Athletic News

Girls' Soccer

In their first season in a new conference, the girls' soccer team beat Chicago Hope 1 - 0 to place 3rd in the Chicago Prep Conference. They also received the Chicago Prep's Conference TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD for Respect, Appreciation, Positivity, Teamwork, Integrity and Modesty.

 

Individual Awards went to Shlomit Braun (1st Team All Conference Member) and Michale Goldberger (2nd Team All Conference Member).

In their state tournament regional quarter-final against 6th seeded Woodlands Academy on Tuesday, the girls lost a tough match 3-2. Congratulations to the team on a great season!

Boys' Baseball
The 2011 Aces baseball season was a tremendous success, culminating with capturing the Columbus (Ohio) Baseball Invitational (CBI) Championship.

In a rain soaked season marred by incredibly cold weather and poor playing conditions, the Aces, for the second year in a row, more than doubled their win total from the previous season.

The Aces finished the season 12-5. In the first year of the program, the Aces won one game. In year two, two games. In year three, 5 games. The steady progress has resulted in the expectation of winning.

Yoni Grey was voted the CBI MVP by tournament coaches. Josh Cooper and Jason Silberman were voted to the all tournament team. ICJA coaches selected Jacob "Big Poppi" Cherney for the "ACE AWARD." Jake Goldrich received the "Most Improved Player" award, and Ezra Allswang received "Most Valuable Player."

Although the season has ended, "long toss" for 2012 has begun.

In the Columbus Baseball Invitational last weekend, the team beat the Kushner Cobras. Junior Yoni Grey threw a complete game, going six innings while allowing only two runs and striking out 10 hitters. Senior captain Jason Silberman hit a double late in the game, knocking in three runs and breaking the game open.

On Friday, the Aces played the Ramaz Rams and came back to win the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior and captain Benjamin Blumenthal had a strong start on the mound for the Aces, and freshman Elazar Kolom was brilliant in relief. Second baseman Ezra Allswang had the game winning hit. Later in the day, the Aces played the Columbus Torah Academy Lions and won 10-2, securing a spot in the championship game.

After a wonderful Shabbos, including a two part speech from the "Jewish Jordan" Tamir Goodman, the Aces were defeated by Yeshiva Atlanta.

On Sunday, the Aces beat the Kushner Cobras in the championship, with a final score of 8-1. Yoni Grey continued to dominate the Cobras as he pitched another complete game. The Aces had a huge 3rd inning offensively, as they knocked out the Cobras starter and first reliever. Captains Josh Cooper and Jason Silberman both hit doubles during the breakout inning. They were both named to the all-tournament team, and Yoni Grey was named the MVP of the tournament.

Wrestling

Over President's Day Weekend, the Ida Crown Jewish Academy Wrestling Team won the national championship for Jewish high schools for an unprecedented seventh time.  The team dominated the competition at the 16th Henry Wittenberg Wrestling Invitational, sponsored by Yeshiva University, winning by a margin of more than 50 points over second place Torah Academy of Bergen County.  The Aces put eleven wrestlers into the finals, and eleven other wrestlers also placed. 

Senior co-captain Jacob Lowenstein (140 lbs) led the way for ICJA with his second Wittenberg title.  Lowenstein also won the "Dominator Award" for pinning the most opponents in the least amount of time.  Junior Sammy Magid (112), junior Barry Greengus (130), senior Adir Feifel (135), and senior Sammy Blivaiss (189) also won championships in their respective weight classes. Co-Captains Feifel and Blivaiss ended their careers on a high note, both having come back from significant injuries. 

"The boys wrestled to our expectations and dealt very well with the pressure of being the tournament favorites," commented Assistant Coach Bill Porter. 

Second place performances were put in by junior Noah Lewis (103), junior Jason Greenspan (112), junior Zach Cohn (125), junior Natan Nagar (135), senior Jack Matanky (160) and junior Gabe Michael (171). 

ICJA did so well in the semi-finals that their first place finish was essentially locked up on Sunday afternoon, long before Monday's finals. 

"Don't be fooled by the apparent ease of this victory," Head Coach Doug Klein said, "A lot of hard work went into this, and we will not take it for granted."

Also placing for the Academy were juniors Ezra Kapetansky (3rd Place--145), Zach Bernstein (4th Place--119), Eli Bernstein (5th Place--152), Eitan Redlich (5th Place--160), Mack Muller (5th Place--215), Brennen Muller (6th Place--171); sophomores Nirel Kakon (4th Place 125), Gal Gurvich (5th Place--119); and freshmen Noam Feifel (4th Place--112), David Goldshmidt (6th Place--103), Chaim Chernoff (6th Place--125).

The YU win came shortly after one of the finest performances ever by an ICJA wrestling team at the IHSA Class A Regional Wrestling Tournament. Thirteen Aces wrestled in the tournament--all placed. ICJA put ten wrestlers into the finals and led the tournament for most of the evening. In the end, host and defending champion Walther Lutheran edged out the Academy 197.5 to 184--a narrow margin in such a competition. Sammy Magid (112) and Ezra Kapetansky (145) were the champions in their weight classes. Noah Lewis (103), Zach Bernstein (119), Zach Cohn (125), Barry Greengus (130), Adir Feifel (135), Jacob Lowenstein (140), Gabe Michael (171), and Sammy Blivaiss (189) took second place; and Eli Bernstein (152) finished third. All eleven of them qualified for the Sectional Tournament. In addition, Eitan Redlich (160) and Mack Muller (215) placed fourth in their weight classes. The Aces had a fast start, winning their first eleven matches in a row, almost all by pin.

