High school athletes in the Jewish community are having a good year. In the last few weeks alone, one has won a state championship, another led her basketball team in scoring and the third signed a letter of intent to play college soccer. Read on to learn more.
Wrestler three-peats as state champ
Zack Tanenbaum capped off his Blue Valley North high school wrestling career in grand fashion Saturday night, Feb. 26, when he won his third straight state championship. He did so in dominating fashion, with his closest match being a 14-2 victory in the finals of the 135-pound weight class. This win makes Zack the first three-time wrestling champion in BVN history.
Zack was undefeated his entire senior season, compiling a 40-0 record. He hasn’t actually lost a match in more than a year. His last defeat came in the early part of his junior season on his quest to become the Kansas State 6A wrestling champion in the 135-pound weight class. As a sophomore he was the 119-pound state champ.
Zack said it’s “an awesome feeling,” to be a three-time champ. He credits his success to a lot of hard work in the practice room.
“There’s definitely been a lot of sweat and a lot of early mornings working out at the Jewish Community Center before school,” he said. “It all definitely paid off.”
Working out twice a day isn’t the norm for wrestlers, or many other high school athletes.
“I think it’s more of a me thing. I haven’t really heard of any other athletes working out before school,” he said.
Zack has committed to wrestle at Brown University, an Ivy League school located in Providence, R.I., in the fall. A 4.0 student, he chose the school based on its great academics.
“They also have a Division I wrestling program, so it’s the best of both worlds,” said Zack, who plans to study biology and hopes to become a doctor.
“They also have a Division I wrestling program, so it’s the best of both worlds,” said Zack, who plans to study biology and hopes to become a doctor.
Since the season just ended last weekend, the all-city teams and other similar honors haven’t been released yet. Already this year 610 Sports Radio has recognized Zack as its athlete of the week and he’s been named an All-EKL (league) Scholar Athlete as well as to the principal’s honor roll.
The wrestling season isn’t quite over yet for Zack. Before he gets a chance to take some time off he will wrestle in the Kansas City Metro Classic, a tournament featuring the best metro wrestlers from both sides of the state line.
“It’s kind of an all-star team,” explained Zack, the son of Kelly Jackson and Dr. Robert Tanenbaum. “After that I’ll take some time off. I need a little break.”
Basketball player climbs scoring chart
Mikayla Davis, a senior at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, was recognized by the Kansas City Star earlier this winter for scoring more than 1,000 points in her career. In fact she ended the season with 1,339 points and now holds second-place on the all-time scoring list for girls behind Abby Sechrist (2005-2008) who scored 1375. She’s also third on the school’s all-time scoring list — boys and girls. The top scorer with 1564 points if Cory Gutovitz (2005-2009, boys), followed by Abby and then Mikayla.
Averaging 17.9 points per game, Mikayla was the Lady Rams leading scorer this year.
A shooting guard, Mikayla is a little surprised by her scoring prowess.
“I didn’t expect to score that many points. When I first started playing high school basketball it wasn’t my goal to score that many points. But it feels really good and it’s a good accomplishment,” she said.
Mikayla had such a stellar season despite getting off to a slow start early in the season. She was recovering from knee surgery she had in July to repair a torn ACL in her left knee.
As one of four seniors on the Lady Rams (Shira Levine, Maggie Herman and Davida Rosenthal are also seniors), she helped the team finish with an 18-7 record.
“I took a leading role on the team and that role was to score the points and help other people to score. I scored most of those points last year and this year but I obviously couldn’t have done this without the help of my team,” Mikayla said.
As soon as Mikayla turns 18 later this year, she hopes to begin playing in an 18 and older league. She also plans to join an all-seniors team after spring break. She doesn’t know yet whether she’ll play in college.
“Since I want to go into physical therapy, I’ll already have so much on my plate for college that I don’t know if I could handle playing basketball as well. But I’ll definitely do intramurals,” said Mikayla, who is considering attending either Drake University or Wichita State University.
She’s said she’s sad her high school career is over.
“But some of my best memories of high school are of basketball, so I’m glad I played,” said Mikayla, the daughter of Debi and Scott Davis.
Soccer player signs with Drake
Pembroke Hill senior Ross Payne signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Drake University during a signing ceremony at the school in February in front of a large gathering of family, teachers and students.
“I’m really excited. It’s something I’ve been working toward and thinking about for quite some time,” Ross said this week.
A four-year varsity starter, Ross, the son of Lisa and Roger Payne, set a school record in career goals with 114. A team captain both his junior and senior years, Ross was named to the All-District and All-State teams all four years of his high school career. His other honors include being named Class I Missouri Player-of-the-Year in 2010.
And also this year, he was one of nine players in Missouri selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Regional team. Additionally, he was a two-time Kansas City Star Athlete-of-the-Week and a member of the Kansas City Star’s All-Metro team in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
During Ross’ upper school soccer career, the team won districts each year and made three final-four appearances.
When he’s not playing soccer, Ross has helped to instruct a recreational soccer team of third- and fourth-grade boys, assisted the coach with a Pembroke Hill summer soccer camp and, when time permitted, enjoyed playing baseball and basketball. Ross also created and currently manages his own stock portfolio. He has volunteered with Harvesters and The Humane Society.
High school soccer may be a fall sport, but it actually keeps Ross busy all year.
“I play KCFC club soccer year round. I’ve played club soccer since I was 3 or 4 years old,” said Ross, whose family belongs to Congregation Beth Torah. “We’re just finishing the indoor season and we’re ready to get back outside.”
Through club soccer over the years, he’s actually met some other players from the KC area who will be playing for Drake next year also, and Ross feels good about that. He’s not sure yet what he wants to study, but he plans on it being something in the business school.
