Pioneers set 24 records at districts; 4 qualify for state meet

The Dock track and field teams exceeded all reasonable District 1 AA Championship expectations that could have been set when the season began.

The Pioneers will send four athletes to the state championships after winning five events on Saturday at districts. Only event champions in the AA division receive automatic berths in the state championships. Bobby-Jo Dodds won the girls 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles as well as the triple jump. Liv Moyer took gold in the girls 3,200-meter run. Micah Mast won the boys pole vault. Also on Friday, Olivia Mozzone won the girls pole vault, but the event has a minimum height to compete in states and that will be the goal for future years for the freshman. Sophia Veltre will compete in the girls triple jump at states after Dodds conceded her qualifying spot to the freshman, who finished second in triple jump.

The Dock girls placed second in the team standings with 134 points, trailing only Delaware County Christian’s 162 points.

The Dock boys tied for third place with Calvary with 76 points. Delco scored 79 points for second place, and Church Farm School won with 122 points. Both teams celebrated 24 best times or distances between them.

Friday’s action in the two-day meet at Coatesville High School began with Mozzone winning her first district title. She equaled her personal best and earned the gold medal with a clearance of 6-feet-6 in the pole vault and had several good attempts at clearing 7-feet.

Elsewhere in the field Friday, Veltre was third in the girls long jump at 15-feet-3¾, Mozzone hit a personal-record 12-11¾ for sixth and Maddie Afanador was seventh. Veltre threw a personal-best 28-1 for fourth place in the girls shot put and Ainsley Moyer also had a PR of 26-9¼ for sixth place.

Drew Bauman highlighted the Friday afternoon field events. The senior launched a huge personal record by more than 15 feet of 125-feet-2 to move up two spots from his seeding to claim sixth place in the boys javelin.

On the track, the girls 4x800 of Sadie Bernd (2:35.69), Moyer (2:32.22), Gretchen German (2:35.04) and Dodds (2:30.69 in her first 4x800 of the season) dropped more than 20 seconds off their season-best to threaten favorite New Hope-Solebury before finishing second in 10:13.63.

Daniel Ringenberg started a busy districts – he was the lone athlete to compete in the three longest running events – by clocking a personal record of 4:49.11 for third place in the boys 1,600 meters. Olivia Moyer and Bernd came back from the relay in the morning to place in the girls 1,600 meters. Moyer ran 5:51.75 for sixth place while Bernd ran 5:56.37 for seventh place.

Olivia Moyer opened Saturday’s track portion by winning her first district title in the girls 3,200 meters. Her 12:00.35 personal best was 18 seconds ahead of the second place and is the fastest winning 3,200 time in AA districts since 2018.

Ringenberg, after clearing 8-feet-6 for second in the boys pole vault, ran 10:33.46 for fourth place in the boys 3,200 meters.

Dodds literally ran over from winning the girls triple jump with a season’s best 32-5¾ to get on the starting blocks and win the 100 hurdles in a personal-best 16.43 seconds, a time that would sit 31st in the whole AA state rankings. Veltre took second in the triple jump by just over an inch at 31-4¾. In the 100 hurdles, Afanador placed eighth in a personal-best 20.71 seconds.

Micah Mast won the boys pole vault with a clearance of 12-feet, and reached the minimum to qualify to jump at the state championships. The senior then took third in the boys 110-meter hurdles in a personal record of 17.42 seconds. Bauman ran a personal best of 17.72 for fourth place. Matthew Mast finished in sixth place.

Ainsley Moyer picked up a silver medal in the girls discus with a big PR of 101-2, almost 10 feet better than she’d thrown at any point this season. Veltre closed her first district meet with a fifth in the discus at with a giant 14-feet improvement to a PR of 83-8.

Saturday’s afternoon events began with the 4x100 relay of Mozzone, Afanador, Celeste Derstine and Ceara Barnes recording a season-best 59.50 seconds for third place.

The boys 4x100 of Luke Smeland, Roman Kurian, Alex Kostler and Jayden Waters were just a tenth of a second of their best with Waters having to avoid a fallen runner as they were fourth in 47.44 seconds.

Dodds put on a show for her final gold medal. The senior destroyed the field in the 300 hurdles in 47.28 seconds, one-hundredth of a second off a current state Top-10 ranking. Afanador came in seventh for another two points for the girls.

Micah Mast lowered his personal best to 41.73 for second place in the boys 300 hurdles. Bauman was sixth in 45.75 seconds.

Ainsley Moyer picked up another second-place finish with another near 10-feet improvement, as she threw 100-1 for silver in the girls javelin. German threw 68-8 for seventh place and Bernd recorded a new PR of 65-1. Waters finished sixth in the boys triple jump as he hit 36-1¾ in the only other afternoon field event for the Pioneers.

The 800 meters saw three more personal records. German ran 2:34.62 for fifth in the girls race with Barnes just back in 2:37.19.

Ringenberg capped his meet with an impressive 2:09.53 PR for fifth in the boys 800.

The girls 4x400 closed the track events with Barnes, Bernd, German and Derstine running 4:349.94 to take fourth place. The boys 4x400 hit a new season best with Waters, Kurian, Micah Mast and Bauman running 3:49.51 for fifth place.

Dodds will compete in hurdles trials on Friday at the state championships at Shippensburg University, her first trip in an individual event. Liv Moyer runs Saturday morning, and Micah Mast will pole vault and Veltre will triple jump later that day.