"We had an outstanding effort from everyone in the line-up," said Coach Doug Klein, "Even when we went up against more talented opponents; we left everything on the mat. We knew that we would be a long shot to win, but with a team with so many good juniors, next year looks to be a different story."

Girls' Basketball

Congratulations to the JV Lady Aces on winning the Chicago Prep Conference!The team was the #3 seed going into the tournament. In game 1: Ida Crown vs Cristo Rey, the score was ICJA 26 Cristo 11. Leading scorers were Tomi Weiss with 8 and Gabi Alter with 6 points. In game two, the championship game, Ida Crown played #1 seed, Ellison. The score was ICJA 31 Ellison 30 in what was a total team effort. Leading scorers were Gabi Alter with 12 and Tomi Weiss with 9 points. Leading rebounder was Abby Sugar, and great defensive play was from Sarah Lennon and Kinneret Braun.

Congratulations to the girls' basketball team on winning the HOOPS tournament at SAR Academy. In an exciting championship game, the girls defeated SAR, 30-27, with a three-point shot at the buzzer.SAR jumped out to a 4-0 lead with ICJA finishing the 1st quarter on a 8-3 run. At the half, ICJA 18 and SAR 12.

The 3rd quarter became a defensive struggle with both teams adjusting from the 1st half. Then, with 0.8 seconds left in the game, SAR tied the game at 27. ICJA took the ball out and called a time out at half court with 0.3 seconds left in the game. Coming out we decided to set a low baseline screen (which we call "Side In") for Courtney Rosenfield to get the ball in the corner for a 3 point shot. Ariana Maeir set the screen and Courtney made the shot! LADY ACES WIN at the buzzer: 30 - 27!

Tournament awards went to Karen Layani for MVP and All Tournament Team awards to Courtney Rosenfield and Rita Gordon. Top Rebounders were Ariana Maeir and Aliza Grant. The team defeated Maimonides and Boca in the first two games.

The girls defeated CJHS December14: 44-31. Rita Gordon had 11 points and Karen Layani had 8 points. Top Rebounders were Aliza Grant with 9 and Ariana Maeir with 7. The girls are undefeated in their conference.

The Lady Aces opened their inaugural conference season off against the Pumas of CICS Northtown with both the JV and Varsity mounting impressive wins. The JV started the night with a 33-15 win, showcasing an impressive 1-3-1 defensive and a patient zone offense. Freshman Kinneret Braun had a great night defensively in her first ever high school start - Braun along with sophomore Gabi Alter, forced several Puma turnovers causing several fast break points. The Aces got solid scoring contributions from Alter, who had a career high 20 points and sophomore Abbie Sugar who poured in seven.

The night concluded with a convincing win by the Varsity, who beat Northtown 53-19. This first-ever conference game displayed many of the Lady Aces' talents, especially their run-and-gun offense. By the second half, the Aces intense defense pressure, pinpoint passing and avoidance of fouls lead to several breakaway lay-ups and resulted in the large lead and made a comeback by the Pumas nearly impossible. The Lady Aces were had a well-balanced score book but were lead by junior Aliza Grant with 11 points and senior Karen Layani with nine.

Next up for the Lady Aces were the Giants of Highland Park. This was an extremely competitive game, where the lead went back and forth until HP finally pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 51-39 victory over the Lady Aces.

Cross Country (XC) 2010

The Cross Country club has enjoyed a strong and exciting season so far, with five meets over the last few weeks. At the Metro Prep Conference Meet on Oct. 12, freshman Shoshana Shapiro (right) blew away the Varsity field with a first-place finish. Runners, Michal Weisberg (16th) and Miriam Mosbacher (11th) set personal records, and Aliza Jaffe finished 13th. Varsity Boys runners, David Rubin (14th), Noam Feifel (19th) and Reoven Bassala (21st) all had strong finishes.

At the Latin Invitational against a dozen other schools and hundreds of runners, 23 ICJA runners ran in four different races. In the open race, Sammy Magid finished 7th and in the Freshman/Sophomore race, with his brother, Jacob not far behind him. Shoshana Shapiro finished in 1st place in the Freshmen/Sophomore race among girls and Noam Feifel received a medal among the boys. Jackie Stelzer, competing against some of the top female high school cross country runners in the city, finished 9th in the Varsity race. Several other juniors and seniors ran three-mile Varsity races for the first time, all at impressive times.

The team won both the girls' and boys' races in a duel meet against CJHS. In the Mather Meet over Sukkot against 22 schools, Shana Shapiro placed 6th among freshmen and Avi Gutstein placed 15th among freshmen.

In our first home meet, a duel meet against CJHS, freshman Noam Feifel placed 3rd in the JV boys' race, Senior Sammy Magid placed 3rd in the Varsity race, and senior Jackie Stelzer placed 1st in the girls' race and freshman Shana Shapiro placed 3rd.

Senior Adir Feifel