For multiple years now, Lancaster Country Day School has had a co-op sports program with J.P. McCaskey High School for students to take part in track and field.
The McCaskey Track and Field teams are divided into boys and girls subteams, as well as further subdivisions within both. This year, there is no notable runner for the boys team from LCDS, but the girls have sophomores Sydney C., Natalie C., and Vivian S., and freshman Charlotte P.
Historically, the team has been very successful. Current track and field coach Derek Jennings achieved his 100th win against Lebanon High School on April 13 after nine seasons of coaching. Each track season features six dual meets on both the boys and girls sides. The girls ended 6-0 on the season, continuing a six-year winning streak, and the boys ended 5-1.
“I really like that we co op with another school,” Vivian said when asked about the co-op with McCaskey. “It has brought me so many close friends that I wouldn’t have met without the co op. It’s also so cool that we co op with such an amazing team who has welcomed us and is competitive in the district.”
Natalie said much of the same, “I love being a part of one community at school and a totally different one at track. It allows me to be friends with many more people and they are all really fun to be with.”
LCDS students compete in different event groups.
Distance includes events such as the 800-meter (two laps around a track), 1600-meter (four laps), and 3200-meter (eight laps). Hybrid athletes compete in both sprinting and distance events, such as the 400-meter race and the 800-meter race. Hurdlers run events like the 100/110-meter hurdles (for girls and boys respectively) and the 300-meter hurdles while jumping over barriers. Throwers compete in field events such as javelin, discus, and pole vault.
Distance
“The season is going pretty well [for distance],” Sydney said. She runs the 1600-meter race. “Obviously there are [some] days when I just [don’t want to run], but there are also some days when you just feel good and running with the breeze is nice.”
Distance runners for McCaskey are unique in that many of them compete year-round, starting with cross-country in the fall, a sport where runners race five kilometers on natural courses. The average week for distance runners includes a mix of longer runs, often 6 to 10 miles, and workouts at “threshold” pace, which is faster than training pace but not quite race pace. Unlike most other positions, distance runners also train over the weekend.
“My favorite part [of running for McCaskey] is the people,” Sydney said. “Everyone is really supportive on and off the field, and I have gotten to meet new people that are really nice.”
Hybrids
“The season is going pretty well for the team,” Vivian said. She competes in the 4×800 and 4×400 relays as well as the open 800-meter race, where she currently holds the Lancaster-Lebanon League record. “[We] recently won a really hard meet [against Cedar Crest] to win the section title which was pretty awesome.”
“[For practices, w]e meet 5 times a week,” Vivian said. “[S]ince our track is under construction, we have to [take the] bus to Lancaster Mennonite or run to Franklin & Marshall when we need to run a track workout.”
Hurdlers
“My season has been going very well,” Natalie said. She runs the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, high jump, and also competes in the 4×400 relay.
“[In hurdle practices] I lead the hurdlers in stretches and warmups over hurdles, do a few block starts and occasionally lift [weights],” she said. “For me personally, I think practices where you don’t do much are the most fun because you can really connect with your teammates. People won’t wanna do track if they don’t love it.”
For some context, block starts involve using track and field blocks to help train sprinters and hurdlers on developing and increasing acceleration at the start of races.
Throwers
“The season is going well,” Charlotte said. She competes in javelin, pole vault, and occasionally discus. “I am improving and growing into [a] part of the track community.”
“Typically [in practice] we’ll lift weights three days a week and the other two [are where] we work on techniques.”
“[Running for McCaskey] is honestly a great way to meet people from outside our school,” she said. “The support from the team is honestly super motivating and personally one of the main reasons I am able to continually improve.”
Charlotte also described a memorable meet against #2 ranked Cedar Crest.
“On the day of our meet against Cedar Crest, while we were in extreme cold and mostly sure we had lost the meet, a few of the throwers decided to throw discus as it was the last event for girls. The cheering section was so loud that officials told us to stop while other events were occurring. My hands had turned completely white because of the cold and we all were sharing jackets, blankets, and rotating sitting in warm cars. At this moment, our team felt closer than we had been before and as the girls team secured the win, [all of us] went home satisfied with how they had performed.”
The last dual meet of the season was on May 4th, against Penn Manor.
