Metrowest Shines at 28th Annual Maccabi Games

The athletes of the Jewish Community Center Metrowest had an outstanding showing at the 28^th annual Maccabi Games, held in four different locations earlier this month. Metrowest, located in West Orange, provides services for the surrounding towns including Millburn, South Orange and Maplewood.

In total, Metrowest brought home 30 gold, silver or bronze medals, which were held in Richmond, Virginia.

Leading the pack was Nitay Caspi, who bagged nine gold medals in the 13-14 swimming category, including wins in the 50 meter freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 100 freestyle.

The local swimmers did the best of all of the Metrowest athletes by far, claiming 27 finishes in the top three spots in the games. Juliet Felsen was second in two events and third in four in the 13-14 girls swimming categories. Matthew Peknay, 13-14 boys, medaled 11 times, including first place finishes in the 200 backstroke, 50 back, and the 200 and 400 meter individual medleys.

In the 15-16 category, Millburn's Jonas Singer took bronze in the 500 freestyle, fourth in the 200 free and fifth in the 200 back.

"I was very pleased with my performance in Richmond. I was able to best all my previous times and won three medals. I always looked to swim faster in each successive race and was able to accomplish that," Singer said in an e-mail. "The level of performance in athletic events was really competitive. In the swimming, some of the times were nationally qualifying by USA swimming standards. …The whole experience was great on a lot of levels."

Wrapping up the individual play, Millburn's Andrew Nolff finished with a bronze medal in the 15-16 tennis competition. After a successful spring season for the Miller tennis team, where Nolff was unbeaten, he said that he was happy with the way he played in Richmond, especially being placed in the highest bracket of competition.

"It was good, I got to meet people from all over," he said of his experience. "[The competition] wasn't really difficult, it was okay. They were all about my level or a little bit better."

In team play, the Metrowest 14U baseball team took home the gold, while the 16U baseball finished in third place.