The Dock boys cross country team made history Wednesday. The Pioneers won the Independence Division in the Bicentennial Athletic League Championships, snapping a 15-year run by Jenkintown in the smaller schools division. Dock finished the Tyler State Park course with 40 points, 21 points better than runner-up Plumstead Christian. Phil-Mont Christian Academy was third. Jenkintown did not have a complete team.
 

Dock seniors Aaron Sensenig and James Steinmetz both medaled individually, but it took a collective effort from the Pioneers for the rare team title. The last known Pioneers title came prior to 1995. The Pioneers have walked a thin line between having enough to score all season, twice this year not having the minimum five to score as a team. But when the races meant the most, Dock had six finishers to claim a BAL crown with the four who had run Tyler earlier this year all bettering their times on the tough course. Sensenig took a minute and nine seconds off his time from the regular-season race at Tyler. The team captain ran 18:46 in his best tactical race of the season to place sixth individually, his highest BAL finish ever. Steinmetz gave Dock two finishers in the top 10. Another gutsy effort by the first-year team member helped push him to 10th place in 19:05, a 28-second improvement over a fine performance earlier in the year at Tyler. Xander Morsby continued his strong second half of the season. No one dropped more time than the sophomore who improved 1:48 from earlier to post a 20:30 clocking for 30th place (individual places are overall, and include the BAL Constitution Division finishers as well). Josh Frederick did not have the chance to race at Tyler earlier in the season due to injury, but the junior showed his mettle by going out hard and coming back to finish in 20:48 for 34th place.
Ryan Ykoruk closed out the team’s five scorers with a huge time drop as well. The freshman in his first BAL Championships took 1:09 off his previous best at Tyler to run 21:30 for 41st place. Jinyang Li gave Dock some insurance as a sixth finisher. The junior continues to get stronger after overcoming an injury. Li was 88th in 25:20, a time faster than he did on the considerably easier Dock home course the week before.

Dock hopes to ride the momentum into a strong showing at the District I A Championships at Lehigh University on Oct. 25. The top two teams plus the top 10 individuals not on a team already qualified will advance to the state championships Nov. 2.