Three Bulldogs Qualify for State Track Meet

Both the Hampton-Dumont-CAL (HDCAL)  boys and girls track and field teams competed in the 2025 3A State Qualifying Meet at Decorah High School on Thursday, May 15. Two athletes from the girls team qualified for state, Charlee Morton and Lily Hambly, while Beau Morton was the lone Bulldog from the boys team to qualify. Overall, the girls team finished seventh out of eight teams with 43 total points, while the boys finished eight out of eight teams with 39 total points. 

The girls finished inside the top five in five different individual events. Senior Charlee Morton finished in first place and automatically qualified for state in both the shot put throw with a throw, with a throw of 43 feet, 10 inches, and in the discus throw with a throw of 131 feet, 9 inches. Head coach of the Bulldogs girls team Nikki Donenwerth spoke on Morton’s incredible high school career up to this point. 

“She is a member of an elite club with qualifying as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior,” said Donenwerth. “ Hopefully that is something that she stops and kind of just gives herself some time to think about and recognize what an accomplishment that is. Her season is not over and she still has some unfinished business that she wants to take care of.” 

Senior Lily Hambly finished first and automatically qualified for state in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute, 8.45 seconds. Hambly also finished fourth in the high jump with a jump of 4 feet, 10 inches, and she also finished fourth in the long jump with a jump of 16 feet, 0.75 inches. 

The girls only competed in one team event. Freshman Adelee Gronewold, senior Brooklyn Valley, freshman Drew Horton and freshman Megan sever made up the girls 4x100-meter relay team that finished eight with a time of 56.56 seconds.

The Bulldogs boys team finished inside the top five in five different individual events. Sophomore Beau Morton finished second and automatically qualified for state in the shot put throw with a throw of 49 feet, 1 inch. Beau Morton also finished in fifth in the discus throw with a throw of 136 feet, 11 inches. Head coach of the Bulldogs boys team Dan Aalbers talked about Beau Morton joining his sister in qualifying for state. 

“It’s pretty exciting for a sophomore to make state in shot, you usually don’t see many sophomores there,” said Aalbers. “If you go to the wellness center anytime throughout the winter you’ll see Charlie and Beau out there with dad putting in work. So it’s not an accident that he is really starting to come into his own.” 

Sophomore Briggs Gruelke finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.97 seconds. Freshman Bayden Wrich finished fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.44 seconds. Junior Aaden Keehn finished fifth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.29 seconds. 

The best finishes the boys had in team events was sixth place in the 800-meter sprint medley relay and in the 4x200-meter relay. The 800-meter sprint medley relay team was made up of Gruelke, Wrich, junior Carter Arends and senior Isaac Sauke and finished with a time of 1 minute, 40.78 seconds. Those same four boys made up the 4x200-meter relay team that finished with a time of 1 minute 37.58 seconds. 

Charlie and Beau Morton along with Lil Hambly will look to represent HDCAL well at the state track meet at Drake Stadium this weekend.