Family Focus

Pool Prowess!

Day school swimmers churn to state honors.

Adin Kleinfeldt and David Grand at the meet right after they received one of their trophies

Elisha "Pumpkin" Grand receives her fourth-place, 25-yard

freestyle trophy.

F

our local Jewish day school
swimmers who also belong to
Young Israel of Oak Park excelled
in the 8 and Under State Championship
Meet held Feb. 21 in Waterford. The swim
meet featured all of the YMCA swim
teams in the state.
Competitive swimming generally sports
a 10-month-long season. The teams are
unique in that swimmers ages 5-18 are on
the same team. Depending on the time of
year, they may race at the same time; occa-
sionally, younger swimmers will swim on
a relay team with high school swimmers.
The kids who competed in the YMCA 8
and Under State Championship Meet have
been swimming 5-6 days a week since the
beginning of September. To make it to the
state championships takes hundreds of
hours of practice, dedication and sacrifice.
This year, Akiva Hebrew Day School in
Southfield sent three swimmers to the
states; Hillel Day School in Farmington
Hills sent one. All four swam for the South
Oakland YMCA in Royal Oak.
Swimming for her first year on a com-
petitive swim team was Elisha "Pumpkin"
Grand, a 5-year-old Akiva kindergartner
from Huntington Woods. She had a rocky

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March 11 • 2010

start to the swim season when, one week
into the season, she broke her elbow at
school and was unable to swim for almost
two months. She recovered and finished
strong. At the states in the 5-year-old divi-
sion, she took fourth in the 25-yard free-
style and fifth in the 25-yard backstroke.
She also swam against older girls in the
6 and under 25-yard butterfly, where she
took 15th in the state, but placed third in
her age group. She was awarded two tro-
phies for her two top-six finishes.
Returning for a second and highly suc-
cessful year was 7-year-old Akiva second
grader Adin Kleinfeldt, also of Huntington
Woods. The state championships is a great
time to swim a personal best; Adin did
just that while placing in the top six in
all three of his individual events. In the
7-year-old division, Adin placed fifth in
the 25-yard freestyle, sixth in the 25-yard
butterfly and fifth in the 25-yard breast-
stroke. He also swam the butterfly portion
of the individual medley relay and helped
his team win a second place trophy in the
100-yard freestyle relay. Adin made four
trips to the podium to receive his trophies.
Returning for a second and highly
decorated year was 8-year-old Hillel third-

grader Adam Siegel of Oak Park. In the
8-year-old division at the states, Adam
placed in all five of his events. In the 8-
year-old division, he placed seventh in the
25-yard freestyle, seventh in the 25-yard
butterfly and eighth in the 100-yard indi-
vidual medley. He also swam the butterfly
portion of the 100-yard individual medley
relay, which took fourth place (including
teammate David Grand). Adam also swam
in the 8 and under 100 yard freestyle relay,
which took third. He was awarded two tro-
phies and three medals.
Returning for his fourth season was
7-year-old Akiva third-grader David
Grand of Huntington Woods. Having won
all of his individual age group events at
the state championship meet for the last
two years, there was a lot of pressure
to repeat. David successfully defended
his titles and easily won all three of his
individual events. He is the 2010 state
champion for the 100- yard individual
medley, where the swimmer swims all
four strokes, for the 25-yard butterfly and
for the 50-yard freestyle in the 7-year-old
division. David also swam anchor (the
fourth and final swimmer) in the 8 and
under 100 IM relay, which placed fourth,

with teammate Adam Siegel, and then
swam anchor in the 100-yard freestyle
relay with fellow Akiva student Adin
Kleinfeldt; that relay team placed second.
In both relays, David passed other swim-
mers who started well ahead of him,
ensuring a better finish for his team.
David finished the day with five trophies,
one for every event he swam in.
These four swimmers had 13 top six fin-
ishes. The successes of these four swim-
mers helped propel the South Oakland
YMCA boys' team to a second-place fin-
ish; and the boys and girls team finished
a combined third in the entire state.
Seven-year-old David Grand was the
highest point earner (points are assessed
for placing in events) among boys or girls
on the entire YPAC team; he was the sec-
ond-highest point earner for boys in the
state and earned more points then several
whole teams. This was the best finish ever
for the YPAC team at the 8 and Under State
Championship Meet.
The swimmers have a month off before
spring clinics in April. In May, they start
training in earnest for their summer swim
season on the Huntington Woods Aquatic
Club (HWAC) swim team.

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