Palisades Paddles Against the Tide

Merle Duckett, longtime swimming coach at Palisades High, opened a sports page last fall and surveyed the boys’ water polo roster from a not-so-nearby private school.

Nearly every player listed the same hometown, Pacific Palisades.

“That would have been our swim team,” Duckett said of the players.

Duckett wasn’t completely serious. The Dolphins return the nucleus of a team that finished second to Granada Hills last season at the City Section Championships, but the newspaper clipping provided a clear example of the challenges the Palisades’ swimming program has faced in recent years.

Existing in a section that doesn’t field water polo is just a part of it.

Even though Palisades is a math and science magnet school that draws students from all over the city, many in the affluent coastal community that surrounds the 2,500-student school take advantage of the academic environment at private schools, Duckett said.

“Smaller classes and maybe the private schools have a little higher academic standing,” Duckett said.

This coastal flight has particularly taken the steam out of the girls’ swim team, which won the City championship 13 times between 1981 and ‘94, but went home empty-handed six consecutive seasons before ending the drought last May.

“We were in a downslide,” Duckett said. “The enrollment was dwindling with a lot of kids going to schools like Harvard-Westlake and Loyola.”

But the Dolphins have reemerged as the team to beat in the City this season, thanks to a tight-knit group of returning swimmers.

Katie Dwyer, a senior who helped set a school record in the 200 freestyle relay last season, has been swimming at the Palisades YMCA with many of her teammates for years.

“We all swam together when we were little,” Dwyer said, “and we all just happened to go Pali.”

Palisades has all but one of its swimmers back from last season, making it a favorite to win its 16th City title.

In addition to Dwyer, the Dolphins are led by the section’s most valuable swimmer, sophomore Cara Davidoff, as well as the remaining members of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. Davidoff won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events at the section final last season at Long Beach Belmont Plaza, and also led the Dolphins’ 200- and 400-yard relay teams to victory.

Palisades placed in nearly every event, accumulating 287 points to defeat runner-up Woodland Hills El Camino Real (260). Granada Hills, winner of the last six titles, was fourth.

With the two best swimmers on the boys’ team, juniors Gregory Walther and Adam Bateman, returning, Palisades should make another run at Granada Hills for the City title.

Granada Hills ended Venice’s streak of six consecutive titles last season. Palisades finished second and Venice was seventh. The City finals are scheduled for May 22 at USC.

*

Dan Arritt