City Section

Wednesday, May 26

CITY SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS

Swimming, often an individual endeavor, was turned into a group exercise by the Palisades boys’ and Reseda Cleveland girls’ teams at the City Section championships.

The tactic worked wonders as depth and determination carried the day and the Dolphins won their third consecutive City boys’ championship and their tenth overall while the Cavaliers’ girls claimed their first title Wednesday at the Los Angeles Swimming Stadium.

“The team win was the ultimate goal,” said David Nonberg, a Palisades junior who proved an accurate reflection of the Dolphins’ day.

Nonberg, like his team, did not win any events, but he picked up a pair of third-place finishes in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles.

“We don’t need the big guns,” said Palisades’ Peter Fishler, who placed fourth in the 200 free. “It’s not just you, it’s everyone else, too.”

Palisades finished with a meet-high 277.50 points, to outdistance San Pedro, which scored 218 points to finish second in the team standings for the second season in a row. Granada Hills, sparked by victories in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley by senior Steven Park, finished third with 179 points.

While both Palisades and Cleveland relied on depth, the Cavaliers also benefited from 30 diving points provided by Kelly Gluckman, Avital Aboody and Esther Criss, who placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively in competition Friday to give their team critical points in what turned out to be a close swim contest. Diving points are included in the swim scoring.

“As a team, we were pretty confident, and that really helped,” said Cleveland senior Deborah Hefter, who won the 100 freestyle (57.44) and finished second in the 100 backstroke (1:05.49). “It just makes us realize how strong we are as a team.”

Cleveland finished with 249 points while the Palisades girls, who had won three consecutive titles and have won 15 overall, wound up second behind the Cavaliers with 230 points. El Camino Real finished third with 183.

Palisades stayed competitive throughout with help from Cara Davidoff, who will swim at Tulane next season. The senior, who had won three City titles in the 50 free and two in the 100 free in previous years, claimed victories in the 200 free (1:54.54) and the 100 butterfly (58.71) this time.

The only other girls’ double winner was El Camino Real junior Jessica Chen, in the 50 free (24.58) and 100 back (1:02.28). San Pedro’s Ivan Perhat, the defending champion in the 100 and 200 freestyles, won both events again in 46.81 and 1:42.38, respectively, on the boys’ side.

Venice junior Nicole O’Keeffe recorded a personal-best and school-record time by seconds in winning the 200 individual medley (2:14.26). She also placed second behind Davidoff in the fly (1:00.94).
--Lauren Peterson

Boys

TEAM SCORES: 1. Palisades, 227.5; 2. San Pedro, 218; 3. Granada Hills, 179; 4. Cleveland, 174; 5. Grant, 105; 6. Reseda, 84.5; 7. Birmingham, 77; 8. Venice, 62; 9. Van Nuys, 37; 10. El Camino Real, 36.

200 MEDLEY RELAY-1. Granada Hills, 1:44.15; 2. Palisades, 1:47.81; 3. Grant, 1:47.90; 4. Cleveland, 1:50.00; 5. San Pedro, 1:51.90; 6. Reseda, 1:52.03.

200 FREE-1. Zerhat, San Pedro, 1:42.38; 2. W. Baier, Granada Hills, 1:48.05; 3. C. Baier, Granada Hills, 1:53.33; 4. Fishler, Palisades, 1:54.30; 5. Mandich, San Pedro, 2:00.34; 6. Sweeney, Cleveland, 2:00.87.

200 IND. MEDLEY-1. Park, Granada Hills, 1:58.00; 2. tie between Johnson, Palisades and Chiu, Cleveland, 2:07.22; 4. Kelly, Reseda, 2:13.16; 5. Al-Bazari, El Camino Real, 2:13.34; 6. Han, Cleveland, 2:13.53.

50 FREE-1. Hart, San Pedro, 21.74; 2. Ochoeorena, Grant, 21.79; 3. Nonberg, Palisades, 22.60; 4. Hays, Palisades, 23.03; 5. Murez, Venice, 23.47; 6. Varma, Canoga Park, 23.74.

100 FLY-1. Ochoeorena, Grant, 53.99; 2. Nelson, San Pedro, 54.87; 3. Kim, Van Nuys, 55.96; 4. Oh, Granada Hills, 56.49; 5. Hart, San Pedro, 56.89; 6. Fox, Palisades, 57.87.

100 FREE-1. Perhat, San Pedro, 46.81; 2. Hays, Palisades, 50.92; 3. Nonberg, Palisades, 52.02; 4. Jones, Palisades, 52.61; 5. Varma, Canoga Park, 52.88; 6. Sweeney, Cleveland, 53.95.

500 FREE-1. W. Baier, Granada Hills, 4:58.63; 2. Nelson, San Pedro, 5:03.75; 3. C. Baier, Granada Hills, 5:06.79; 4. Han, Cleveland, 5:25.54; 5. Ranta, Cleveland, 5:35.17; 6. Vento, Birmingham, 5:37.37.

