York student-athlete trio to play college sports

The college signing at the York Comprehensive High School media center was over Wednesday afternoon, and the onlooking crowd of students was sent back to class. No cake for them.

The cake was for Kinleigh Wilkerson, Aaron Harper and Will McSwain. The three Cougar student-athletes signed national letters of intent to play college sports in front of their families, coaches and school administrators, and, yes, their unsweetened classmates. Wilkerson will join the track and field program at Winthrop, and baseball players Harper and McSwain will suit up for USC Lancaster and Erskine, respectively.

Wilkerson will throw both the shot and discus at Winthrop, though she prefers the latter. She began throwing as a freshman and made the Upper State qualifier the last three springs. She broke through this year, finishing eighth at the Upper State qualifier and grabbing the last spot for this weekend’s 4A track and field state championship. She also set a new school record in the discus.

Wilkerson is likely going to major in business at Winthrop. She joins an Eagles throwing program that has experienced abundant success lately, thanks to coach Brett Best and standout hammer thrower Marthaline Cooper, one of the country’s top in that event. Wilkerson jelled with Best immediately.

“He was like my type, very laid back and relaxed,” she said. “Hopefully he can help me out and make me a better athlete.”

Harper, who moved to York two years ago from Chapin, was just looking for an opportunity to play college baseball. He wasn’t particularly picky, but he felt he could do better than the few Division II schools that offered him walk-on spots. He landed at USC Lancaster with a chance to play infield in a good junior college baseball league, Region 10.

“I wanted to go somewhere where I could have the best opportunity to play at a four-year school, starting my junior year,” Harper said.

Harper is interested in engineering, though he’s not sure if he’ll major in that subject, and is a very capable student with a 4.25 GPA that received a LIFE Scholarship. He enjoyed his two years in the Cougars program under coach Eddie Tisdale.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “I thought it was fun.”

McSwain also enjoyed the relative revival the York program has experienced under Tisdale, the former Winthrop player. McSwain will join the sizable York County contingent at Erskine, a school with only around 600 students. Many of the classes at York will be bigger than his future college ones.

“You can really focus on baseball and your education,” McSwain said.

The right-handed pitcher also liked the relatively close proximity of Due West, S.C. McSwain plans on following in his parents’ footsteps and becoming an educator; he’ll major in physical education and hopes to ascend the teaching ranks and become a principal.

“This is the plan, something I’ve always dreamed of,” said McSwain. “Hard work progressed me to where I am today.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "York student-athlete trio to play college sports."