DCG’s Rankin coaches 500th game, girls wrestlers hit milestone

This week for Dallas Center-Grimes saw one major career milestone and a couple of important individual marks. (Note: Events covered Jan. 17-22)

Boys Basketball (9-2)

While it should have come a couple of weeks earlier due to a series of postponements, Dallas Center-Grimes head coach Joel Rankin coached his 500th career game on Saturday. And it turned into one of the highlights of the season.

DCG traveled to Gilbert’s annual showcase and took on Carroll (8-3), a team vying for a conference title of its own. The Tigers proved to be little issue for the Mustangs, though, as DCG walked through for a 73-43 win. Only the season-opening 31-point win is a larger margin this season.

Calix Cahill was a walking bucket, putting up 23 points while making 10-of-12 shots and all three shots from the penalty stripe. With nine rebounds and five assists (tied with Brogan Fuller), this marks the first time that Cahill led the team in all three major categories.

Dallas Center’s success carried into Monday night playing a ranked Pella Christian (2A, 9-4). Right from the jump, it was DCG’s game and ended in a 64-56 win. After stumbling into the winter break with two straight losses, the Mustangs have won four games in a row by at least eight points.

Girls Basketball (12-3)

For the second time, the Mustangs’ game against Pella Christian (5-10) was postponed. All that wait amounted to a 66-35 win, a fiery comeback after losing 60-29 to Bishop Heelan (12-0) on Saturday in Dallas Center.

Against Pella, however, the Mustangs logged their 20th win in a row over the Eagles, as Kayla Reis scored 19 points to increase her lead as the team’s top scorer. She has now scored 12.2 points per game, ahead of Vanessa Bickford’s average of 8.6 points. And while Bickford is typically the team’s top facilitator (ranked 12th in the class in assists per game), it was freshman Macy Meyer that opened up the most doors on Monday.

Meyer logged six assists against the Eagles, the fourth most by a 4A freshman in a single game this season.

Boys Wrestling

The Mustangs made a quick trip to Urbandale on Saturday where the team scored 58.5 points for 14th place among the 21 teams invited including the likes of Waukee (20th), Ames (16th) and Dowling Catholic (10th). Bettendorf won with 199.5 points. 

Cole Hemmingsen (150 pounds) was the team’s biggest point contributor with a third place mark. His ran through his first two draws before falling to Waverly-Shell Rock but managed to battle back in the consolation bracket to cap a 4-1 day overall, beating three 30-win opponents in the process (he faced the same PCM opponent twice).

Girls Wrestling

DCG spent its Saturday in Mason City at a meet with over 20 programs attending, ending with a 11th place finish for the team.

Both managing to get to the championship round, Asia Jahangir (130 pounds) and Bella Mulder (135) led the team with second place finishes. Jahangir added four wins to her resume and narrowly missed on a 5-0 day but lost a 4-2 sudden victory to Mason City’s opponent. Mulder went 3-0 before a fall in the title match. 

Halley Beaudet (190) won her first round of the day and reached 20 wins on the season, as did Jenah Grey (145) who placed fifth after going 3-1 overall.