Central Pennsylvania will be well represented on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team

While York County does not have a single athlete on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team, the central Pennsylvania region is certainly moving toward filling that gap.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced its 592-strong contingent for the upcoming games in Paris on Wednesday morning. Twenty-seven athletes listed their hometowns in Pennsylvania. Nine of those athletes are from Lancaster, Cumberland, Dauphin or Berks counties.

The U.S. women's field hockey team has the largest percentage of Pennsylvanians, as nine of the team's 14 players hail from the Keystone State. Seven of these standouts played at PIAA District 3 schools – Brooke and Emma DeBerdine (Penn Manor) of Millersville, Sophia Gladieux (Oley Valley) of Oley, Ashley Hoffman (Twin Valley) of Mohnton, Karlie Kisha (Hamburg) of Hamburg, Kelee Lepage (Twin Valley) of Honey Brook and Madeleine Zimmer (Hershey) of Hershey. Teammate Meredith Sholder played at Emmaus but hails from Fleetwood in Berks County, while Ashley Sessa of Schwenksville completes the group.

Gladieux, who will play her redshirt senior season at Penn State in the fall, is one of many current and former Nittany Lions players traveling to Paris from all sports. Former PSU hockey goalie Jenny Rizzo, a Hershey graduate, will travel to Paris as an alternate for the team (as will Cassie Sumfest of Lewisburg). Kisha, a UConn graduate and current Villanova assistant coach, has one of the most inspiring stories of any U.S. Olympic athlete, as she will compete just two months after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer.

The U.S. women's team is ranked 13th in the world and will be one of 12 nations competing in the Olympics. The group qualified in January after missing the 2021 Tokyo Games.

Alyssa Thomas (women's basketball) of Camp Hill and Casey Kaufhold (archery) of Lancaster round out the Central PA group. Thomas, who won two District 3 titles at Central Dauphin before becoming Maryland's all-time leading scorer and a five-time WNBA All-Star, is making her Olympic debut at age 32. Kaufhold, a 20-year-old Conestoga Valley graduate, competed in Tokyo but is now a medal favorite as the best recurve archer in the world. She officially punched her ticket to Paris in May.

The 2024 Olympic Games will begin with the opening ceremony on Friday, July 26, and competition will last until Sunday, August 11.

York County had two representatives at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Spring Grove resident Hali Flickinger won two bronze medals in swimming (400-meter individual medley, 200-meter butterfly), while Kennard-Dale graduate John Stefanowicz competed in Greco-Roman wrestling. Flickinger also competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

This year, however, Flickinger – who turned 30 on July 7 – retired in January and became a real estate agent in Arizona. Stefanowicz and his brother Chance Marsteller competed in the U.S. Olympic qualifying competitions in wrestling but missed out on coveted spots in Paris. Former West York athlete Trinity Thomas, who had a historic college career as a gymnast in Florida, competed in the U.S. championships in June but failed to make the Olympic qualifying competitions later in the month.

Penn State is expected to have a total of 13 athletes on Team USA, with Gladieux currently the only Nittany Lion in the group. She will be joined by wrestlers Aaron Brooks and Zain Retherford (of Benton, Pennsylvania); soccer stars Alyssa Naeher and Sam Coffey; volleyball players Matt Anderson and Max Holt; volleyball middle blocker Haileigh Washington; track and field shot putter Joe Kovacs; gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik; fencer Miles Chamley-Watson; fencer Margherita Guzzi Vincenti; and rugby player Kayla Canett.

A handful of other Nittany Lions will represent other countries in Paris. Roman Bravo-Young will wrestle for Mexico, Cheickna Traore will run the 200 meters for his native Ivory Coast, Sam Zakutney is part of the Canadian men's gymnastics team and current PSU women's fencing team captain Samantha Catantan will represent the Philippines. Swimming siblings Emma and Jack Harvey will compete for their native Bermuda, while Gabe Castano-Garcia came out of retirement to swim for Mexico in his second Olympics.

Pennsylvania has also produced 2024 U.S. Olympians in men's and women's equestrian, men's rowing, women's rugby, men's swimming, women's track and field and women's water polo. Philadelphia's Kahleah Copper joins Thomas on the women's basketball team, while Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid — who is listed as a Villanova native — will be a central part of the U.S. men's basketball team.

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Central Pennsylvania will be well represented on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team

Anna Harden

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