200 FREE RELAY-1. San Pedro, 1:30.63; 2. Palisades, 1:34.14; 3. Grant, 1:35.38; 4. Cleveland, 1:37.14; 5. Venice, 1:37.45; 6. Reseda, 1:40.17.

100 BACK-1. Chiu, Cleveland, 55.41; 2. Cleveland, Van Nuys, 56.09; 3. Johnson, Palisades, 58.21; 4. Krol, Reseda, 58.99; 5. Choi, Cleveland, 1:02.37; 6. Jones, Palisades, 1:02.99.

100 BREAST-1. Park, Granada Hills, 59.22; 2. Murez, Venice, 1:03.55; 3. Cooning, San Pedro, 1:05.11; 4. Kelly, Reseda, 1:05.52; 5. Lee, Palisades, 1:08.84; 6. Kim, Granada Hills, 1:09.12.

400 FREE RELAY-1. San Pedro, 3:19.12; 2. Granada Hills, 3:25.29; 3. Palisades, 3:26.92; 4. Cleveland, 3:34.06; 5. Birmingham, 3:38.58; 6. El Camino Real, 3:45.63.

Girls

TEAM SCORES: 1. Cleveland, 249; 2. Palisades, 230; 3. El Camino Real, 183; 4. Venice, 180; 5. Granada Hills Kennedy, 71; 6. Birmingham, 68; 7. Granada Hills, 66; 8. Grant, 64; 9. Taft, 56; 10. L.A. Hamilton 51.

200 MEDLEY RELAY-1. Venice, 2:01.54; 2. El Camino Real, 2:02.06; 3. Cleveland, 2:04.16; 4. Palisades, 2:06.28; 5. Granada Hills Kennedy, 2:12.27; 6. Grant, 2:12.67.

200 FREE-1. Ca. Davidoff, Palisades, 1:54.54; 2. Kim, Granada Hills Kennedy, 1:56.57 3. Elam, Granada Hills, 2:00.22; 4. Iwamoto, Venice, 2:14.16; 5. Skarin, Cleveland, 2:15.29; 6. Puretz, Cleveland, 2:15.37.

200 IND. MEDLEY-1. O’Keeffe, Venice, 2:14.26; 2. Rhee, Cleveland, 2:14.47; 3. Enich, Grant, 2:17.89; 4. Mohle, San Pedro, 2:20.94; 5. Brown, El Camino Real, 2:21.65; 6. Dunner, Palisades, 2:36.37.

50 FREE-1. Chen, El Camino Real, 24.58; 2. Sheehan, Cleveland, 25.91; 3. Hwang, Taft, 27.12; 4. Sudol, Venice, 27.26; 5. Wynn, Palisades, 28.18; 6. Temple, Venice, 28.21.

100 FLY-1. Ca. Davidoff, Palisades, 58.71; 2. O’Keeffe, Venice, 1:00.94; 3. Vanegas, Granada Hills Kennedy, 1:07.47; 4. Zuniga, Birmingham, 1:08.97; 5. Garcia, Carson, 1:09.71; 6. Sharif, San Pedro, 1:09.95.

100 FREE-1. Hefter, Cleveland, 57.44; 2. Dodd, Palisades, 59.43; 3. Sudol, Venice, 1:01.16; 4. Jacobs, Palisades, 1:01.94; 5. Temple, Venice, 1:02.20; 6. Noori-Jah, 1:04.08.

500 FREE-1. Kim, Granada Hills Kennedy, 5:09.24; 2. Rhee, Cleveland, 5:10.39; 3. Elam, Granada Hills, 5:25.94; 4. Hwang, Taft, 5:49.61; 5. Ch. Davidoff, Palisades, 5:50.32; 6. McGee, El Camino Real, 5:54.35.

200 FREE RELAY-1. Palisades, 1:46.26; 2. Cleveland, 1:47.23; 3. Venice, 1:50.07; 4. Grant, 1:56.47; 5. Hamilton, 1:57.30; 6. El Camino Real, 1:58.21.

100 BACK-1. Chen, El Camino Real, 1:02.28; 2. Hefter, Cleveland, 1:05.49; 3. Sheehan, Cleveland, 1:09.44; 4. Dodd, Palisades, 1:09.44; 5. Vanegas, Granada Hills Kennedy, 1:10.85; 6. Inouye, Venice, 1:12.05.

100 BREAST-1. Brown, El Camino Real, 1:11.23; 2. Mohle, San Pedro, 1:1184; 3. Enich, Grant, 1:12.08; 4. Ch. Davidoff, Palisades, 1:14.87; 5. Iwamoto, Venice, 1:15.19; 6. Dunner, Palisades, 1:16.36.

400 FREE RELAY-1. Palisades, 3:53.80; 2. Cleveland, 3:59.30; 3. El Camino Real, 4:01.43; 4. Birmingham, 4:21.17; 5. Granada Hills, 4:24.29; 6. Venice, 4:25.52.