NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : Palisades Gears for Run at City Volleyball Title

The Palisades High volleyball team won six of eight games in the 17th annual Palisades Invitational last weekend. The Dolphins, however, failed to advance to the championship for only the sixth time in eight years after losing to eventual champion San Diego Mira Mesa.

Palisades outside hitter Colin Wellman, a 6-foot-5 senior who will attend Pepperdine in the fall, was selected to the all-tournament team. Wellman and Danny Kim, a 6-2 transfer from Taft who earned All-City first-team honors last season, have helped the Dolphins to a 5-0 record in Coastal Conference play.

The Dolphins’ hopes for their ninth City title have also been bolstered by the addition of James Turner, a 6-7 senior transfer from Ojai Thacher, and returning seniors Jonas DeKrassel, a setter, and Moritz Moritz, an outside hitter.

Palisades (5-3) has lost to Mira Costa, the No. 2 team in Southern Section Division I, Arcadia and Santa Monica, but Coach Howard Enstedt believes this season’s team might be the most talented in his 31 years at the school.

“We have the ability, we just have no experience as a team,” Enstedt said. “We have a bunch of new guys who haven’t learned to win as a team.”

On Tuesday, Palisades beat University, 15-11, 15-10, 15-10, 9-15, 15-8, in a Coastal Conference match to avenge a five-game loss to the Warriors in last season’s 4-A championship.

Palisades, along with University, Fairfax, Venice, Westchester and Santa Monica, will compete in the 40-team Tournament of Champions at Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

Teeing it up: Annie Markowitz is keeping up with her male counterparts on the Santa Monica High golf team. Despite having to play from the championship tees, Markowitz has been shooting consistently around 45 for nine holes and is the team’s fifth-lowest scorer.

“The girls have to compete from the same tees as the boys,” Santa Monica Coach Don Murphy said. “She is an important contributor to the team and one of the best female high school golfers in the area.”

The Vikings are led by seniors David Lebowitz, who averages 39.5 strokes for nine holes, and Brian Dracup. On March 22, Dracup shot a one-under par 35 and Lebowitz had a one-over 37 to lead Santa Monica to a decisive victory over West Torrance at the Alondra Park Golf Course. The Vikings’ next three lowest scorers were sophomore Matt Zitner with a 40, junior Paul McKee (41) and Markowitz (46).

Record performance: Zachary Haupt and Genevieve DeBose of Hamilton set school track records Saturday at the 51st annual Pasadena Games at Occidental College.

Haupt long jumped 23 feet 4 1/4 inches to win the event by more than a foot in only his third meet at Hamilton. DeBose ran 11:53.7 to finish ninth in the girls’ 3,200 meters.

Covering new ground: The Twilight Classic track meet, formerly known as the Santa Monica Distance Classic, will take place at Birmingham High on May 21 and 22.

The event, which attracts many of the nation’s top middle- and long-distance runners, was held at Santa Monica College for the past eight years. Nearly 1,500 athletes competed in last year’s meet and 12 runners qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 1,500 meters.

Santa Monica Athletic Director Avie Bridges, however, refused to reissue a permit for this year’s meet, prompting the move to Birmingham.

“Santa Monica is the ideal site in terms of location to the airport and weather,” meet promoter Skip Stolley said. “The meet brings . . . publicity to the school, but we’re left with no other alternative but to move it to another location.”

Bridges said the college received noise complaints from nearby residents. The meet also ended about half an hour later than 10 p.m. deadline both nights.

“They have outgrown our facility,” Bridges said. “This wasn’t a rash decision.”

Fast start: The Brentwood Eagle baseball team was off to a fast start, having defeated the state’s second-rated team in their division and taking third place in the L.A. Baptist tournament.

Jeremy Milken leads the team with a .500 batting average, four home runs and 19 runs batted in. Pitcher Darren Kawaoka has a 3-1 record and has given up only five runs and five hits in the past 10 innings.

Fond farewell: After nearly 26 years at The Times, Seymour Beubis has retired as Suburban Sports Editor.

Beubis, 59, was responsible for directing sports coverage for the Glendale, Long Beach, San Gabriel, Southeast, South Bay and Westside sections. Some of the writers he hired included Raider beat writer Steve Springer, USC football and UCLA basketball writer Jerry Crowe, news reporter Dick Wagner, former Loyola Marymount and Dodger writer Alan Drooz and South Bay high school writer Rob Fernas.

A graduate of Miami, Beubis started his journalism career as a reporter for the Ft. Lauderdale News. One of the events he covered was the John Glenn orbital flight. He came to The Times in 1967 and has written more than 3,000 stories. Among his sports assignments was coverage of the swimming and diving championships at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. His most recent assignment was the 1992 NCAA women’s basketball championships.

Jay Christensen will replace Beubis.

Times staff writer Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.