Page 6 - 2024 District III Wrestling Program

DISTRICT III TAKES LEAD ROLE IN GIRLS WRESLTING

By Rod Frisco along with current Penn Manor AD Pat
Tocci, a Lehigh Valley native turned Lititz
On Feb. 16 of this year, history made a resident who previously worked for the
stop in PIAA District III. National Wrestling Coaches Association

Again. and has played a key role in developing
girls wrestling in PA. It was appropriate,
Just as a District III school – J.P. McCaskey then, that McCaskey was one of the two
of Lancaster – hosted the first non- team champions in the section tourna-
sanctioned Pennsylvania girls wrestling Jon Mitchell Pat Tocci ments; Cumberland Valley was the other.
championship and was the first to formal-
ly sponsor a girls wrestling team under “District III has gone above and beyond to
PIAA sanction, two more District III “I’m tremendously excited about (the PI- become the state’s leader in girls wres-
schools became the first to host PIAA girls AA postseason) this year,” said Mitchell, tling,” said Brooke Zumas, the director of
wrestling championship events. who serves as District III’s girls wrestling SanctionPA, the organization that guided
chairman. “I’m looking forward to the state schools toward PIAA team sponsor-
The District III Girls Wrestling Section tour- whole process, seeing the girls wrestle for ship. “What’s unique in District III is the
naments on Feb. 16 at Susquenita and state championships at Giant Center.” people focused on the people who were
Mechanicsburg high schools officially lit in position of influence to make it happen
the flame on PIAA-sanctioned girls wres- It all started with the godfather Mitchell and maintained their efforts.”
tling postseason events, cementing the
district’s status as the state leader in girls
wrestling. FROM HER STORY
There are many people to thank for the TO HISTORY
reality of girls’ wrestling in District III, but
one person in particular: J.P. McCaskey By Rod Frisco
athletic director Jon Mitchell. All of the young ladies participating in the
It was Mitchell who convinced the School first PIAA-sanctioned Girls Wrestling
District of Lancaster and McCaskey offi- Championships have a long list of people
cials to host a state championship for girls to thank making it happen.
in – get this – 1999. That’s a quarter of a Right near the top is Brooke Zumas.
century ago.
As much as anyone – and there were
And as girls wrestling began its slow (and many – who shepherded girls wrestling
now rapid) growth, Mitchell made sure from novelty to increasing participation
that his school district would be the first to this year’s full-fledged championships,
to formally sponsor girls wrestling on Ms. Zumas parlayed love of wrestling,
March 17, 2020. That ignited the 4-year, patience and work ethic into a unique a young girl followed her dad to Lehigh
COVID-interrupted run to the PIAA’s role. University matches and fell in love with
threshold of 100 sponsoring schools to the sport.
enact a state championship. Ms. Zumas helped to form and chaired “Prior to that point, most of the conver-
SanctionPA, an organization dedicated to
“I really didn’t have to work that hard to encouraging schools to establish girls’ sation concerning PIAA was to get the
convince our board of the value of girls’ wrestling programs at PIAA member organization to change the By-Laws,’’
wrestling,’’ said Mitchell, a Harrisonburg, schools, enough to surpass the 100- said Zumas, who was an assistant coach
Va., native who coached the McCaskey school threshold required by PIAA to at Parkland HS near Allentown. “But Pat
boys wrestling team that often included sanction the sport and begin a state Tocci [current Penn Manor AD and a ma-
girls. “It was always supportive of the championship. jor supporter of girls wrestling] and oth-
idea. All I had to do was share facts with ers felt the best path was to follow the
them.’’ The first to approve girls wrestling was PIAA’s process. We knew it was going to
J.P. McCaskey on March 17, 2020. No. take work, but our mindset was to go get
And look what Mitchell and McCaskey 100 was Pennridge HS in Montgomery it done.’’
have started: 47 official District III girls County on Feb. 14, 2023, triggering the
programs (14 more than second place PIAA By-Laws to sanction the sport. That’s exactly what SanctionPA did de-
District VII), the only district with enough spite several barriers, not the last of
schools to have sectional qualifiers to dis- “We launched SanctionPA in early 2020 which were the COVID-19 shutdowns
tricts, which will be conducted on Mar. 2 with the mindset that we needed to pro-
at Penn Manor HS at the PIAA South Cen- vide education and support for schools Continued on next page click here.
tral Region Tournament, just like the Dis- that were considering girls wrestling,’’
trict III 3A boys championship. said Zumas, a Lehigh Valley native who as

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