DCG track makes steady gains, girls golf starts season

Dallas Center-Grimes found a couple of standout performances to highlight this week in sports.

Girls Track

While Tuesday’s event in Adel was postponed, the Mustangs got in some action Saturday hosting six teams for the annual DCG invitational. Dallas Center placed sixth overall on the girls side with 87 points, just a few placements shy of third place, as three teams had between 90-100 points. Pleasant Valley won the afternoon with 176 points.

Maddie Schmitz found her way to the top of the scoreboard in the 400-meter dash, clocking a time of 58.21 seconds with more than a second of cushion from a silver finish. It’s a new event for Schmitz who was predominantly the lead 200-meter runner last year as a sophomore. She already took more than four seconds off of last year’s team’s top time. Schmitz recorded a time of 1:00.34 as a freshman.

And coming off an appearance as a freshman at the state cross country meet, Piper Messerly climbed into fourth place in the 1,500-meter run at 4 minutes 53.49 seconds. That is eight seconds ahead of DCG’s top runner last year.

Boys Track

Hosting seven teams on Saturday, the Mustangs placed fifth with 95 points. Conference rival Pella took fourth place with 107 points.

Making one of the biggest contributions, Aidan Charlson stood his own in a tough shot put circuit where he tossed new personal 50-foot-5 record. Last year he topped out at 47-7. At over 50 feet, the only two attendees ranked above him Saturday were two top-five state contestants from last season.

In the other ring, Eli Rupp threw 148-feet-8 in the discus for a nearly nine-foot gain on his best mark from his junior year. Both Rupp and Charlson would have placed in the top 15 at the state meet last year with those distances.

And giving the team an interesting battle on the track, Darien Walker and Trevone King placed third and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with times of 15.83 and 15.94 seconds. Like the throwers duo, those marks would have competed at the state meet in 2023. Walker and King have already made leaps of progress year-over-year. With a PR of 17.98 seconds as a freshman last year, Walker has cleared more than two seconds while King moved past his best mark of 17.00 seconds.

Golf

Opening up 2024 on Monday while many teams throughout the state dealt with cancellations, the Mustangs placed fifth in the five team set in Ankeny. The team scored a combined 436 led by Joey Moberg’s score of 103 strokes. Waukee Northwest dominated the course for first place at 341.

Girls Soccer (2-1)

Following a 3-2 win at Ankeny on Friday, the Mustangs suffered their first loss of 2024 the next day at the same tournament. Waukee Northwest got the final word in a 3-1 win over DCG.

Boys Soccer (0-1)

DCG gets back on the field Thursday for an appointment with Des Moines Christian (0-2).