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 2024…

No athlete made his hometown more proud than Miles Partain, who established himself as one of the top players in the world in his sport.  As one of two United States pairs entered in the men’s beach volleyball competition at the Summer Olympics in Paris, Partain and his partner Andy Benesh earned five of a possible six points to place second in the group stage, then upset the Italian duo of Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai in the round of 16 before falling to Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar in the quarterfinals and settling for fifth place.

At age 22, Partain became the youngest U.S. beach volleyball player in Olympic history. He won three City titles at Palisades High before graduating as valedictorian in 2020 and played for Pac6 Volleyball Club. In 2017, the 15-year-old and his brother Marcus (then 17) became the youngest duo to advance to the main draw of an AVP Tour event.

Partain and Benesh followed their Olympic success by reaching the finals of the Manhattan Beach Open in August and Partain was introduced as the guest of honor before the Pali High football team’s Western League contest against Westchester at Stadium by the Sea in September.    

There has been no sophomore slump for Amelia Sarkisian, who is establishing herself as one of the finest prep distance runners in Southern California. The Brentwood School 10th-grader scorched the three-mile Woodward Park course in Fresno, clocking 17:31.8 to take first place by 15.6 seconds in the Division V girls race at the CIF State Cross Country Championships in November. Before that, the Alphabet Streets resident captured the Southern Section title in 18:13.2 and won the Gold Coast League individual crown, completing the three-mile route around Brentwood’s campus in a personal-best 17:01.40 while leading the Eagles to second place in the team standings. She clocked 17:17.4 to win the White Varsity Girls A Division at the Woodbridge Classic in Irvine and won the Small Schools Division in 18:46.5 at the Bellarmine/Sacred Heart Invitational in Griffith Park in September. A few weeks ago she capped off her stellar campaign with a 19:06.0 effort  in the 5,000 meters at the Foot Locker West Regional Championships  at Mt. SAC in Walnut, an 83-second improvement over her time last year.   

As a freshman on the track in the spring, Sarkisian won the 800 and mile races at the Malbu Invitational and swept the 800, 1600 and 3200 varsity events at the Gold Coast League Finals.  

Meanwhile, Palisades freshman Zoey Morris placed second in the frosh/soph 3200 at the Redondo Nike Invitational in 11:28.1 and first in the 3200 in 11:19.9 at the City Track & Field Championships in May. On the boys side, Dolphins captain Max Fields capped his stellar prep career by taking the section 3200 title for a second time in 9:21.09, running a personal-best 9:03.84 at the state track finals in Clovis and winning the Post Cup Award as his school’s outstanding senior athlete.     

The Palisades High football team made the City Division I finals for the second time in three years and the biggest reason why was the arms and legs of quarterback Jack Thomas, a junior transfer from Loyola, who enjoyed one of the most productive seasons by a Dolphins signal caller in program history. In 14 games, he threw for 3,369 yards and 46 touchdowns with only five interceptions and rushed for 570 yards and another 12 touchdowns. He won the Joe Spector Award as Team MVP and was named Western League Player of the Year.

When it comes to golf, no one at Pali High has ever done it better than Anna Song, who wrote her name in the history books as perhaps the most accomplished player in City annals by carding a finals-record 65 at Balboa to capture her third straight individual title while leading the Dolphins to their fourth team title. The Stanford-bound senior then tied for fifth at the CIF state championships in San Gabriel.

In the spring, Luke Schultz survived a battle of attrition at Griffith Park’s Harding Course in one of the most memorable City finals battles ever. The Pali High junior forced a playoff with an eagle at No. 18, then rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt on the sixth extra hole to beat Van Nuys’ Isaiah Kim, who settled for second for the second year in a row. Schultz carded a four-under-par 68­—six shots better than his previous best at Harding—and helped the Dolphins capture their 23rd team title.

Medalist Chase Zucker (-1) and teammates Cole Gailys, Hudson Menzel, Jack Zucker, Gabriel Svenblad, Noah Williams and Cole Christopher led Paul Revere Middle School’s boys squad to the Delphic League championship at Sinaloa Golf Course in Simi Valley.

After helping the United States’ men’s fencing team win the bronze medal in the foil at the Tokyo Olyumpics three years ago, 2017 Pali High graduate Nick Itlkin earned  bronze in the individual foil in Paris, becoming the first American male in that event to stand on the podium since 2016. The 24-year-old used his quickness and counter striking to beat Kazuki Iimura of Japan 15-12 in the third-place bout.

Village School grad and former Highlands resident Johnny Hooper played a vital role in the USA men’s water polo team’s bronze medal run in Paris. The 27-year-old scored four goals in five group play contests and netted his team’s first goal in the quarterfinals versus Australia.

It was another successful season on the track for auto racing phenom Jaxon Bell, as the 2021 Pali High graduate and oldest son of 10-time Indy 500 driver Townsend Bell placed fourth overall in the Toyota GR Cup standings with seven podium spots, including a win in Austin,   a pole position in Viriginia and a pair of third-place finishes in Florida.

Representing her community and her country proudly on the soccer pitch is Kaitlyn Parcell, who is in her second season with Fortuna Hjorring in the Denmark Women’s Premier League (Gjensidige Kvindeliga Division 1) and has the team in first place, even scoring the winning goal against HB Koge in November. Six weeks before she played all 90 minutes in a 6-0 victory in a Denmark Cup contest and another full 90 three days later in a league match, contributing two assists from her left outside back position.

