Young Athletes Honored

Four high school athletes will be recognized for their achievements
on and off the field.

LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer

A

t the induction ceremony
for the Michigan Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame in 10
days, four young people
also will be honored.
Amy Kohn of Berkley High
School and Michael Hitsky of
Groves will be honored as scholar
athletes. Carey Chicorel of West
Bloomfield and Jerod Lutz of
Andover will be cited as athletes of
the year.
All four of the student-athletes
• played in at least two sports in high
school, and all four were recognized
for their academic pursuits.
Kohn, who now attends Williams
College in Williamstown, Mass.,
competed for the Bears in diving and
gymnastics. As a diver, she was
named captain her senior year, and
was part of two league championship
teams in gymnastics.
"I like to flip and fly," Kohn said:
"You have to do that in both sports.
I'm not built to flip like that, so I
got to push my limitations."
Off the floor, Kohn was valedicto-
rian of her senior class, finishing
with a 4.0 grade point average, and
recipient of four Bear of the Year
awards for scholar-athlete of the year.
"I was really excited when I found
out about the [scholar athlete]
award," she said. "I was also sur-
prised. I figured a lot of people
would have applied, but I'm thrilled
that I won."
Hitsky, the male scholarship win-
ner, was on the varsity water polo
and swim teams at Groves for four
years. He was the third team All-
State water polo goalie his sopho-
more and senior seasons, and co-cap-
tain as a junior and senior.
"I like being goalie because it's the
last line of defense and the first line
of offense," he said. "I like the pres-
sure too, because it goes with my
belief on life that you have to be
challenged and test yourself. When
you fail, you learn from it."

.

_

10/24

1997

IN MAI

Top: Michael
Hitsky readies
himself in goal.

Left: All-State
hockey player
Jerod Lutz.

Right: Carey
Chicorel hits a
backhand.

University of
In his sophomore
Michigan.
year he was also third
"Getting the
team All-American
award is an honor
for the state champi-
because I feel that I
onship team. Last
always put my all
year, Groves finished
into school and ath-
fourth in the state.
letics," Hitsky said.
In swimming, Hitsky
"This award encom-
missed the Class A
passes what I'm
state meet qualifying
about."
time in the 100-yard
Chicorel is
breaststroke by one
another pre-med
second.
student at U-M. In
In school, Hitsky
1996 she was the
ranked fourth in his
captain
of the West
graduating class with
Bloomfield
High
a 3.95 grade point
Amy Kohn excelled in the class-
School
tennis
team,
average, and was the
room as well.
team most valuable
president of his
National Honor Society chapter. He's player, and earned All-League honors
as well as Laker of the Year.
now a pre-medicine major at the

On the softball diamond, Chicorel
was named to the All-Area, All-
District, and Academic All-State
teams in 1996.
"I learned that I could beat any-
one or do anything athletically," she
said. "I've beat some people in tennis
who had better abilities than I had."
While being named female Athlete
of the Year by the Michigan Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame, she could have
easily qualified as a scholarship win-
ner, which she applied for as well,
having earned a 4.2 GPA on a 4.5
scale, finishing in the top one per-
cent of her class.
"What makes the award special is
that it's about me," Chicorel said.
"I've been on All-League teams with
teammates, and was a co-captain, but
this is the first time I've had an
honor of my own."
The sports hall named Lutz its
male high school athlete of the year.
Even though he earned varsity letters
in football and wrestling, he excelle
as a hockey player for the Barons,
and was named to the All-State team
his senior year.
This past summer, he was selected
to play on the United States hockey
team at the Maccabiah Games in
Israel, where his team won a silver
medal.
Lutz was the 1997 recipient of the
Ken Fish Scholar-Athlete Scholarshi
award that's given to one football
player annually at Andover.
He is attending the University of
Michigan and has skated with its
hockey team. III