Champion Cross Country Runners
The running Aces finished an incredible season, with the varsity girls finishing first in the Chicago Prep Conference for the third year in a row! Our boys varsity took second place in the conference meet that ICJA hosted against teams from CJHS, CICS Northtown, CICS Ellison, Hope Academy and Christo Rey. Over 150 runners competed in four races.
From the Aces, 43 runners ran a wet and muddy conference race. Seventeen of these runners set personal records (PR), of which seven had PRs in every race this year.
Special thank you to all our coaches, Ezra Jaffe, Elissa Weissberg and Dana Hunter for all of their hard work getting ready for this meet and the whole season. Thank you to Athletic Director Mark Wax on supporting the team and helping run the Conference Meet. Lastly, thank you to Marla Jaffe and Rabbi Bauman, our course volunteers.
Special congratulations to some of our top finishers:
Girls Varsity:
Adina Trubnick #3 overall and 1st Team All Conference
Daniella Lakser #6 overall and1st Team All Conference
Laura Chuven #10 overall and 2nd Team All Conference
Margalit Pogonitz #11 overall and 2nd Team All Conference
Nechama Braun #12 overall and 2nd team All Conference
Sophie Gordon, #14 overall and 2nd Team All Conference
Boys Varsity
Ezra Perlow #1 overall and 1st Team All Conference
Yoseph Perlow #4 overall and 1st Team All Conference
In the open race, Anat Berday-Sacks drove from her home in Indianapolis over chol hamoed just to race and was rewarded with the gold medal in that race!
Leading up to the conference meet, the Aces competed in several local meets, including an excellent home meet on Sunday after Yom Kippur, with 36 runners from ICJA and 81 runners total, including Lake View High School, CICS Northtown, St. Benedict and Notre Dame for Girls.
The team finished 1st place in both Open Girls and Open Boys. The Open Girls were led by Rookie Nechama Braun, who finished 2nd, setting another PR. But the key to victory remains the depth of the team with Daniella Kluk, Yakira Kolum, Anna Jacoby and Audrey Fretzin finishing 5,6,7 an 9 respectively. The Braun family went home proud with Amir Braun also finishing 2nd in the Boys Open race and also setting a PR. The first place finish in the Boys Open Race was maintained by strong runs by Noah Nagar (4th), Noah Jaffe (5th), Rookie Zach Frank (8th) and Nate Bomben(9th).
The Running Aces started their season strong in early September, with their first interscholastic meet at Niles West. Thirty-one runners joined the two-mile meet, with nine students obtaining a personal record (PR) and three students racing for the first time ever. Runners reached a PR despite a grassy course that makes it more difficult to run. Congrats to the following students who ran a PR: Adina Trubnick, Nechama Braun, Anna Jacoby, Daniela Kluk, Dodi Harris, Roni Bell, Amir Braun, Zachary Frank and Shmuel Horowitz. Ezra Perlow ranked #13 in the Varsity race overall there, with a two-mile finish time of 10:58.
With over 65 runners signed up for the team, including over 25 first-time team members, it is the single largest sports team at ICJA and over 25 percent of the school participates. The group has been practicing since mid-August, so expectations are running very high for the 2014 season. Though the team lost a few varsity runners from last year, there are a couple of freshman coming in strong, including: Ezra Perlow, Zack Frank, Gabe Cohen, Adina Trubnick and Nechama Braun. Ezra Perlow even set a school record for 2 miles in his first time out! These young guns will be pushing for the best out of our returning varsity speedster leaders like Danielle Lakser, Sophie Gordon, Ari Siebzener and Schneur Strauss.
For current athletic calendar go to our online calendar.