Parcell, who turned 27 in September, grew up in the El Medio Bluffs, went to Corpus Christi and is the only Pali High player to tally 50+ goals and 50+ assists in her career. She won the Post Cup Award in 2016.

This year’s Post Cup winner (along with Fields) was another soccer extraordinaire, Erica Hamilton, who enjoyed the greatest offensive season ever by a girls soccer player at Palisades.

Hamilton shattered the school records for goals (33) and points (71). She needed only 17 games to break the school record of 27 goals in 20 games set by Kathryn Gaskin in 2009-10, doing so in a three-goal effort versus league rival LACES that pushed her season total to 28. She went on to tally five more, including all four Dolphin goals in a playoff victory over Venice. She graduated with a three-year total of 66 goals in 49 career games (she did not play as a ninth-grader) and kicked her team to three City Divison I semifinals.

Pali High senior James Van Wagenen was the epitome of courage at Roybal Learning Center in February when he captured the City 126-pound wrestling title in dramatic fashion. In the finals against Birmingham’s Roman Arakelyan he built an early lead, lost it, but led 7-6 in the final seconds Arakelyan took a shot in a desperate attempt to score but Van Wagenen sidestepped the move and the two tumbled to the mat together as time expired. Van Wagenen was credited with two points for a near fall that gave him a 9-6 decision, prompting him to flex his muscles and scream in jubilation. In his triumph he reached the 100-win plateau and earned a trip to the state meet in Bakersfield.

Lorenzo Brunkow is glad he made the decision to join the Pali High tennis team in the spring. First, the junior from Topanga got all the way to the finals of the CIF singles division at Ojai. Four days later he swept his four singles sets to lead the Dolphins to their 40th City title and 15th straight. Then, the early UCSB commit capped his season in style, dropping one game in five matches on his way to the City individual singles title.

On the doubles side, Loyola juniors Braun Levi and Cooper Schwartz were  formidable duo, winning the Mission League title and making the Ojai quarterfinals.

Speaking of joining forces, how about sisters Lexi and Kiki Wolf, who in July 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 second-seeded tandem in the championship match. As teammates at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High in the fall (Lexi is a junior, Kiki a freshman) the Riviera residents united again to reach the CIF doubles finals.

On the prep volleyball court, Marymount senior Ryan Gilhooly was a true renaisssance gal for the Sailors, earning Mission League honors playing multiple positions. At Palisades, middle blockers Hazel Irving and  Annabelle Refnes earned All-City first team honors for the girls while outside hitter Pierce Bergstein and setter Kyle McKnight did so for the boys.

At UCLA, Cooper Robinson had 12 kills, three blocks, two digs and an ace as the Bruins topped Long Beach State in four sets to claim their 21st NCAA national championship in May.     

“Special K” may be a well-deserved nickname for pitcher Lars Refnes after his performance for Pali Blue in the Westside Pony Division final at the Field of Dreams. He fanned 16 Pali Black batters in a three-hit shutout and that came on the heels of a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts in the semifinals­, giving him a total of 29 strikeouts in 12 postseason innings.

Then there was the warrior mentality of Pali High softball’s Briana Vasquez, who earned All-City honors (along with shortstop Stella Honda) after tossing 165 strikeouts in 118.2 innings and pitching a perfect game versus Hamilton as the Dolphins reached the City Division I semifinals.

Summer was special for Santa Monica Girls Fastpitch 12U Gold

All-Star team members Sloane Le Chang and Charlie Albores, who helped their squad place fifth out of 31 teams at the Western Nationals in Salem, Oregon. Chang played center field and was one of the team’s best hitters while Albores was error free in 32 fielding chances at second base.

Will Horowitz scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Suns to a 45-21 victory over the Grizzlies in the final of the Palisades Recreation Center’s Coed Major Division basketball championship in June, then he played alongside his older brother Jake for the Celtics in the Junior Division final.

Mitchell Majors won his age group and was third overall in the Palisades Will Rogers 10K on the Fourth of July, clocking 36:07. He bested a long-standing Paul Revere record in the “Sub Six Mile,” clocking 4:41, and competed in two half marathons: Surf City USA (taking second in the 1-14 age group in 1:28:34); and Santa Barbara Wine Country (winning the 1-19 age division in 1:24:55).

Fifty-something karate mom Gracy Llana was nothing short of a trophy-winning machine in 2024 while representing Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center at numerous competitions. The blue belt took first place in Traditional Kata, Musical Kata, Weapons and Sparring at the International Martial Arts Council (IMAC) Open at Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles in October. The dojo’s new “golden girl” took firsts  in  Kata and Sparring and added a silver medal in Weapons at the Elite Karate Cup in Santa Ana in May, captured three golds in the Adult Novice Division at the USA World Championships in Las Vegas in June and left the Elite Summer Showdown in Chino Hills in July with with golds in Kata and Weapons and a silver in Kumite.

Pali High’s girls swim team tied for the City title in the spring thanks to points earned by 1-meter diving champion Parker Connor and 400 freestyle relayers Sabrina Kim, Noa Levetrov, Bailey Gair and Alexis Burrell, who clocked 3:44.83 to finish second in the last event and give the Dolphins the total needed to match Granada Hills at Valley College.

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