After an exciting first day of the Maccabiah Games, the second day did not disappoint. Not only have the athletes been growing in their culture, they’ve been dominating their swims.
In the women’s 200m freestyle, Stanford swimmer Andi Murez blew the race out of the water, going a 2:00.63. Not only did she bring home gold, ahead of Israel’s Martina Marks (2:04.50) and Efrat Rotszhtejn (2:05.52), Murez has added a meet record to her list of accomplishments at these games.
Shortly after Murez’s swim, the USA returned to the pool in the girl’s 13-16 200m freestyle. The girls came into this race and would settle for no less than a medal, leaving the top three finishers all from the USA. Top finisher Isabella Goldsmith touched in at 2:03.51, adding yet another victory AND a new meet record to her list, while 16-year-old Charlotte Rosenberg will be bringing a silver medal back to her hometown of Chicago (2:06.44). Morgan Smith took bronze in this event, not far behind Rosenberg, (2:06.59).
Israel swept the board in the men’s 200m freestyle, with Alexei Konovalov (1:51.34) adding a gold to his bronze from last night.
Team USA came back for another victory in the men’s 14-16 200m freestyle, though, with swimmer Judson Howard leading Israel’s Rotem David and Daniel Namir by almost two-seconds. Howard was out in 1:57.45, while David and Namir were 1:59.52 and 2:00.38, respectively.
Israel’s Keren Ziebner took a win in the women’s 100m butterfly (1:00.27), ahead of Australia’s Marni Burger (1:01.62) and USA’s Leah Goldman (1:02.34). Goldman took silver yesterday in the women’s 100m freestyle. Rachel Knowles of team USA added a gold to take home, swimming a 1:04.50 in the girl’s 13-16 100m fly, going a 1:04.50. Knowles was only .26 ahead of Israel’s Shiraz Giladi (1:04.76) and .31 ahead of Tamier Gonan-Cohen (1:04.81).
USA’s Marcus Schlesinger touched in first the men’s 100m fly at 54.88, ahead of Israel’s Avi Cohen (55.70) and Adi Davidov (55.83). Israel took the sweep yet again in the men’s 14-16 100m fly, with Ohad Ashkenazi (59.62), Ofer Montano (59.79), and Iliya Galdishev (59.82) taking gold, silver, and bronze.
Team USA brought home a number of medals in the 400 IM events, starting with Lauren Levy in the women’s 400 IM, beating out Israel’s Amit Bechar at 5:06.25. Bechar took second at 5:06.77. USA’s Rebecca Lewinson collected bronze at 5:09.52.
Smith added yet another medal to her collection, this time gold in the girl’s 13-16 400 IM (5:00.30), 4-seconds ahead of the duo from Israel, Noa Saar (5:04.17) and Yael Danieli (5:05.82).
While Israel’s men took the board again in the men’s 400 IM, — Etay Gurevich taking home gold in a 4:25.47 — team USA’s Howard took gold in the 14-16 400 IM at 4:37.36. Israel’s Lior Berman touched in behind Howard at 4:42.52, while USA’s Jeremy Babinet took the bronze medal at 4:43.90.