The first meet of the season gave the Dock boys cross country team a promising start. The Pioneers welcomed five teams to the Dock campus for the Lansdale Invitational on Friday morning. Under overcast skies, Dock placed fifth in the boys race that was won by neighboring North Penn.
 

Aaron Sensenig was steady from start to finish to lead the Pioneer runners. The senior captain was 45th overall in 19 minutes, 1 second for the 5-kilometer course. Sensenig ran more than a minute and a half faster than he had on the same course last year. He was just three seconds off his personal record. Sensenig spent much of the race chasing James Steinmetz, who pushed the pace hard in his cross country debut. The senior ran 19:13 for 49th place in his first high school race. Josh Frederick showed a huge jump in his first race of the season. The junior placed 60th in a personal best of 20:31. His time was more than two and a half minutes better than his time in the same race last year. Four spots behind him was Xander Morsby, who also had a strong debut. The sophomore picked up the pace over the final stretch to come in 64th in 21:07. Rounding out Dock’s scoring was their fifth finisher, Ryan Ykoruk, who also made his high school debut an encouraging one. The freshman placed 79th in 22:04, a lifetime best for him at the 5k distance.
 

North Penn won the boys race by taking the first five spots. Methacton was second, Upper Dublin took third and Germantown Academy was fourth. Mount St. Joseph won the girls race. Teams were asked to bring non-perishable donations for Manna on Main Street. More than 400 pounds of donations were brought for the area food pantry.
Dock next will compete Saturday at the Dutchmen Invitational hosted by Lebanon Valley College.