GHA Wolves Spring into Sports

STUDENTS WIN MEDALS, IMPRESS FACULTY DESPITE INCLEMENT WEATHER

By Leah Braunstein Levy
SPECIAL FOR THE AJT

Greenfield Hebrew Academy (GHA) students threw themselves into the spring sports season despite the often-uncooperative weather, which made practices near- impossible and forced many games to be rescheduled. However, all the Wolves teams had a wonderful time playing and improved in their sports both individually and as a team.

The Girls Soccer team, coached by Gavi Abraham and Todd Sentell, learned the value of commitment, endurance and teamwork. They also took a second place trophy in MAAC Division 2 soccer. “The girls have had a wonderful season,” said Penny Eisenstein, GHA’s Head of Health and P.E. and Athletic Director.  “They have learned the value of commitment, endurance, and teamwork—and they played really well!”

The Boys Baseball team, coached by Danny Frankel, David Frankel, and Dean Zindler, showed great strength and tenacity, starting the season with most of their practice sessions cancelled by inclement weather and unsafe field conditions. Despite this, and with multiple team injuries, the team played hard and provided stiff competition. “The boys played well, and even more important, worked together beautifully,” Ms. Eisenstein said. “I am incredibly proud of

The co-ed Track and Field team, coached by Stevyn Carmona and Adrienne Clark, also performed well, with the boys taking ninthh place overall and the girls in 10th place overall. “Our Track and Field team members produced some very impressive individual statistics,” Ms. Eisenstein pointed out. “We had several first-time athletes who did a great job, even though they had never competed in track and field before.”

Other notable achievements include:

• Nicole Dori won the bronze medal in the high jump, took fifth place in discus, came in with a time of 18.3 seconds in hurdles, and anchored the girls 4×100 relay team to 6th place with a time of 1:05.
• Avi Spector won two ribbons, winning his heat in the 800-meter run with a time of 3:02 and placing in the 4×400 relay team. He also ran the 1600 meter run in 6:12.
• Ariel Sirota came in sixth in discus, and ran a 0:33.5 in the 200-meter dash.
• Jonah Esworthy ran 1:09 and won his heat, and anchored the boys 4×400 relay to sixth place with a time of five minutes flat. Jonah also jumped his personal best in the long jump, at 12 feet, 10 inches.
• Jacob Saltzman jumped a 5’8″ high jump, having never jumped before. He ran the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.5 seconds.
• Aaron Gordon ran 1600 meters in 6:58.
• Nadav Yeglin threw the discus 59 feet, and his shot put toss was 23 feet, 3 inches.
• Jacob Lieberman ran the 100 meter dash in 15.8 seconds.
• Sophie Jones ran the 100 meter dash in 16.8 seconds, and tossed the shot put 13 feet, 1 inch.
• Jillian Gerson ran a 16.9 second 100 meter dash.
• Ariel Cann ran the 800 meter race in 3:47.9

Editor’s note: Leah Braunstein Levy is the author of The Waiting Wall, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for 2010, and a contributing author to Kaddish, Women’s Voices, winner of a 2013 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. She can be reached at levyl@ghacademy.org