If the Dock girls track and field team had nerves or doubts or uncertainties, it didn’t show in their performances.
The Pioneers pulled away late from two-time defending champion Delaware County Christian to capture the 2024 Bicentennial Athletic League title Thursday at Dock. Dock finished with 182 points to Delco’s 167, but the score was closer than that throughout the entire second day of competition and the Pioneers were never comfortable until the final track event, the 4x400, and final field event, the long jump, were wrapping up. It’s their first league title since 2021.
The Dock boys exceeded many of their rankings in a strong performance. With just one senior, the Pioneer boys scored 59 points to place sixth to set up a bright future.
The Dock girls came off Wednesday’s first day of competition with a three-point edge. It never seemed to change too greatly from there, with both Dock and Delco battling through the ebbs and flows that came with relying on their strengths and depth.
On the track, the day began with Olivia Mozzone running a personal record 56.19 seconds and Maddie Afanador posting a personal best of 56.67 seconds to take seventh and eighth place and pick up three points. Delco’s second and sixth were expected. Delco took the lead when they placed three in the 100 meters while the Pioneers did not have a finalist.
In the first field event of the day, Dock’s Sophia Veltre placed second with a personal best of 29-feet-2.5. Delco took third to retain their lead.
The Pioneers regained the lead when they countered Delco’s 100 meters with a fleet of place-winners in the 1,600 meters. Tessa Moyer ran a PR of 5:36.37 for second place, Olivia Moyer ran a personal best of 5:43.19 for third place, Gretchen German posted a best of 5:43.23 for fourth place and Sadie Bernd, competing despite a strained muscle, ran just off her season best at 5:58.92 for fifth place as the Pioneers picked up 23 points in the event.
The girls 4x100 picked up another five points as Eliana Farmer, Afanador, Mozzone and Olivia Valverde placed fourth in 57.14 seconds. Delco was first to pull closer.
Ashley Brown ran a personal best of 1:02.29 for second and Valverde was eighth in 1:07.71 in the 400 while Delco went 1-5 to pick up some more points.
Delco went into the lead with the 100-meter hurdles as the top five finishers all set personal records. Afanador ran 19.42 seconds for third, and Mozzone broke 20 seconds for the first time at 19.94 for fifth. Delco took the top two spots to set the stage for the final four events.
The boys long jump was still going on so the girls long jump that featured several strong competitors from Delco hadn’t even begun. On the track next came the 800 meters, an event Dock was poised to score big but there were also doubts with four of the competitors coming off the turnaround from the 1,600 and eventual Track Athlete of the Meet Elaina Rainwater from Phil-Mont Academy in the race.
German led wire to wire to win in 2:32.41, Ceara Barnes nearly edged out Rainwater for second, missing by one-hundredth of a second in a personal record 2:33.18. Tessa Moyer was fourth in 2:36.08, and Olivia Moyer outkicked a Bristol runner in the final 50 meters for fifth in 2:36.59. Bernd gutted out a season-best 2:41.57 and two more huge points to give Dock 27 points in the event and the team lead again.
In the race of the day, Brown closed in a hurry on the Delco favorite and a Faith Christian Academy sprinter and finished second to Delco by one-hundredth of a second in 27.23 seconds. Delco’s first and eighth places kept them in the hunt.
With girls long jump still just starting, scores were calculated going into the final event on the track, the 4x400 relay. The Pioneers expected they needed a second-place finish, and maybe even a win to offset Delco’s potential big points in the long jump.
Barnes ran a great 1:05.38 split to open, Olivia Moyer ran a top split of 1:09.34 and handed off in second, Valverde closed the Faith Christian lead with a 1:07.04 split, and gave the baton to Brown with a one-second deficit. Faith’s anchor held the lead on Brown for 360 meters but over the final 100 Brown’s turnover picked up and the freshman stormed by with a 1:01.92 split to give the Pioneers the win in 4:23.69, a huge season’s best, and a big 10 points. Delco ran third, and when two of their competitors backed out of the long jump, the overall result was no longer in doubt.
Veltre jumped a personal best of 15-feet-7 for third place and Sophia Mercure jumped 14-1.75 for fifth place to earn more points than Delco’s second-place finisher did and seal the final advantage.
Jayden Waters had a big day for the boys. The sophomore was second in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.35 seconds. He ran 44.46 for third in the 300-meter hurdles. He earned a personal record of 19-feet-1 for sixth place in the long jump.
Waters also brought the baton home in the boys 4x100 that ran a season-best 46.37 seconds. Roman Kurian, Myles Johnson and Xander Morsby set him up and Waters overtook the Delco anchor to give the Pioneers a thrilling third place.
Seungkyu Cho threw 105-9 for third place in the discus. The team’s lone senior boy was fourth in the javelin at 121-feet. Luke Smeland, the junior captain, placed fifth in the javelin with a 118-9 throw.
Both Aaron Sensenig and Mikey Pustay had great efforts in the 1,600 meters. Sensenig broke the 5:00 barrier for the first time with a 4:57.40 clocking for seventh place. Pustay just missed the mark, but still PR’d with a 5:00.38 finish for ninth.
Morsby captured eighth place in the 400 in 55.23 seconds.
Trace Scavetti put together his finest performances of the season. Running in the first of three heats, he placed eighth in the 300-meter hurdles in a personal-record 47.77 seconds. He was also in the first heat for the 110 hurdles and finished sixth overall in a personal best of 19.92 seconds.
In the final event for the boys, the 4x400 relay of Johnson, Pustay, Kurian and Morsby ran a season-best 3:45.19 for fourth place.
There is one more meet before the District meet. The Pioneers host the Last Chance Dock Distance Night 5:30 p.m. Monday on the final qualifying day for districts.