By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
As we embark on yet another exciting year of sports in Pacific Palisades there are many memorable plays, record-breaking achievements and storybook endings in store. Before we look ahead, however, let us take a quick look back at moments that gave us thrills and chills in the past 12 months. Here is a countdown of the Palisadian-Post’s Top 10 sports stories in 2024…
Noah Wexler Wins Will Rogers 5K on Fourth of July
10Upon winning the Palisades Will Rogers 10K in 2023, both Henry Didden and Laura Osman vowed to return July 4 to do it again. The 20-year-old Didden from Woodland Hills won by 19 seconds in 32:46. Osman, a 43-year-old mother of three from Encino, was the leading lady in 38:36, a 23-second improvement over last year. The only other time in the event’s 47-year history that both 10K champs repeated was when Charles Gray and Teresa Haro defended their titles in 1981.
Cardinals Win Mustang World Series in Nine-Inning Thriller
9In one of the longest, most dramatic deciders ever in played in the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association, the Cardinals edged the Orioles 6-5 in nine pressure-packed innings to win the Mustang Division championship in June at the Field of Dreams.
Tate Dore stole home to give the top-seeded Cards the lead in the top of the ninth, and after a run was taken off the scoreboard in the bottom half the Orioles put runners on second and third with two outs before a grounder to third had the red birds flying high.
Pali High Swimmers Second in Relay to Tie Granada Hills
8Entering the last event, Palisades High’s girls team was leading the City swim championships by six points, but needed a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay to earn at least a share of the title. Freshman Alexis Burrell made up a two-second deficit on the anchor leg to take second by 59 hundredths of a second and pull the Dolphins even with Granada Hills at 371.5 points, the first tie in girls finals history. Palisades added to its record total with its 31st girls title and 15th under Maggie Nance.
Pali High Boys Water Polo Dynasty Ends in Finals Defeat
7All good things must ultimately come to an end and that was the case for Palisades High’s boys water polo team November 13 at Valley College. The Dolphins’ latest dynasty, a 43-game playoff winning streak dating back to 2012, was snapped in the City Open Division final with a 15-4 defeat to Cleveland, the team that had dealt them their last postseason loss some 13 years earlier. Palisades’ run of 11 straight City titles included back-to-back CIF Southern California Regional Division III titles in 2021 and 2022.
Pali High Lacrosse Squads Sweep City Section Finals
6It was all about the blue and white April 23 in Lake Balboa. That is where the Palisades High girls and boys lacrosse teams captured City Section championships hours apart for the second year in a row. Led by seniors Elah Blyumkin and Mallie McGowan, the girls repeated with a 13-7 triumph over El Camino Real, their third title overall. Then the boys took down the Royals 17-6 for their eighth straight City title and their ninth total, led by Axel Greve, Dominic Zuniga, Trey Tzung and Dylan Wong.
Pali High Boys Tennis Claims 15th Consecutive City Title
5Thanks in large part to newcomer Lorenzo Brunkow’s four points at the No. 1 singles position, the Palisades High boys tennis team downed Granada Hills in the City Open Division final at Balboa Sports Center to earn its 40th section title and 15th in a row—extending the longest active championship reign by any team in any sport in the City. The Dolphins’ current dynasty started in 2009. The winningest coach in section history, Bud Kling added a 31st boys title to his resume, giving him 52 total since 1979.
Pali High Football Reaches Division I Championship Game
4In its second season under head coach Dylen Smith the Palisades High football team advanced to a City Section final for the fourth time since the school opened in 1961. Along the way, the Dolphins won 11 games, took second in league, reclaimed the Charter Bowl trophy and set program records for total points scored in a season (582, an average of 41.5 per game) and points in a playoff game (63 in a semifinal victory over Eagle Rock).
Pali Rec Minors Hoops Squads Win West Region Crowns
3Not one, but two All-Star 9- & 10-year-old basketball teams from the Palisades Recreation Center experienced their own versions of “March Madness” by winning the West Region in Westwood and advancing to the Citywide Tournament. The Co-Rec Minors team, coached by Vijay Srinivasan and Brian Hansen, beat Mar Vista 34-22 and one hour later the Girls Minors, coached by Shelia Martin and Sean Cudzil, beat Cheviot Hills 30-11.
Matsuyama Wins Genesis with Record-Setting Final Round
2Tied for seventh place beginning the last day of the Genesis Invitational in February, Hideki Matsuyama delivered one of the finest displays of golf ever witnessed at Riviera Country Club. The 31-year-old from the island of Shikoku in Japan shot a 62 for a three-stroke victory and his sizzling nine under par went into the record books as the lowest final-round score ever in a PGA Tour event at the historic course nicknamed “Hogan’s Alley.” His four-day total of 267 was three strokes off the Riviera record.
Mustang 9U All-Stars Advance to PONY Zone Tournament
1In the 70-year history of the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association, the 2024 Mustang 9U All-Star team will be remembered as one of the best. Consisting of Will Feil, Carter Bergman, Tristan Kawasaki, Cabe Talt, Anthony Layton, Axl Moody, Bennett Underwood, Dylan Morrow, Jack Hetherington, Owen Tyler, Nate Underwood and Maddox Martin the squad posted a 23-6 summer record and reached the PONY West Zone playoffs—only the second team in league annals to ever make it that far.
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