JULY 21 • 2022 | 33

at Oakland University, and 
among his fastest in the events 
in the past five to six years.
“
Amazing. Baffling. I really 
don’t know why that hap-
pened. You’re not supposed 
to swim faster when you’re 
older,” he said.
“Maybe it’s my weight 
training. Maybe it’s because 
I’ve increased my mileage in 
indoor pool training, and I’ve 

been doing training swims in 
Walled Lake since 2020.”
Berk swam the 50 breast-
stroke in :37.60 seconds in 
Florida. His gold-medal time 
was :38.09 seconds in the 2021 
Michigan Senior Olympics.
He swam the 100 breast-
stroke in 1:25.04 in Florida. 
His gold-medal time was 
1:26.41 in the 2021 Michigan 
Senior Olympics.

He swam the 200 breast-
stroke in 3:10.58 in Florida. 
His gold-medal time was 
3:12.39 in the 2021 Michigan 
Senior Olympics.
It was about halfway 
through the 200 in Florida 
that Berk swallowed some 
water.
“That had never happened 
to me during a competitive 
swim,” he said. “It stopped 
me in my tracks for a sec-
ond. I was stunned. Luckily, I 
coughed once and I was able 
to keep going.”
So, what was Berk’s trans-
portation issue in Florida?
“There was no shuttle from 
the hotel where I stayed to 
the pool in Plantation,” Berk 
said. “Thankfully, Bryan 
Misle, a friend of mine from 
Lincoln, Neb., where we grew 
up, lives in Fort Lauderdale 
and he was able to get me to 
and from the pool. He was a 
godsend.”
The 2022 National Senior 
Games were held in May.
Berk plans to compete 
Aug. 15 in the 2022 Michigan 
Senior Olympics at Oakland 
University with hopes of qual-
ifying for the 2023 National 
Senior Games in Pittsburgh 
in the 50, 100 and 200 breast-

stroke in the men’s 65-69 age 
group.
He’s had a lot of success at 
the National Senior Games, 
which normally are held every 
two years but got off sched-
ule when the 2021 Games 
were canceled because of the 
COVID-19 pandemic.
He’s finished in the top 10 
in all nine national events 
he’s entered including win-
ning a silver medal in the 
100 breaststroke in 2015 in 
Minneapolis, Minn., and a 
fourth-place finish in the 
200 breaststroke in 2019 in 
Albuquerque, N.M.
He also competed in 2017 
in Birmingham, Ala., all after 
qualifying in the Michigan 
Senior Olympics.
Berk qualified to compete 
in Florida because he swam 
at the 2019 National Senior 
Games. Organizers made 
that offer because the 2021 
National Senior Games were 
canceled.
Berk has swam in 25 events 
in eight years at the Michigan 
Senior Olympics and won a 
medal in each event: 19 gold, 
five silver and one bronze. 

 

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stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Swimmer Jim Berk 
shows off one of the 
three ribbons he won 
at the 2022 National 
Senior Games.

NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES

It was a runaway in the 
team standings of the B’nai 
B’rith Golf League with 10 
weeks of the 17-week sea-
son in the book.
Mike Klinger and Kerry 
Chaben were well in front 
of the other 11 teams with 
123 points.
The six teams behind 
Klinger and Chaben were 
bunched up: Larry Shapiro/
Bob Shapiro/Chuck 
Houmaian (108), David 
Swimmer/Jody Mendelson 

(107), Isaac Pickell/Rick 
Spalter (106), Dale Taub/
Gary Klinger (105), Marc 
Ruskin/Jeff Novick (104) and 
Josh Baker/Josh Harvith 
(101).
Mike Klinger led the 
league’s individual stand-
ings through 10 weeks with 
59 points. He was one 
point in front of Taub (58), 
and four points in front 
of Stu Zorn, Bob Shapiro/
Houmaian and Pickell, who 
all had 55 points.

Baker and Gary Klinger 
(each 53 ½) and Ryan 
Vieder (53) rounded out the 
top eight of 24 individuals.
This is the league’s 10th 

season, the ninth at the 
Links of Novi. League golf-
ers play nine holes each 
Thursday.

Mike Klinger on Top of B’nai B’rith 
Golf League Leader Boards

A hole at the Links of 
Novi, home course for 
the B’nai B’rith Golf 
League for nine years.

LINKS OF NOVI

continued on page 34

