The Unionville Invitational gave the Dock track and field team another challenging environment in which to compete.
With most of the Pioneers’ competition coming from big schools, the goals were time oriented more than place, though athletes had the chance to compete on a more equal footing within their seeded heats and flights.
Sophia Veltre walked away with a silver medal, the result of a 34-feet-0 measurement in the girls triple jump. The freshman was the lone Dock athlete to medal in the outdoor meet that had competitors from Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Veltre also competed in discus and reached 67-feet-1½ in her first time competing in it.
While the rest of the team worked through a misty morning on the Unionville campus, Micah Mast was pushing into the record books at Philadelphia Jumps Club, where the top pole vaulters in the meet relocated for safer conditions indoors. The senior cleared 12-feet-6 for a new personal best and jumped to third in the Dock all-time record books behind Evan Scott and Cole Rupert who are tied at first at 13-6.
Mast and Veltre were just part of another parade of bests for Pioneer athletes. Drew Bauman lowered his season best in the boys 300-meter hurdles to 45.10 seconds. In the girls 300 hurdles, Olivia Mozzone lowered her top time to 59.60 seconds. Maddie Afanador battled through a hamstring strain to run 1:03.91.
Earlier, Bauman was just off his season best with an 18.43 time in the boys 110 hurdles. Mozzone improved to a personal-record 21.45 seconds and Afanador came in just behind in a best of 21.51 seconds in the girls 100 hurdles.
Mozzone established a best of 12-feet-10 in the girls long jump and Afanador jumped a best of 12-5. Jayden Waters reached out to 16-feet-11½ in the boys long jump. Alex Kostler jumped 15-6.
Matthew Mast hit a new personal best of 32-feet in the boys triple jump. Myles Johnson finished with a 30-feet-½ effort. Bauman threw 86-8 in the boys javelin. Gretchen German posted a mark of 66-2 in the girls javelin.
Roman Kurian and Johnson competed in the boys 100 meters. Kurian ran 13.27 and Johnson clocked 13.75 seconds.
The 1,600 meters had a couple divisions based on seed times. In the novice girls, Ceara Barnes dropped more than 10 seconds to finish in 6:19.52. Mikey Pustay ran a personal-record 5:17.27 in the boys novice race. In the open girls 1,600, Sadie Bernd dropped her season best to 5:53.78 with Liv Moyer just behind in 5:54.58. Daniel Ringenberg lowered his PR to 4:54.15 in the open boys 1,600 meters. Barnes returned later in the meet to post a 1:09.17 time in the girls 400 meters as part of a strong workout day for her.
German moved up to the No. 4 ranking in District 1 AA girls 800 meters when she ran a personal best of 2:38.60. Celeste Derstine made her season debut in the event and hit 2:42.93 while still working through shin splints. In the boys 800, Ringenberg clocked 2:14.35 and Josh Frederick hit a new best of 2:30.35.
Waters ran a personal best of 25.33 for the boys 200 meters. Kostler just missed a new PR with a 26.08 finish.
The girls 4x400 completed the day with a 4:45.02 finish with Barnes overtaking another runner at the finish line by four-hundredths of a second. German led off with a 1:10 split, Bernd hit 1:12, Moyer ran 1:13 and Barnes ran 1:08.
The Pioneers face a busy week ahead. Dock will compete at Interboro in a BAL regular-season meet. They travel to Pennridge on Thursday for the Helman Invitational and veteran athletes are slated to also compete Friday at the prestigious Henderson Invitational.