40 | NOVEMBER 21 • 2024 J N I t’s been quite a year for former sports broadcaster turned per- sonal trainer/exercise coach and senior swimmer extraordinaire Jim Berk. In addition to turning 70 on Sept. 13, the West Bloomfield resident won three gold medals at the Pan American Masters Games and four medals including three golds at the Michigan Senior Olympics during the summer, and he was a Pillars of Excellence recipient at the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame banquet last month. “It’s been a spectacular year for me,” Berk said. “I’m so blessed to have won those races and top it off with the Hall of Fame honor. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I’m so grateful to God for giving me the strength and stamina to achieve those goals.” The swimming medals came in the 70-74 age group. He took first place in the 50-meter breaststroke (:43.42), 100 breast- stroke (1:40.59) and 200 breaststroke (3:44.60) at the Pan American Masters Games in Cleveland. The swimming competition there was held in a 50-meter pool at the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium at Cleveland State University. Berk had never raced in a 50-meter pool before he did it in Cleveland. It was an eye-opening experience for him. “There are less turns in a 50-meter pool than in a 25-meter pool,” Berk said. “ And it seems like the pool goes on forever.” Shortly after the Pan-American Masters Games, Berk dominat- ed again at the Michigan Senior Olympics at Oakland University. He won three gold medals and one bronze medal in four events, quali- fying in each event for the National Senior Games next summer in Des Moines, Iowa. The medal haul increased his medal totals in the Michigan Senior Olympics to 26 gold, eight silver and two bronze. He started competing in the Michigan Senior Olympics in 2008 and has done it every year since 2014. His latest Michigan Senior Olympics golds came in the 50 breaststroke (:38.20), 100 breast- stroke (1:26.37) and 200 breaststroke (3:18.99). He won a bronze medal swimming breaststroke in the 500 freestyle. He did that in 2023 and earned a silver medal. “I’m not sure I’ll do that again,” he said, noting that the 200 breaststroke and 500 freestyle were held only 10 minutes apart this year and “I was exhausted during the 500 free. I was toast.” Berk has swum in 12 events since 2015 in the National Senior Games and finished in the top 10 in all of them. He won a silver medal in the 100 breaststroke in the 2015 National Senior Games in Minneapolis and he’s accumulated nine ribbons for fourth- through eighth-place finish- es. He placed fourth in the 200 breast- stroke in the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, N.M. The swimmer who beat him out for third place and the bronze medal in Albuquerque was Gary Abbate. Five years after that happened, Berk gained his revenge this summer, finishing in front of the second-place Abbate by more than three seconds in the 200 breaststroke at the Pan American Masters Games. Send sports news to stevestein502004@ yahoo.com. Gold Medals Galore BY STEVE STEIN SUBMITTED PHOTO Senior swimmer Jim Berk won six races at the Pan American Masters Games and Michigan Senior Olympics. STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jim Berk shows off one of his Pan-American Masters Games swimming gold medals. SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS SUB DEPARTMENT quick hits Max Sasson’s Jewish Teammate Sidelined After Scary Hit Max Sasson of Birmingham and Mark Friedman of Toronto are Jewish teammates on the Abbotsford Canucks hockey team, the top minor league team of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Friedman suffered a scary injury during an Oct. 29 game. He was hit in the head by Tucson’s Montana Onyebuchi while he was skating through the slot and remained on the ice for several minutes. He was taken away on a stretcher and transported to a hospital, but he was released the next morning. He hadn’t returned to action as of mid-November. Sasson, a 6-foot-1, 181-pound center, is in his third season with Abbotsford, a member of the American Hockey League. In his first 13 games this season, Sasson had three goals and four assists. ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS Max Sasson Colgate University wom- en’s hockey star Elyssa Biederman from Franklin was named the ECAC Forward of the Week twice in three weeks. The latest honor, announced Nov. 12, was bestowed on the junior after she helped Colgate win back-to-back road games the previous week over No. 14 Brown and Yale. She had multi-point efforts in each game, including the game-winning goal against Yale on a power play with seven minutes remaining. It was Biederman’s fourth power-play goal of the season and her sixth career game-winner. Earlier this season, she reached the 100-point mark in her Colgate career. She’s the 20th player in program history to achieve the feat. Biederman is a Birmingham Groves High School grad. Elyssa Biederman Wins League Honor Twice, Reaches 100-Point Plateau Elyssa Biederman COLGATE UNIVERSITY