Mother nature will not leave the Hampton-Dumont-CAL wrestlers alone this winter.  The Bulldogs were supposed to host a quadrangular this past Tuesday, but the ice storm forced the meet to be canceled.  The Bulldogs would wrestle two more tough events though against a few of the top teams in class 2A.  Coach Hansen says the wrestlers are preparing for the final stretch of the season and many are ready for a breakout.

The one word to use to sum up the first half of the season for the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldog winter athletes would be weather. The Bulldog athletes had a lot of games and meets in the first half of the season canceled or postponed due to mother nature. The three winter sports teams head into winter break with some momentum to carry them into a busy second half of the season for all the teams.
 
Girls Basketball

The end of a year is a time for reflection of the successes and failures from the past year.  As lists become more and more popular, it was time for a top 10 sports moments from 2022 for the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldog athletes.  From a boy’s conference championship for the first time in over a decade to reaching milestones and breaking records the Bulldog athletics program had a lot to celebrate in 2022.
 

The Bulldogs weathered the storm of tough early season tournaments, but could not beat mother nature. The Bulldogs were supposed to have a NCC conference dual with the Algona Bulldogs and Humboldt Wildcats plus the Ballard Bombers as a non-conference opponent for all the teams. This dual has been postponed until after winter break.

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs young girls basketball team has being learning and growing a lot while dealing with the weather and injuries. Many players have had to grow and step into roles that they might not have expected to at the beginning of the season. These difficulties are starting to benefit the Bulldogs as injured players return to the team.

As the inagural girls wrestling season approaches the midway point, the West Fork Warhawk girls wrestlers have been able to experience the ups and downs of a wrestling season. From figuring out how girls tournaments will run and where to go to wrestle them to seeing success and growth in a new sport for some.

BOONE — Iowa became the 16th state in the country to allow its high school athletes to benefit from their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) last week when the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Board of Control released guidelines for which a student may earn compensation.
Under the newly-released guidelines, students may earn compensation for their NIL so long as they:

A Jonathan Morales goal, assisted by Rimmy Cara, elevated Hampton-Dumont-CAL boys soccer over winless Grand View Christian in an April 26 road game.
The Bulldogs scored in the first half to win 1-0 and improve to 5-1.
Goalie Jose Aragon made 10 saves to record a shutout to his season stats.
As a team, HD-CAL made 28 shots and had 20 on goal.
 

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL girls track and field team ran at Humboldt on April 26 and then hosted a meet on Friday.
The girls placed fifth at Humboldt and fourth at the Jim Basye Co-Ed meet at home.
In the home meet, Aubryee Showalter placed third in the 200-meter event with a time of 29.24.
Zoe Erdman finished runner-up in the 400, running 1:03.57.

Hampton-Dumont-CAL boys track and field competed at South Tama on April 26 and hosted a meet on Friday.
The Bulldogs placed second at South Tama.
Tony Valenzuela placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.70.
Valenzuela also took third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.79.
Logan Pfeffer placed third in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.43.

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL traveled to Jester Park Golf Course on Thursday for an eight team, 18-hole invitational hosted by Des Moines Christian.
The Bulldogs placed second with a team score of 370, falling behind Des Moines Christian’s 349.
HD-CAL managed to beat Treynor for runner-up by two strokes.
Tommy Birsell and Tucker Heeren led the team with scores of 89, fifth best on the leaderboard.

HD-CAL boys track and field traveled to Iowa Falls-Alden on April 11.
The Bulldogs placed fourth as a team and had
The 4x200-meter relay won it’s race with a time of 1:34.97
The 4x100 team finished second in a time of 45.34.
Tate Schmitt finished second in the high jump, clearing six feet.
Scott Harr finished second in discus with a distance of 120-09.50.

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL boys golf hosted Crestwood on April 2 at the Hampton Country Club.
The Bulldogs defeated the Cadets 177-204 in the season opener.
HD-CAL outperformed Crestwood, placing five golfers higher than any Crestwood player.
Tommy Birdsell led with a 40-stroke game.
The boys played at West Fork on Tuesday and will play at Jester Park Golf Course on Thursday.
Results:

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL girls soccer team faced Iowa Falls-Alden on April 4 and Clear Lake on April 5.
The Bulldogs lost both games, 0-10.
Macy Christensen made seven saves in the goal against Iowa Falls-Alden and 10 saves in the Clear Lake game. .
 

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL boys soccer team defeated Iowa Falls-Alden, 3-2, on the road on April 4.
The Bulldogs scored the first goal, leading 1-0 at the half.
They’d keep the Cadets at bay, matching their two goals to hold onto the one-goal lead. Senior Jonathon Morales recorded the hat trick, scoring all three goals for the black and red. HD-CAL was efficient in their shots, taking 16 shots and putting 15 on target.