Adam Hirsch

The boys varsity basketball team lost to the Wildebeests in the semifinals on Feb. 18

Wrestling

This season CESJDS won the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) wrestling championship,  which took place at St. Anselm’s Abbey School, for the first time in three years. The wrestling team is made up of high school and middle school students. 

Head coach Chuck Woolery and the wrestling team also traveled to the Henry Wittenberg Invitational at the Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, where they placed seventh out of 12 teams. One of the challenges with the Wittenberg tournament was that only five out of JDS’ 14 wrestlers were able to participate because many of them had plans that weekend. Sophomore Adin Kahan hopes that in the upcoming seasons more players will join wrestling. 

“Most of the wrestlers are sophomores so trying to get more people from other grades is really important for our team’s success,” Kahan said.

Dance 

The dance team had an eventful season, with performances at multiple Kabbalat Shabbats and during halftime at a few varsity basketball games. The dance team, which does not typically perform this frequently, was led by senior captains Navah Gris, Cati Werbin and Molly Wollner as well as head coach Elianna Bernstein (‘16). 

The team practiced three times a week in the dining hall and at the Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington.

Sophomore Gloria Jeruchim said that one of her season highlights was celebrating the seniors on senior night. 

“I really enjoyed making the posters for the seniors to show how much we appreciated them,” Jeruchim said. “We felt super happy for them.” 

Track & Field

Despite having many of their practices canceled due to snow and cold weather, the track team tried to maintain a positive attitude throughout the season. 

The team had a successful season, with athletes including senior Nathan Szubin, junior Mia Forseter, sophomores Ryan Klepper and Isaiah Segal-Geetter and freshman Max Obstfeld all setting personal records during the Montgomery County Private School Indoor Track & Field Championship race on Feb. 5. 

The Lions were a much smaller team than many other schools but still managed to be competitive. Freshman Asher Kotok felt that even though they weren’t the best or biggest team at the meet, their tenacity made a big impression on others.

“We definitely did better than people thought,” Kotok said. “… We had a very small team, but when we had our indoor championships, we won four or five medals.” 

Varsity Girls Basketball 

The Lions won the PVAC championship against the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy Cougars 45-32 on Feb. 22, after losing to them twice in the regular season. Led by junior captain Tali Loeffler, senior captains Gigi Gordon and Josie Silverberg and head coach Becky Silberman, the girls varsity basketball team had an action-packed season.

After scoring 10 points during the game, Loeffler was awarded tournament MVP. 

Midway through their regular season, the girls participated in the Israel Becker Invitational Tournament in Toronto, Canada, where Loeffler also won tournament MVP.  Sophomore Yarden Wilkenfeld believes that the tournament was one of the key factors that helped them succeed later in the season.

“I think going to Toronto really bonded us as a team, which we seriously needed,” Wilkenfeld said. “Our performance was our best all season and that allowed us to come back to the playoffs and propel us on a playoff run.” 

Varsity Boys Basketball

Starting off their season, the boys varsity basketball team traveled to the Memphis Yeshiva Invitational Tournament in Tennessee, where they were ranked as the 14th seed out of the 16 teams. The Lions went 2-2 in the tournament. In their final game, they beat the Cooper Yeshiva Macabees 50-33.

Even though the team only had one senior, the team had a 17-6 record under the direction of head coach Ryan Escow. In the first round of playoffs, the team defeated the Washington Christian Academy Red Devils 58-37, but ended up losing by three points to the Sandy Spring Wildebeests in the semifinals on Feb. 18.

Junior and captain Cyrus Blumenthal led the team scoring an average of 18 points per game. Junior captains Micah Goldrich, Leo Steindecker and Blumenthal are all looking forward to seeking redemption against Sandy Spring next winter.

“Our goal next season is to win a championship, 100%,” Steindecker said. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to do much this year because we lost a lot of our key guys, but we rebranded ourselves as a team that played with hustle and selfless oriented basketball.”

JV Basketball

The JV boys basketball team had an undefeated season with a record of 12-0. Led by head coach Mathew Landy, JV capped off their season by beating Berman 29-27 in the PVAC championship. Freshman Tani Kastan noted his teammates’ great improvement throughout the season.

“It was a great learning experience,” Kastan said. “I think we had a lot of people who hadn’t really played so much basketball before, and I think everyone got a lot better.”

The JV girls basketball team is fairly new to the JDS athletic program, as this was the second season a team was fielded in the last 10 years. With only freshmen girls on the roster, the season was full of learning, skill building and team bonding, according to freshman Kira Koplow. 

“I’m excited to play with the same girls again,” Koplow said. “I’m also really excited to hopefully win some more games [next year] and get better.”

Middle School Basketball

After finishing the regular season with a 9-4 record, the middle school boys basketball team lost their semifinal playoff game against the Sandy Spring Friends School Wildebeests, 36-33 on Feb. 5. Eighth grade student Sam Olin was the team’s leading scorer for the season, averaging 18 points per game. 

“Obviously, the end was disappointing, as we didn’t win the league,” Olin said. “But, regardless, I think we all were very happy with how we did and how everybody improved.” 

The middle school girls team finished their season with an in-conference record of 4-7, losing to the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School Pandas in the first round of the playoffs 14-8. Head coach Brett Kugler believes that this was an important year for his players as they learned from their mistakes and improved all around. He expects a strong season next year. 

“We have a lot of eighth graders leaving … but that leaves more opportunity for new players to come in and get an opportunity to lead the team,” Kugler said.