A Veteran Races
For Fun In Baltimore

A participant finds mixed success
in her finale.

B

altimore — Slap! You
could hear the sound 10
feet away from the table
where the two kids were sit-
ting.
SLAP! This one was even
louder.
Sari Berman, at 16 one of
the older athletes on Detroit's
Maccabi team and a Detroit
flagbearer at the opening cer-
emonies in Baltimore last
week, had just clobbered her
good friend, fellow track ath-
lete and flagbearer David Ep-
. stein.
"He's just being obnoxious,"
Sari explained. "He's saying
disgusting things." i
Sari and David became ac-
quainted during the Pitts-
burgh regional games in 1989
when they discovered they
were both students at Birney
Middle School in Southfield.
Though he's two years
younger and goes to Andover
and she's now at North Farm-
ington, they remain good
friends and Maccabi buddies.
Sari was not in top shape for
this year's Maccabi, and she
didn't need teasing from
David. Meeting kids from all
over the world, plus the com-
petition, was what Baltimore
was all about for her.
On Monday in Baltimore,
she ran her first race in the
100 meter dash. On Tuesday,
she finished fifth in her heat
of the semi-finals and failed to

30

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1992

qualify for the medal race.
"I ran lousy and I got sick af-
terward" in the 92-degree thm-
peratures, Sari explained.
But she came back to an-
chor the 4x100 relay with
Elana Weiss, Elyse Adelson
and Tracie Ratiner. It may
have been Sari's finest com-
petitive moment in Baltimore.
Anchoring a team composed
of two sprinters, a miler and a
shot putter, she brought the
relay from 8th to 5th during
her leg. It was not even dose
to medal contention, but a
good memory for a Maccabi
Games veteran.
Sari suffered in Wednes-
day's heat as well. After fail-
ing to qualify in the 200, she
spent an hour in the track-side
medical tent, covered with wet
towels while lying on a mas-
sage table. 'This has happened
to Sari every year," said David.
"She gets uptight, and she
doesn't do well in the heat."
She did well out of the sun,
however. The 2,700 Maccabi
athletes visited the National
Aquarium in downtown Bal-
timore's Inner Harbor area
Monday evening. "It was a lot
of fun.. The dolphin show was
really cool," Sari said.
"I'm meeting tons of kids
from all over. The best place
to meet the kids is on the bus-
es" which transported the ath-
letes from drop-off points to
the athletic sites. "Then you

P

Sari Berman rests in the medical tent.

see them again afterwards."
Tuesday night, instead of
going back to the Inner Har-
bor to the Maryland Science
Center, which became an op-
tional social event, Sari and
her friends went to the movies.
"We net (Maccabi) guys from
Israel, Australia, Mexico,
Great Britain and from all
over the States."
Sari roomed with Detroiters
Susan Kovsky (soccer), Jody
Reimer (volleyball) and Leah
Trahey (volleyball), hosted by
Karen and Alan Jablon. The
Jablons, a young couple with
no children, both work. 'They
have been very nice, very re-
laxed with us," Sari said. "But
we've had to stay at the site all
day.
"It's been fun to watch the
volleyball, soccer and tennis"
at Catonsville Community
College, "but it's also been hot."
She and other athletes com-
peting at Catonsville took the
buses to nearby University of
Maryland Baltimore County
each day for lunch, "but I re-
ally haven't had a chance to go
there and spectate."

Those chances came after
Wednesday's completion of the
track meet.
While 16 of 19 Detroit track
athletes came home with a
medal, Sari was still in the
hunt Wednesday afternoon.
Her last hope was the 4x100
coed relay. She would lead off,
to be followed by David, Elyse
Adelson and Ryan Sills.
Sari stayed dose to the lead-
ers in her 100 meter leg, but
had trouble passing the baton
to David. "He took off too soon
for me," she said, "and then he
had to slow down to get the ba-
ton."
This time for Sari, the slap
— of the baton — came too
late. The relay finished fourth
in its heat, out of medal con-
tention.
As she stood on the track in-
field pouring water over her
head, roommate Susan
Kovsky asked her, "How are
you doing?"
"Wonderful," she replied.
"Are you breathing?"
Kovsky asked.
Below:
"Yes. This time I'm breath-
Flagbearer Sari Berman.
ing."
Photo by Bruce Savadow

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