Common sentiment among his colleagues in the L-L League is that McCaskey head cross-country coach Bob Ernst has a strong team with runners entering the season in excellent shape to challenge for their first L-L team title since the mid-1990s.

The Tornado will get possibly their stiffest challenge of the season right out of the gates, when they take on defending L-L meet champion Cedar Crest Tuesday at County Park in a meet hosted by Lancaster Catholic.

"I actually wish [the meet] was later in the year, so that both teams would be more tuned," Ernst said of the timing of the race against the Falcons.

Cedar Crest has set the league standard for the last few years; they finished first in the league meet in 2007 and 2009 and are 58-5 in dual meets over the last three years.

McCaskey, on the other hand, last topped the regular-season standings in 1996, when they shared the top spot with Hempfield. A year prior, 1995, was McCaskey's last sole regular-season title as well as their most recent L-L meet title.

The championship drought has not been lost on Ernst, as he enters his 24th season at the helm of the Tornado.

"It's been a long time since we've won a league title, but we're going to go for it," Ernst said before indicating that he has even larger goals for this year's squad. "I've made three trips to states. I want to go one more time."

The Tornado quest to overthrow Cedar Crest will be conducted by senior Quiwane Walker and junior Tyler Holdren, each of whom medaled at the L-L championships in 2009. McCaskey loses Walker's older brother Quichon, last year's league runner-up.

The younger Walker, Q2 to his teammates and coaches, plans on leading McCaskey back to the top of the league pecking order. Laughing when asked if he knew how long it has been since their last championship, Walker said, "Coach brings it up sometimes. If we stay focused and do our best, this will be our year."

Senior co-captians Tyler Martin and Cody Cohen also return from the team that went 17-4 and finished sixth at the league meet. A fourth senior, Eric Witmer, adds to McCaskey's strong lead pack. Competing in his first year of cross-country after three years on the soccer pitch, Witmer is the defending L-L champion in the 800.

Leading Cedar Crest in fending off eager McCaskey is senior Alex Galli, who anchored the Falcon 4x800 relay team to a state gold medal the last time he competitively sported his Cedar Crest singlet.

The Falcons aim to defend their team title despite losing individual league champion Jon Jackson to graduation. The loss of Jackson is minimized by the return of Galli, one of the favorites to win the league title, and three other runners from their top seven last year.

"We have great senior leadership on this team," head coach Brandon Risser said. In addition to seniors Galli, Hunter Adams and Patrick Kelly, junior Shaun Ditzler and freshman Daniel Neiswender will compete for a spot in the Falcon top five.

Despite facing McCaskey to open the season, Risser has the bigger picture in mind.

"We can't control what other teams and runners are going to do," Risser said. "We want to be healthy and hungry on Oct. 29 for the L-L meet."

Galli's strongest competition for league supremacy appears to come from Hempfield senior Matthew Groff. After leading Hempfield to a 21-0 record in 2009, Groff finished fourth at the league meet, followed by a terrific track season where he advanced to the PIAA Championships in the 3,200.

Because Hempfield lost seven of last year's top 10 runners to graduation, this looks to be a rebuilding year for the Knights.

"The young guys have an opportunity that doesn't come along a lot at Hempfield," Coach Terry Newman said.

Regardless of where the Hempfield team finishes, Groff is ready to build on his breakout 2009 track season.

"Matthew is expecting a lot from himself," Newman said. "He is running strong and confidently."

Manheim Township, which finished second both during the regular season with a 20-1 record and at the L-L Championships, again has a team built on depth.

The Blue Streaks' success comes from a team-first attitude instilled by head coach Terry Lee.

"Our objective is always that team strength is influenced by individual strength," Lee said. "Together, we train to move to the next level."

Lee's teams consistently portray that unity. At last year's L-L meet, Township's top seven runners were separated by a mere 48 seconds. With four of those top seven returning, along with some added depth, Lee believes that his boys can "contend for first position."

Lancaster Mennonite was 19-2 last season and placed third at the L-L meet and second in Class AA at the District 3 competition to advance to the state meet. Coach Mark Gallagher has lofty goals for this year's squad.

"We want to get better every year, and when you finish 19-2 the year before, you need to shoot for the moon," he said.

Elizabethtown finished fourth at the L-L Championships in 2009, led by then-sophomore Nate Kreider, who finished eighth. The Bears are the only team to return three runners that placed in the top 30 of last year's league meet.

Competing with Galli and Groff for individual gold is Solanco junior John Ausel. Ausel was 19th at the L-L Championships as a sophomore but came into his own on the track in the spring with a third-place finish in the 3,200 at the league meet.

His coach, Scott Weaver, sees a marked improvement in just one year.

"John put in a fine summer, and he has improved greatly since last cross-country season," Weaver said. "He has gotten a lot stronger and grown into the sport in the last year."

Other returnees in the top 15 of the L-L Championships last year include Ephrata's Tyler Sensenig (ninth) and Annville-Cleona's Ben Rhoads (11th).

Manheim Township senior Ian Hackett, Lancaster Mennonite junior Jared Schatz and Annville-Cleona sophomore Mark Bachman finished 12th through 14th, respectively, in 2009.

Dan Massey is a Sunday News sports writer. E-mail him at dmassey@lnpnews.com.