Track Team Hits Its Stride
Freshman Kristabel Doebel-Hickok ran the 800 meter race in 2:32 against Westchester March 26, in what Palisades head coach Ron Brumel said was one of the best times a freshman has run at the school. ‘I knew that would be a tough race there,’ Brumel said. ‘She came from way back and started closing on the backstretch.’ The next day, Doebel-Hickok anchored the distance relay at the San Pedro Relays. After Liz Horowitz ran 4:25 for three laps, Perisha Bellinger ran a strong 400 leg and Unique Shanklin ran 2:37 on the 800 leg, Doebel-Hickok received the baton in seventh place and finished fourth a mile later in 5:37. ‘It just shows what Kristabel is capable of,’ Brumel said. At the Western League Classic last Wednesday at Venice, Doebel-Hickok ran varsity, clocking a personal-best 5:44 on dirt. ‘Unique Shanklin’s running well in the 400 and Perisha Bellinger is doing well in the 400 and 300 hurdles,’ Brumel said. ‘A pleasant surprise for the frosh/soph girls has been Lauren Cutler. She can run the 100, 200, or 400 meter races. Under the tutelage of jump coach Carl Mellinger, high jumper Tori Stiles hurt her knee and has missed the last several meets, but Natasha Vokhshoori has stepped in along with Kirsten Schluter, who has leaped a team-best 14-3 in the long jump this season. Michelle Mahanian averages about 30 feet in the triple jump and is undefeated in the event this season. For the boys, senior shot putter Jake Meyer qualified for this weekend’s Arcadia Invitational by throwing 52-6 at the San Pedro Relays Meet. Freshman Jeff Fujimoto has excelled in the 400 hurdles, sophomore Ryan Henry ran 24.8 in the frosh/soph 200 and another freshman, Jason Haase, ran a 5:37 mile against Westchester. ‘He likes to run hard, he likes to train and he’s easy to coach,’ Brumel said of Henry. Top runner Paul Dillaway has a bad knee, but he competed in several events against the Comets, winning the 400 meters in 54.7 seconds. Softball On April 1, the ‘Fool’s Day’ joke was on Hamilton, which lost to Pali, 8-3, at Stadium by the Sea. Rachel Abraham (2-4) pitched a complete game with five strikeouts and Jocelyn Mecham went two for three with two RBIs for the Dolphins (9-6, 2-1), who moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Western League with Fairfax and Venice. Perennial power Westchester handed the Dolphins their most lopsided loss since nonleague play with a 14-0 shutout at Palisades on March 29. Comets pitcher Jennifer Hodrick became the first to no-hit the Dolphins this season. Boys Tennis Head coach Bud Kling is used to his team dominating its Western League opponents, but even he has been surprised at the ease with which the Dolphins have won their first six league contests. Palisades has defeated every team 7-0’meaning the Dolphins have won all 42 best two-out-of-three set matches played thus far. ‘I expected us to win league pretty convincingly,’ Kling said. ‘But not this easily. We’re winning almost every set 6-0 and in half the matches our best kids aren’t even playing.’ An example of Pali’s dominance was its 7-0 sweep of Fairfax to open the second round of league play last Thursday. Chris Ko won, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 1 singles for the visiting Dolphins (7-2, 6-0). Two days earlier, Pali shut out Venice at Palisades Recreation Center to take sole possession of first place. Ko won, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 1 singles as Pali lost only eight games in singles. Ben Tom played No. 1 singles against University on March 26 and won 6-1, 6-1 and won 6-0, 6-0 two days earlier against Hamilton, which won only six games in 14 sets. Tom and Ariel Oleynik each won their matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles against Westchester. In its league opener March 15, Palisades blanked Fairfax 7-0 at Pali Rec Center, with Tom winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, Stephen Surjue winning 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles and the doubles duos of Daniel Burge/Josh Kim and Daniel Lee/Nemma Ghiasi each won 6-0, 6-0 for the Dolphins (2-2, 1-0). Boys Volleyball Palisades’ hopes of finishing undefeated in Western League play vanished with back-to-back losses to University (March 24) and Venice (March 26). Against the visiting Wildcats, Palisades lost, 25-23, 25-18, 24-26, 25-11, despite 32 set assists by Rusty Barneson and 11 kills by Jason Schall. Against the Gondoliers, Pali fell, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, despite 12 kills and 10 blocks from Nash Petrovic, 29 assists from Barneson, and 12 digs from Jason Cutler. Pali (6-3, 4-2) recovered to beat host Fairfax, 18-25, 25-12, 25-20, 25-21, as Schall pounded 13 kills and four aces, Zach Rosenblatt had eight kills and Mike Molayem added four digs for the Dolphins. Palisades High is currently on spring break. Athletic events resume next Monday.