Sports

Tip-Top Goal

MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to the Jewish News

J

ake Billmeyer used his head to help
Birmingham Seaholm reach the state
Division 2 soccer final this month. The
Maples won district and regional champi-
onships, then faced Dearborn Divine Child in the
semi-final.
With 1:29 remaining in a scoreless game, Reid
Spearin's crossing pass was deflected in front of the
net. Billmeyer ran forward, dove face-first, and head-
ed the ball into the net from eight yards out to give
the Maples a 1-0 victory. Seaholm lost the champi-
onship game to Holland Christian.
Billmeyer, a junior, became a starting midfielder
halfway through the season. "He's quite skilled," says
Coach David Reed-Nordwall. "He has good knowl-
edge of the game and good vision."
Billmeyer finished the season with five goals and
six assists. Reed-Nordwall expects Billmeyer to be
"one of our central impact players" next year.
Wayne State University junior fencer Anna
Vinnikov began her season by posting a 12-3 record
in epee competition at the Northwestern University
dual meet. Born in Minsk, Belarus, Vinnikov grew
up in Ma'alot, Israel. She placed 13th at the NCAA
championships as a freshman and improved to
eighth last season, earning second team All-American
honors.
Vinnikov won the women's epee title at the
Midwest Fencing Conference Championships last
season and was third in the NCAA Midwest
Regional. She's also a 4.0 student and was named to
the academic All-District second team by the
College Sports Information Directors of America last
spring.
Dani Wohl begins his first season of play at the
University of Michigan this month. The redshirt
sophomore from West Bloomfield hopes to see
action as the backup point guard. Wohl played his
freshman year at Binghamton in New York. He

transferred to U-M and had to sit out
last season, but still earned the team's
Bodnar Award for academic achieve-
ment.
Also beginning college hoops play
this month is Kalamazoo College junior
Eli Savit, a 6'4", 220-pound forward from Ann
Arbor Pioneer. Savit played in one game for
Kalamazoo last season. Walled Lake Western grad
David Zeitlin, a sophomore guard, hopes to improve
on last year's 1.8 point-per-game average at Lake
Superior State.
Justin Simon of Long Island, N.Y., a 1998
Maccabi Games participant in Detroit, is one of four
Jewish players on Yale's basketball team. The others
are Paul Vitelli, Sam Kaplan and Matt Minoff.
Senior forward Kim Spaulding scored her first
goal of the season in a 4-0 Wayne State hockey vic-
tory over Colgate on Nov. 1. Spaulding, an assistant
captain, had one goal and three assists through her
first 10 games.
Eric Nystrom remains one of the University of
Michigan hockey team's leaders in his junior season.
The winger wears the 'A" as an assistant captain, and
had three goals and five assists in the first 12 games.
Andover grad Noah Ruden, a sophomore, remains
the Wolverines' backup goalie. In two game, Ruden
stopped seven of nine shots for a 5.50 goals-against
average.
Linebacker Matt Adler completed his freshman
season at Oberlin College with his best game of the
year. The Seaholm grad posted three unassisted tack-
les in Oberlin's victory over Denison. In eight games,
Adler had five unassisted tackles, including one quar-
terback sack, plus six assisted stops.
Two local Jewish players earned spots on the
University of Michigan club tennis team. West
Bloomfield graduate Brian Brodsky, a freshman, and
sophomore Hannah Dworkis, from Cranbrook, are
part of the 41-member group.
Brodsky won two of his first three matches, while
Dworkis, a second-year club player, won her first
match this season. Approximately 150 U-M students
tried out for the squad, which plays club teams from
Big 10 and other major schools. Both Brodsky and
Dworkis played No. 2 singles in high school.
Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit's girls

basketball teams began play earlier this month. The
varsity was competitive in its first two games, despite
missing two starters, but lost both. The junior varsity
opened with a loss then defeated Grosse Pointe
Academy in its second contest. The team is coached
by Tony Sanders.
Four Jewish skaters helped the Hyper 92 in-line
hockey team qualify for three national tournaments
in the Mite Division (ages 10-11) this summer. Zach
Paul, Adam York, Aaron
Schwartz and Dean Kocoves
played in the Tournament of
Roller Hockey Series
(TORHS) national in
Rochester, N.Y. in July. The
team placed fifth among 19
teams in its age group.
Paul was the tournament's
third-leading scorer with 10
goals. He was chosen player of
the game in three out of five
contests and was named to
the TORHS All-American
team.
Hyper 92 finished seventh among 34 Mite teams
in the North American Roller Championship in
Estero, Fla., in July. Paul was selected for the
East/West All Star game.
The team played in the AAU Junior Olympic
Games at the West Bloomfield JCC and U.S. Blades
in August. Hyper 92 played at the elite level and
went undefeated. Paul had two goals and three assists
in the gold medal game, leading his squad to a 6-2
victory and the National Mite Elite Championship.
Paul had 18 goals and 11 assists in the tournament.
He was selected for the Mite All-American AAU
Junior Olympic Team and won the shootout compe-
tition against 50 skaters in the individual skill con-
test. Hyper 92 was recently ranked the number two
Mite team in the country by AAU Hockey and
USA Roller Sports. ❑

To contact the Jewish Stars column, email
Sports@thejewishnews.corn

12th frames, "my knees
were shaking,"
0, Burg said,
"but I took a deep breath,
calmed myself" and com-
pleted the 300 game to the
cheers of his league mates.
Burg's high game before
Nov. 19 was 279. But, he
said, he had been knock-
ing on the door of a 300
game in recent weeks.
Twice, he strung together
15 strikes in 17 frames.

JWV Bowler Scores 300

Jeffrey Burg, 45, of Birmingham has been been
part of a three-man Burg team with his father
Milton and uncle Edward in the Jewish War
Veterans Bowling League for the last 10-12 years.
On Nov. 19, at Drakeshire Lanes in Farmington
Hills, Burg found a way to stop the action all
around him.
A once-a-week, 197-average bowler, Jeffrey Burg

was coming off games of 225 and 135 when he
started stringing together strikes. He had "a series
of mishaps" in the 135 game, but had "all pocket
hits — there was nothing shaky about any of
them" in his last game. Except for his knees.
Everybody in the JWV league gathered behind his
lane in the late frames. In the 10th frame, there was
complete silence until the pins fell. In the 11th and

Jeffi-ey Burg

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A la 1? HirSky

11/28

2003

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