McCaskey

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.

Henry Paterson competes as a senior in his first year of swimming for McCaskey. Sprints are his specialty — 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke.  His goal is to break 50 seconds in the 100-yard fly and qualify for states.

In Henry’s prior years, he was home schooled while swimming for York YMCA (with 5:30 a.m. practices) and the Lancaster Aquatic Club. He concurrently swims for Lancaster Aquatic Club during the McCaskey swim team season.

Kaylina Bansal competes for McCaskey swim team as a student at Lancaster Country Day School under a cooperative between the two schools.

Kaylina specializes in a long-distance race, 500-yard freestyle, though she is flexible for other races, especially relays, should her coach ask of her.

Since elementary school, Kaylina has swum for the 5 Star Swim Club Team at Lititz Rec Center. And in the summers, she swims for Skyline Pool’s swim team.

Sariiah Sweeney, freshman McCaskey point guard and swing forward, plays basketball all year long with her AAU PA team.  These games allow her to travel to games in Kentucky and Ohio.  She says these games and competition keep her in great shape year-round.

Sariiah says her McCaskey team is young this year, however players have high goals.  Winning a state championship is a long- range goal.

Kyle Brown, McCaskey Junior and small forward, eagerly is looking forward to McCaskey’s first game versus Penn Wood.  He says his team has been working hard in the off-season and plans to get to the playoffs.

McCaskey’s faces some key games — especially Reading, a physically tough team; Cedar Crest, loaded with height; and rival Manheim Township, with good shooters.

Linda Lee Hershey has coached soccer in college and at the club level and has watched many of her younger players go on to play collegiately.

McCaskey's returning field hockey players still exude excitement when they describe reaching the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs last year even though eventual state-champion Warwick eliminated them in the first round.

Players attending media day:

(from left)

Maggie Olenik, senior, midfielder

Lydia Frey, junior, midfielder

Makayla Ressel, senior, forward

McCaskey has experienced its share of success in track and field and that has extended to the cross country course. The Red Tornado finished near the top of Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 last year. The teams are hoping to give Manheim Township a run the section title this year. 

Coach Derek Jennings says the building blocks are in place for a "strong season and showing in the league and district meets."

Despite its stellar legacy, McCaskey has found few wins recently on the football field, but that hasn't hindered the expectations of this year's team. With inspiration from a new coach, players say they're aiming to qualify for the District 3 playoffs.

McCaskey players attending media day:

Dieumel Gerard (left), senior, guard, defensive tackle

Johnzell Sibley (center), senior, wide receiver, outside linebacker

Khali Sloan (right), senior, running back, defensive end

Arielle Breuninger is a senior at Lancaster Country Day School, but she keeps putting her name in the McCaskey Track & Field record book.

Running for the McCaskey team under a school co-op, she became its first girl to run under 5 minutes in the 1,600 meters at the 60th annual Cedar Cliff Relays in Camp Hill. Her time of 4:59.98 was the ninth fastest time ever for a Lancaster-Lebanon League girl, according to local sportswriter Pete Kauffman.