2022 Top 10 for Bulldog Athletics

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.

Number 10 - Hanson and Meader both reach basketball milestones.

Avery Hanson and Lauren Meader, 2022 graduates, both scored their 1,000th points in 2022.  Hanson would also reach the 500 rebounds milestone.  The pair were pillars of the H-D-CAL girls basketball program during their four years in a Bulldog uniform.  

Number 9 - Barkema, Showalter, and Kapp all clear wrestling milestones.

Carl Barkema, Jack Showalter, and Jakyb Kapp would all clear wrestling milestones in the 2022 season.  Showalter and Kapp would both cross the 100 win milestone and Barkema would reach 150 wins and the 100 pins milestone.  Barkema would end his career as the winningest wrestler in H-D-CAL history with a 169-36 record.  He also holds numerous other wrestling records as well.  Showalter would finish his career with 144 wins, surpassing his coach Carter Barkema on his last match in a Bulldog singlet.  Jakyb Kapp would finish his Bulldog wrestling career with a 119-45 record.  The class of 2022 would win 692 individual varsity matches during their careers.

Number 8 - H-D-CAL Bulldog football qualifies for 3A state playoffs.

The H-D-CAL Bulldog football team entered the 2022 season looking to rebuild.  They would blow expectations out of the water and finish the season 6-3 with a few nail biters.  The Bulldogs record would earn them one of the four wildcard spots for the class 3A playoffs and a matchup with the Humboldt Wildcats.  The Bulldogs would lose the game, but exceeded expectations all season.  Senior, Tony Valenzuela also earned first team all-state as a kick returner.

Number 7 - Abby Drier qualifies for state track in 100 M hurdles.

Freshman, Abby Drier would earn a trip to run on the blue oval at state track for the Bulldogs.  She would finish second at districts running a 17.45.  Drier would make the most of her state track appearance running her best time of the season, 16.79.  She would finish 17th in class 3A.

Number 6 - Bulldog boys track sends 3 events to state. 

The H-D-CAL Bulldog boys track team would send two relays and an individual event to state track.  Tate Schmitt would qualify in the High Jump and clear a jump of 6’ to finish in a tie for 14th place.  The Bulldog boys would also qualify the 4x100 and 4x200 meter realy teams.  Both relays had the same four members of sophomore Gavin Meader and Tate Murray, with junior Tony Valenzuela, and senior Tate Schmitt.  The 4x200 relay would run a time of 1:32.23 and place 13th overall.  The 4x100 would run a 44.68 and finish 23rd overall.

Number 5 - Lydia Maas qualifies for state cross country.

Junior Lydia Maas has been the name associated with H-D-CAL cross country for the past few years.  She would go 3 for 3 in her career with qualifying for the state meet.  She has looked to improve every year and trains vigorously to compete at the highest level.  She would run a solid time of 20:38 and finish 54th overall in class 3A.

Number 4 - Jack Showalter finishes 7th at state wrestling at 113 pounds.

The Showalter name has long been associated with wrestling in Hampton.  Jack Showalter would continue the proud legacy and cement his own with a 7th place finish at state wrestling.  Showalter would lose his first round match, but then wrestle back to face his first round opponent in his final match of his career.  Showalter would dominate and earn the victory that would push him to second place in the Bulldog record books.

Number 3 - Charlee Morton shatters records on her way to 7th at state.

Freshman Charlee Morton broke all of the H-D-CAL middle school records for throwing, and then wasted no time in doing the same at the high school.  Morton would break the 8 year discus previously held by Madison Mason with a throw of 131 feet 4 inches.  Interestly enough Mason was coached by Charlee's dad, Brandon Morton.  Morton would throw herself into an appearance as state in both the discuss and the shot put.  Morton would place 7th at state in the discus with a throw of 125’4” and would finish 11th overall in the shot put with a throw of 37’4”.

Number 2 - Bulldog wrestling breaks records, wins NCC title.

The H-D-CAL Bulldog wrestling team would break a decade plus drought of a men’s conference title.  The Bulldogs would go 6-1 in duals in the NCC and claim their first dual title since 2006.  The team would earn the win at home in front of a packed gym against the Clear Lake Lions and St. Edmonds Gaels.  The Bulldog wrestlers would carry that momentum to St. Ed’s for the NCC tournament and take the tournament title by a single point over Webster City.  The Bulldogs would crown 4 individual champions with Jayson Stevens, Carl Barkema, Braden Hansen, and Tate Schmitt.  Aside from the previously mentioned individual accomplishments of several Bulldog wrestlers, the team would shatter the single season dual wins total finishing the year 30-4.

Number 1 - Carl Barkema finishes runner-up at state wrestling at 160 pounds.

To say the wrestling team had a successful season in 2022 might be an understatement.  The leader of the team wrapped up one of the most successful careers in H-D-CAL Bulldog wrestling with a trip to the state finals.  Carl Barkema entered the tournament as a finalist favorite and navigated a tough 160 pound bracket to reach the state finals against a familiar foe.  The rubber match would go to Nick Fox of Osage, but Barkema would wrestle tough and leave it all on the mat as he had every time he laced his shoes up.  Barkema holds nearly all the individual records for the Bulldogs and is a two-time NCC champion and three time place winner at the state tournament.  He has also been seen showing up to help in the wrestling room this season for the Bulldogs.

The H-D-CAL Bulldogs had a lot of success in 2022 and should look forward to a successful 2023.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the H-D-CAL coaches and athletes for the chance to cover you.  I also need to give a huge shout out to several people that helped me with photography throughout the year, Molly Bird, Heather Bushbaum, Nikki Donnenwerth, and Heather McNealy.