SPORTS

Athletics Or Academics?

Four Michigan high school senior
athletes reveal their decisions as
they look toward college.

MIKE ROSENBAUM

Special to The Jewish News

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FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1990

I

t's that time of year
again. Springtime, when
grass becomes green,
flowers bloom and area high
school seniors find their
minds are turning to
thoughts of — college!
And if they are student-
athletes, they can be in a par-
ticular quandary: whether to
just end their athletic careers
at their graduations, or try to
continue hitting both the
books and the playing fields
when they head off to college.
Of course, when it comes to
athletic scholarships, ability
has plenty to do .with it, but
so do desire and dedication.
In this random sampling of
senior athletes from the
Michigan Jewish community,
several approaches to the
decision emerged.
The four athletes here —
Jeremy Rycus, Kim Gurecki,
Gershon Askenazy and Todd
Lansky — were recruited by
colleges, but only Rycus, of
East Lansing High School,
will play on a regular col-
legiate team next season.
Rycus, a standout, two-way
football lineman, rejected
scholarship offers from
Saginaw Valley State and
other Division III schools that
approached him, preferring
walk-on status at Central
Michigan University, a Divi-
sion I school located in Mount
Pleasant.
Gurecki, a six-letter-winner
at North Farmington High,
and Askenazy, who starred as
a football lineman for Berkley
High and also wrestled, don't
plan collegiate athletic
careers, while Lansky, a
hockey star at Bloomfield
Hills Andover, will continue
playing the sport, but on the
club level, when he goes to
college.
Basketball star Gurecki
was recruited by the Univer-
sity of Michigan-Dearborn,
but the four-year varsity
player and three-year starter
at point guard for the Raiders
wants to leave the Detroit
area. She will probably at-
tend Michigan State Univer-
sity, but will not play varsity
sports.
Askenazy also plans to at-
tend MSU, but he's not so
sure his days as a student-
athlete are over.
Lansky, meanwhile, will

enroll at the University of In-
diana and try out for the
school's club hockey team.
The Hoosiers don't offer
hockey as a varsity sport.
Rycus of East Lansing, who
garnered second-team foot-
ball all-state honors and
whose team tied for the
Capital Area Conference
championship, said he'll join
the CMU team the same time
the scholarship athletes do,
"but I'll be paying tuition.
I'm automatically on the
team." And he can earn a
scholarship if he performs
well enough.
Recruited as a preferred
walk-on by two other Mid-
American Conference schools,
Bowling Green State and
Miami of Ohio, the 6-foot,
225-pound Detroit native
decided that, if he were to be
a walk-on, better to be one in
his own state.

Kim Gurecki:
She'll miss playing.

Rycus, who said he was im-
pressed by CMU coach Herb
Deromedi and his staff, will
play nose-guard.
He says CMU likes its nose-
guards "a little bit shorter
and wider," which suits him
well, since he otherwise
would be considered too short
for a Division I lineman.
Rycus will prepare for the
jump to college athletics by
lifting weights this summer.
He knows that college foot-
ball will "probably be a real
big step because the linemen,
they'll be a lot bigger than me
and they'll be a lot more skill-
ed," he said. "In high school
they were bigger, but not
necessarily skilled. Everyone
keeps telling me that your
hardest hit in high school is
like the least hit in college."
Gurecki of North Farm-

Todd Lansky:
Chances are good.

ington will play intramural
sports at MSU. She knows
that playing at that level may
not be totally satisfying. "If I
go to an MSU varsity game,
I'll think, 'I should be out
there playing.' It'll be
strange."
But Gurecki feels that,
thanks to athletics, she is a
different person than the one
who entered North Farm-
ington. "I had a good time
and I just learned about peo-
ple and how they get along
together." Away from the
courts and fields, she adds,
"I'm more outgoing" because
of her participation in sports.
Since becoming the
Raiders' starting point guard
as a sophomore, Gurecki felt
she improved steadily. As a
senior, "I made less turnovers
and I was smarter. I knew
better what to do, make bet-
ter decisions."
The Raiders tied for the
Lakes Division title in the
Western Lakes Activities
Association last season, but
their campaign, and
Gurecki's high school basket-
ball career, • ended with a
district tournament loss.
"Our last game we got beat
really bad, so it hurt more,"
Gurecki said. But her basket-
ball career "was fun. I'm
definitely going to miss it."
Gurecki is the Raiders' star-
ting softball shortstop — a
good defensive player who ad-
mits she can't hit. But she
plays softball "for fun" and
will continue playing sports,
hopefully in some type of
league.
For Askenazy, the key deci-
sion was whether or not to
play football. He considered
an offer from University of