media day

Mitchell Swarr (left) and Charlie Creighton, both seniors, lead a “good mix of older and younger” Lampeter-Strasburg wrestlers into the ’25-’26 season. Both agree the strength of the team will be in the mid- to heavyweight classes.

For both Mitchell and Charlie, the Elizabethtown team is the Section 2 favorite, though Conestoga Valley or Donegal may
make a surprise showing, but “Do not county out L-S!” they say. Mitchell and Charlie agree L-S is evenly matched against E-town, and the two squads are very familiar with each other.

Tyra Bookman wrestles as a junior at McCaskey. She has accumulated 17 wins through her sophomore year. Tyra wrestles
any of these weight classes 136, 142 and 148 pounds. She hopes to start off strong in McCaskey’s first match, a tournament at Boiling Springs.

Last wrestling season Tyra ranked at 18th in the state meet. She plans to improve that ranking this year.

The McCaskey wrestling team recently graduated all the seniors who started the wrestling program at McCaskey in 2023. This year’s team is mostly juniors, sophomores and freshmen with four seniors.

Warwick’s girls swim team relies on Hayden Eby to compete in a full schedule of events — 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley, and a relay team.  Hayden sees her role this season to help in developing teamwork for a young team of just 2 seniors.

Individually, Hayden wants to make this year her best.  She previously qualified for the District 3 meets as a sophomore and junior. This year she wants to make the District podium.

As a junior on Lampeter-Strasburg’s girls wrestling team, Avery Planck exudes excitement for the season to begin with a tournament at Dallastown High School. She says she and her teammates individually should be very successful, but with only 7 wrestlers on the team, it might be difficult to win a team match.

This year is Avery’s fourth year of wrestling -- three at LS high school and one in middle school. Her weight class is 136, though she may go to a lower weight class. She has 27 wins in her ongoing career.

Mia Parry, a senior, competes for Garden Spot despite Garden Spot not having a girls swim team.

Mia returns as a 200-yard individual medley gold medal winner in the 2025 Lancaster-Lebanon Swim Meet.  She also earned a silver medal in the 100-yard freestyle competition.  Her goal this year to win a state medal.  For this she hopes to lower her time in the freestyle races. Mia practices with the Reading YMCA Swim Team.

Garrett Aukamp, sophomore wrestler at Solanco, says his team’s quote is “How you do anything is how you do everything!”

This quote encourages his teammates to “push each other” to be better and to develop a good team chemistry.

Garrett sees his Solanco team as “young in age, but not in experience.” Several wrestlers return from last year's team as  letter winners.

Olivia Hirst contributes her “backstroke specialist” abilities to a powerhouse Elizabethtown girls swim team.  She competes in the 100-yard backstroke and the backstroke portion of the medley relay.  Additionally, she swims the 100-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay.  

Olivia has qualified for the District 3 meet for three years as a backstroke member of the 200-yard medley relay.  

Kolton Kemp begins his second year as Manheim Township’s heavyweight wrestler. His record as a freshman was an impressive 25-11.

According to Kemp, Township will field a young, talented wrestling squad this year. Hempfield is a rival in wrestling, if not all sports.

Kemp looks toward a rematch with the Penn Manor heavyweight after last year’s match was tough battle.

Kemp has goals to do well, if not win, at Sections and Districts, along with qualifying for States.

Grayson Shellhammer, Ephrata High School, senior guard

How did a basketball first get in your hands and what has your journey been like since then?

Shellhammer: “My dad and his brothers played basketball. And my two older brothers played basketball. So they were always pressuring me. At first I would say, ‘No. I don’t want to play basketball. I’ll stick with soccer.’ Then I tried it in third grade. Loved it. Here I am today.”

Kylie Masters, Mount Calvary Christian School

Tell me about your origin story with basketball and the journey since then?