Story and photos by Alan Shimel, a friend of West Boca News
The WBHS Bulls varsity baseball team took advantage of the spring break vacation to travel upstate to Jacksonville where they competed in a high school baseball tournament held at the Providence School.
The Bulls led by Coach Nathan Underwood took a full squad of 23 players up to Jacksonville for the tourney. While only playing in three games, Coach Underwood was able to get just about every player into a game for some play and experience. The team went 1-2 but were competitive in every game.
Driving up on Monday the Bulls first game was Tuesday against an overmatched St John Lutheran team. The Bulls big bats came alive early and they won a mercy rule shortened game 16-5. Senior Chris Charlock went the distance for the Bulls in this game as pitcher. Lawrence Ghougasian, Cory Kuchtam Dom Iagrossi and Chris Cavallo were among the almost 20 Bulls players with hits this game.
The next day’s game had the Bulls moving up in competition against the Bozeman Bucks. Ryan Powers started as pitcher for the Bulls. The Bucks scored a run early and held the lead throughout the game. The final was 5-2. Some excellent relief pitching by Landon Shimel kept the Bulls in the game. The West Boca squad had several chances to take the game but left the bases loaded twice in the late innings.
The Bulls played their last game this morning before heading back to the confines of friendly Boca Raton. They played Ravenwood HS from Tennessee. Chris Cavallo was the starting pitcher for West Boca. The game was a nip and tuck affair throughout. The Bull lost when Ravenwood hit a walk off sacrifice fly in their last at bat 9-8.
Win or lose it was a great experience for the players on the team. They travelled, lodged and ate together as a team. Parents were present and encouraged to participate but this is about high school athletes growing up into young men. Road trips like this are important in that process.
Thanks to the coaches and administration for putting together this trip and to parents who volunteered to drive and chaperone the players. The Bulls continue their season with Senior night on March 31 at home against Iliana Christian HS. Senior night ceremonies start at 4:45 and the game starts at 6. Go Bulls!
Category: Sports
Loggers' Run Wrestler Wins State Championship
Chase Thompson, a 7th grader at Loggers Run Middle School, wrestled for a state championship where he pinned every opponent all the way through the finals to become the Cadet 195 pound state champion. The Cadet division was made up of 9th & 10th grade wrestlers.
Chase had suffered a knee injury during practice in January, with a fractured patella (kneecap) and strained ligaments. After extensive physical therapy and cryotherapy he was able to get read for the tournament on March 13th.
Chase Thompson was initially registered to wrestle in the USA Wrestling’s Florida Amateur Athletic Association (FAWA) State Championship in his respective division/weight class “Schoolboy” 190 lb. When there was no one entered in that weight class, he was asked to move up to the next division.
Chase was also awarded the Outstanding Wrestler for that division for the most pins and fastest pins. Congratulations to Chase for his hard work and success.
Doctor Arrested in Allianz Holocaust Protest
Boca Raton Police arrested Dr. Jay Lieberman for trespassing, arising out of a protest related to the Holocaust. Lieberman is a Margate podiatrist who lives in Parkland. His wife Genie is a director of the Gloria Drummond Rehabilitation Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
Medium.com reports (we have confirmed some details but not all) that Mrs. Lieberman’s late father was Holocaust survivor Ivar Segalowitz. He was unable to pursue his claims against Allianz. He was 11 years old when his family was deported to a concentration camp, leaving him unable to even determine if his family was covered by a policy. However, he said then that his family lived a typical upper middle class lifestyle and he was certain that members of his extended family or parents would’ve carried such insurance.
Mr. Segalowitz succumbed to cancer in 2014 having never received information from Allianz. Dr. Lieberman also lost family members in the Holocaust, killed at the Treblinka concentration camp.
Dr. Lieberman’s arrest was captured in a photo:
And his mugshot is available on the Sheriff’s blotter:
It’s unclear why his glasses were removed for the mugshot, but it may be standard practice.
The protesters claim Allianz has not done enough to resolve claims from Jews who had insurance policies with them before the war, and assert the company owes $2.5 billion to survivors. You can read more about the issue in a recent article in the Sun-Sentinel.
We reached out to Allianz for comment but they did not respond. We also reached out to Congressman Ted Deutch (D-West Boca), who has supported Holocaust survivor issues, but his office did not respond either.
Genie Lieberman’s 2014 prepared statement to Deutch’s congressional subcommittee is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/HHRG-113-FA13-Wstate-LiebermanE-20140918.pdf”]
Loggers' Run Student Wins National Journalism Recognition
Benjamin Schiller, an 8th grade student at Loggers’ Run Middle School, has been named to the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps, “the country’s oldest and largest student reporting program.”
For more than 15 years, the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps has delivered news to classrooms nationwide. Stories by the kid reporters appear in select issues of Scholastic classroom magazines, which are read by more than 25 million students nationwide and are available online at www.scholastic.com/news
Schiller is one of only three kids chosen from Florida, and the only one south of Orlando. He is currently working on his first article for Scholastic, about habitat protection issues in the Everglades. He tells us he is hopeful that this experience “will jump start my career in journalism.”
Schiller has written for West Boca News in the past, including these articles:
6 FAU Owls Drafted by MLB
Boca Raton Bowl Coming to FAU
Boca Raton Bowl Report
West Boca JV Coach Sought Nude Photos From 14-Year-Old
Recent news shows another bad moment for Boca area schools. From the Palm Beach Post:
A coach for a Boynton Beach travel soccer team was arrested Tuesday after soliciting a nude photograph from a 14-year-old girl (8th grade) on the team, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office reports.
We heard about the arrest from several sources here in West Boca, but we had a little more detail. As we understand it, Mr. Djamesley Leveille (a Delray Beach resident) was also a coach for the girls JV soccer team at West Boca High and was arrested at the school in front of students. The PB Post article indicates the girl lived in Boca Raton but was not more specific.
The school district offered a terse response to our inquiry:
He was a JV coach at the school, but had been there less than a month. He was immediately terminated.
We asked some follow-up questions (such as how he was vetted) and are waiting for a response. One parent gave us a little more detail:
My daughter was on the team and he was creepy. … Not all of them saw him getting arrested.
Another parent told us:
He was terrible. But was hired by district not school and was NOT a teacher which was terrible for the girls.
If we get more information we will update this article.