The Bear Facts
October 6, 2018

Good morning! I’m Caroline Bradley!

I’m Emma Lichter!

 And I’m Emma Fogarty! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”. Happy October from everyone at Bishop Garrigan High School!

 We’ve covered almost every school activity at Garrigan this fall on the “Bear Facts”, but if you’ve listened often, you might know that except for a quick overview at the beginning of the year, we haven’t talked about football. That’s because we didn’t want to jinx the streak. You see, ever since this year’s seniors were freshmen, the Bears haven’t lost a single game during the regular season. Senior Preston Kohlhaas reflected that—unlike most high school players—he and his friends have never had to go to practice after a loss, and he doesn’t want to start doing that now.

After their big victories over West Hancock and Belmond—Klemme, the streak grew to 33 consecutive regular season wins last week, and the Bears moved to 6 – 0 for the 2018 season. Now everyone is saying a little prayer that the rest of the season goes well, the Bears will win the district championship, and they’ll have another deep playoff run.




The Garrigan players don’t claim to have outstanding talent, but they work hard and they’ve really come together as a team. At the core are four-year veterans Brad Capesius, Billy Erpelding, Aidan Koob, Eric Thul, Tristan Furgeson, T.J. Schnurr, John Meis, Preston Kohlhaas, John Capesius, and Gabe Trainer. Other seniors include Caden Berte, Sam Vaske, and manager Bryce Capesius.

There’s good talent among the younger football players, too—including juniors Cade Winkel, Marcus Plathe, Colby Graves, and Alex Mammen, and sophomores like Kellen Murphy, Derrick Kirsch, Kale Kramer, Mitch Buscherfeld, and Isaiah Plathe. Congratulations on their accomplishments and good luck in the rest of the season, Golden Bear football!

Quiz bowl season begins today. Five Garrigan students got up early this morning to head down to Waukee for the first tournament of the season. They’re competing in the Iowa Quiz Bowl League fall novice tournament, an event that’s limited to younger players. Students participating include Aric Laubenthal, Noah Bronk, Amanda Thilges, Grant Bormann, and Mya Kemna. Good luck, quiz bowl!

 Last weekend Garrigan’s Solid Gold Marching Band competed at Algona Band Day, and they added three more enormous trophies to their collection. Garrigan finished in first place in both the parade and field competitions at band day, and the junior high band also won top honors. This morning the band is down in Ft. Dodge for the State Marching Band Contest.

There are twenty-eight students in the Garrigan band. They include seniors Sami Darling, Megan Besch, Megan Bronk, Layah DeLange, Ashlyn Harrington, Gabe Trainer, Logan Heying, Emma Thul, and Lauren Kenyon; and juniors Amanda Miller, Madison Meister, Carolyn Hough, Colby Graves, Mackenzie Meister, and Jordan Hansen.

 Sophomores in band include Joseph Bonstetter, Derrick Kirsch, and Joey Trainer. Rounding out the band are freshmen Meredith Tigges, Quinn Swift, Riley Rosenmeyer, Meredith Illg, Alexis Galligan, Marguerite Fakler, Xander Darling, Molly Bormann, and Hollis Bode. Good luck at state to director Katherine Wiemers and the Solid Gold Marching Band!

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Brad Capesius. Here to tell you about him is Lauren Kenyon.

Brad Capesius is probably best known as the quarterback of the Golden Bear football team. He’s been in that role since his sophomore year and is proud of leading the Bears when the played in the Dome. Brad has also been to state in track, he won the Silver Slugger Award in baseball, and he also excels at his favorite sport—basketball. He likes a wide range of classes, and he’s also helped to maintain the school website. Brad will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Lauren. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s state marching band contest this morning in Ft. Dodge. Also today the quiz bowl team is competing in Waukee.

Monday there’s cross-country at Forest City. Also that night the JV football team will be in action at North Union. Then on Tuesday the volleyball team hosts Humboldt.

Wednesday some students will be taking the P.S.A.T. test. We’ve got mass Wednesday morning, and we’ll dismiss early for teacher inservice that afternoon.

The conference cross-country meet will be Thursday at NIACC in Mason City. Friday the sophomores will go to Wild Haven, and we’ll also have an out-of-uniform day that day.

Friday night the Bears host West Fork for Senior Night. The danz squad will be serving a fundraiser meal at the games. Then next Saturday Garrigan will be hosting our big annual quiz bowl tournament.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for another week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.