One day after the relays were featured, the Jack Armstrong Invitational at Abington High gave the Dock track and field program’s individuals a chance to shine.
The Pioneers did.
They recorded 11 new personal bests as well as strong marks that showed good development just four weeks out from the District 1 AA Championships and less than three weeks from the Bicentennial Athletic League Championships. Three Pioneer athletes earned medals for top-six finishes at the meet that included mostly AAA sized schools.
Luke Smeland had another improvement in boys javelin. The junior captain placed fifth with a throw of 119-feet-7. He is ranked seventh in the district.
Jayden Waters had a breakthrough in the boys 110-meter hurdles. The sophomore ran 17.28 in the preliminary heats to earn a spot in the finals where he placed fifth in 17.32 seconds to take a medal. His time is well under the district qualifying standard and currently sits ranked second in District 1 AA.
Olivia Mozzone cleared the opening height of 6-feet to medal in the pole vault. The sophomore placed sixth.
The girls 800 meters had three good times for the Pioneers. Gretchen German won her heat and placed ninth overall with a big drop in her personal best down to 2:30.43, better than four seconds ahead of her previous best. The time qualifies her for districts, where she is the current No. 2 seed. Ceara Barnes also lowered her PR. The senior dropped nearly two seconds to go 2:35.42 for 14th place. She is ranked sixth in the district. Liv Moyer ran 2:38.27, just a tenth of a second off her all-time best. The senior captain placed 18th overall, and now is ranked eighth in the district. She turned around two events later to run a season-best 12:47.11 in the girls 3,200 meters, placing seventh, just one spot from medaling. She is ranked fourth in the district.
German also nearly medaled in the girls javelin. The sophomore threw a season-best 68-11 for seventh place. She is ranked fifth in the district.
Seungkyu Cho placed ninth in the boys discus with a huge best of 107-feet-1, less than three feet from the district qualifier. He sits seventh in the district. The senior’s new personal record was more than 23-feet better than his first meet. Cho was also ninth in the boys javelin with a throw of 114-2.

Tessa Moyer clocked 5:50.56 for 11th in the girls 1,600 meters. Sadie Bernd had a strong finish to go 5:57.28 for 17th overall and the current No. 2 best on the team. Bernd is ranked eighth in the district.
Maddie Afanador ran a personal-record 20.41 seconds for 13th place in the girls 100-meter hurdles. Mozzone also PR’d in a time of 20.74 for 18th. Afanador is ranked third and Mozzone fourth in the district. The two also competed in the 300 hurdles with Afanador posting another personal best of 58.20 seconds for 20th and Mozzone running 1:00.56 for 22nd. They are fifth and sixth in the district now.
Aaron Sensenig placed 12th in his first 3,200 meters ever in 11:23.48. Michael Pustay ran 5:17.19 for 25th in the boys 1,600 meters, less than a second off his PR.
Olivia Valverde competed in four events. The sophomore ran a personal-best 14.44 seconds in the girls 100 meters, posted a 29.76 clocking in the girls 200, ran 1:10.17 in her first girls 400 for Dock, and placed eighth in the girls triple jump with a mark of 29-feet-1¾. 
Xander Morsby ran 12.40 seconds in his first 100-meter race of the season. The freshman ran a personal-record 24.95 seconds for the boys 200 meters, and 59.55 seconds in his first boys 400 effort.
Josh Frederick recorded a personal best of 1:02.47, more than two seconds better than his previous top mark. The sophomore also hit a new best of 2:25.55 in the boys 800.
Eliana Farmer set a personal-record 33.04 seconds in the girls 200 meters. The senior also ran 15.76 in the girls 100.
The Pioneers will travel to another large invitational this week. They will compete next at the Unionville Invitational that will be held at West Chester University on Saturday, April 27.