34 | FEBRUARY 20 • 2020
quick hits
There are openings for athletes and artists who want to
represent Detroit this summer at the JCC Maccabi Games
& ArtsFest.
San Diego, California, and Pace University in
Westchester County, New York, are the Maccabi Games
sites. ArtsFest will be held in San Diego.
Detroit will be sending golfers, boys and girls tennis
players, and boys soccer and girls volleyball teams to San
Diego.
Pace will have 14U and 16U boys baseball, 14U and
16U boys basketball, girls competitive dance, girls soccer
and ice hockey teams, plus boys and girls swimmers from
Detroit.
San Diego will be a host from Aug. 2-7. About 1,700
athletes and artists are expected. Pace will be a host from
Aug. 9-14. From 700 to 800 athletes are expected.
Athletes must be ages 13-16 and artists must be ages
13-17 as of July 31 to participate.
Interested in becoming a Maccabi Games athlete or art-
ist? Email Detroit delegation head Karen Gordon at
karengordon44@icloud.com or go to maccabidetroit.com.
BY STEVE STEIN
Jeff Ellis continues to
dominate in weightlifting
at the Michigan Senior
Olympics.
The certified public
accountant from West
Bloomfield won another
gold medal Feb. 9 at the
Senior Olympics Winter
Games in Plymouth with
a bench press of 260 pounds in the age 60-64
198-pound division.
It was Ellis’
18th gold medal in the 20 times
he’
s competed in weightlifting at the Senior
Olympics. The 60-year-old also has a silver
medal and a bronze medal in weightlifting.
Ellis wanted to break his Senior Olympics age
group record of 270 pounds set last year at the
Summer Games when he competed earlier this
month, but he fell short at 275 pounds.
The West Bloomfield resident also holds the
Senior Olympics record in the age 55-59 198-
pound division. That record is 286.1 pounds.
Junior
Achievement
West Bloomfi
eld High School
freshman is a competitor in
American Ninja Warrior Junior.
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
R
yan Krauthamer is a
warrior. An American
Ninja Warrior, to be
exact.
The 14-year-old West
Bloomfield High School
freshman is one of about 50
competitors in the age 13-14
division in the second season
of American Ninja Warrior
Junior on the Universal Kids
cable channel.
The show airs on Saturdays
at 7 p.m., premiering Feb. 22.
It isn’
t known if Ryan is in
the opening episode.
And how did he do in the
competition? That’
s a closely
guarded secret. Ryan can’
t
say anything publicly until
an episode with him in it
airs. Neither can his family
members.
What Ryan can say,
though, is he had a “blast”
competing on the American
Ninja Warrior Junior obstacle
course in a downtown Los
Angeles venue in July, even
with 50 cameras recording
the action and about 1,000
Ryan Krauthamer takes a break on the set of American Ninja Warrior Junior in
downtown Los Angeles.
sports HIGHlights
ROY KRAUTHAMER
Benji Jacobson has
earned himself a spot in
the Tulane University men’
s
tennis team’
s lineup.
Jacobson is playing
No. 3 doubles. In five
matches through Feb.
8, the redshirt freshman
from Bloomfield Hills had
won once, lost twice and
had two matches go unfinished because Tulane
had already picked up a team point for winning
doubles.
“I didn’
t start in our season opener against
Stanford, but I’
ve started every time since then,”
Jacobson said. “Four of the teams I’
ve faced
are top-30 teams. My partner and I were about
to beat Mississippi State (when the match was
stopped) and we beat Texas Tech. So far, the
season has been good, and I’
ve been playing
very well.”
Jacobson was an All-American and Michigan
Division III “Mr. Tennis” while at Cranbrook-
Kingswood High School, and he was a 2018
Jewish News Male High School Athlete of the
Year.