charm for Memo Macalpin, whose stellar rolling and inspiring words helped the Highwood B Bombers win the Open B gold medal at the 2023 United States Bocce Federation National Championships held June 19-24 in a tiny North Shore suburb of Chicago.

Having gotten his first taste of national competition at the same tournament a year earlier at Methuen Sons of Italy Lodge just outside of Boston, when his Red Crush team took fifth in the same division, the 49-year-old prudly represented the Palisades Bocce Club again and gave founder Jimmy Dunne his first national title. Known best for his shiny golden shoes, Macalpin donned his dark blue Legends shirt replete with a BB Legends patch on the right sleeve in recognition of the team he plays on in the Sunset League at Veterans Gardens.

The Pali High boys and girls lacrosse squads got to celebrate City championships on the same day thanks to stellar performances by Emme Silberberg (who tallied six goals in the final to give her 54 on the season) and Axel Greve, who scored four goals in a rout of El Camino Real on his way to team MVP honors.

Nicole Sacks shined on the soccer pitch and on the basketball court, leading her 10U AYSO Region 69 Extra team to third place at the Western State Championships in Moorpark in February and helping the Palisades Recreation Center’s Girls Minor Division All-Stars win the Citywide basketball tournament for the second year in a row in April with the help of teammates like Caroline Schinto.

On the prep volleyball court, UCLA commit Spencer Graves helped Loyola High win the CIF Southern California Regional Division I title while Pali High setter Blake Pecsok led the Dolphins to the City Open Division final.

In September, Corpus Christi and Marymount High alum Kerry Keefe, now a sophomore at Duke was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week after tallying 42 kills, two aces, 14 digs and four blocks in two matches.

USC freshman hitter Dillon Klein saw action in 26 matches and totaled 357 kills, 114 digs, 21 aces, 65 blocks and 17 assists while earning AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and making the MPSF All-Conference Second Team. He was also a member of the U21 USA National Team and competed in the World Championships in Bahrain.

Senior Owen Grant was an unstoppable force in the pool for the Pali High boys water polo team, scoring a record 12 goals in the City final versus Granada Hills to power the Dolphins to their 11th straight section crown. Taylor Gair led the girls squad to the City finals with her scoring and passing.

Riviera resident and rising tennis star Lexi Wolf, a sophomore at ICL Academy, played several major national and international tournaments in the fall, taking home the Girls 18s title in the USTA Doubles Sectionals. The next week, she won her second consecutive ITF Doubles title at the J30 in San Diego. Over Thanksgiving, Lexi traveled to Minneapolis for the L1 National Indoors and left with two silver balls—one in singles and another in doubles to raise her USTA national ranking to No. 17 in singles and No. 8 in doubles.

Pali High sophomore Neel Joshi paced the Dolphins to their 14th straight City championship, then beat teammate Jex Frankel 6-4, 6-4 to become the fourth consecutive Palisades player to win the City singles title. Joshi also made the Boys’ 16s semifinals at the Ojai Valley Tournament.

Pro soccer players Ali Riley and Kaitlyn Parcell had major roles for their respective teams this year.

Riley captained co-host New Zealand to a 1-0 upset of 12th-ranked Norway in the team’s first group stage match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in July and the Ferns battled Switzerland to a scoreless draw in their last contest to finish with four points—the most points New Zealand has ever earned in a World Cup. Riley played every minute of every game and her 155 caps are second-most in team annals. Then, in September, the 35-year-old Riley, who grew up in the Alphabet Streets, scored her third goal in two seasons with Angel City FC, helping her side to a 2-2 draw with Chicago.

Meanwhile, in July the 25-year-old Parcell, who grew up in the El Medio Bluffs and was an All-City player at Pali High, re-signed with MSV Duisburg, her German Premier League club team that competes in the Bundesliga, the country’s top women’s soccer league. Parcell started the majority of her team’s games in 2022-23, playing the full 90 Minutes in 15 contests, tallying two goals and one assist at left outside back.

Growing up in the Highlands and honing his skills in the PPBA paid dividends for Caden Abraham, who ended his Brentwood School baseball carrer in style. The perennial PPBA All-Star was the starting center fielder, but also played shortstop and pitcher while leading the Eagles to the postseason for the first time in a decade. Along the way he earned All-Gold Coast League honors, leading the team in batting average (.439), OPS (1.126), slugging percentage (.606), stolen bases (16), hits (29) and triples (3). He was second in on-base percentage (.519) and runs (20) without a fielding error.

At the Pali High football banquet in December, junior tailback Teralle Watson received the Joe Spector Award as Most Valuable Player on varsity after leading the Dolphins in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns and finishing second on the squad in receptions and receiving yards.

Wyatt Schinto excelled in flag football, volleyball and basketball at Corpus Christi and led Pali Black to the PPBA Pony title.

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