The Bear Facts
March 7, 2020
 

Good morning! I’m Ava Eisenbarth!

I’m Maryanne Capesius! Welcome to another special episode of the “Bear Facts”, where it’s celebration time here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

The Bears made history this past week. Before 2020 the Golden Bear girls basketball team had made it to state four times, and the boys had made it to state three times. That’s in the sixty-year history of our school. That changed this year, when for the first time ever both the girls and boys teams qualified for the state basketball tournament. The girls beat East Buchanan to take their regional championship, and the boys got a huge victory in their substate game over South O’Brien, the #1 team in the state.

The Golden Bear girls began their run at state this past Wednesday night. They took on Martensdale—St Mary’s, a public school from just south of Des Moines. While the Blue Devils got on the board first, the Bears tied it up halfway through the first quarter, and they led for the rest of the game.

Freshman Audi Crooks scored 25 points to lead the girls. Junior Kaylyn Meyers was also in double digits with 12 points. Katie Noonan, Molly Joyce, Gracie Elsbecker, Maddie Meister, and Anna Berke also scored for the Bears. Garrigan ended up beating Martensdale—St. Mary’s by a score of 55 – 40 to advance to the state semi-finals. We had to record this show before they faced Bellvue Marquette on Friday, but we know they gave it everything, and we’re hoping they’ll advance to the state championship on Saturday.

The girls are only half the story, though. Next Monday the Golden Bear boys will play their opening game at state against Springville, a town northeast of Cedar Rapids. Team captain Cade Winkel is confident the Bears can beat the Orioles and then advance deep in the state tournament. Fellow seniors John Joyce, Andrew Arndorfer, Marcus Plathe, and Cameron Baade also feel good about the Bears’ prospects, as does Angelo Winkel, who is one of the top players in the state. We’re hoping for a great run at state from the Golden Bear boys.

We’ve had a lot of schedule changes at Garrigan because of the basketball success. There was no school Friday because of the girls’ semi-final game, and there will be no school next Monday because of the boys’ state opener. If the boys win, their other games will also be during the day, and the plan is to dismiss those days as well. To make up some of the missed time, Garrigan and Seton will now have school on Easter Monday. Some events, like the community quiz bowl, were also postponed due to conflicts with basketball.

Basketball isn’t the only success we’ve had at Garrigan lately. Last Saturday we had fifteen entries in the district individual speech contest in Manson, and fourteen of them earned Division I or “Excellent” ratings. Marguerite Fakler received I’s in both Acting and Poetry, while Abbi Heying earned I’s in Reviewing and Literary Program. The Bears’ other double state-qualifier was Ava Esienbarth, who was judged excellent in both Literary Program and Prose.

Savannah Waechter and Jenna Heinen received Division I ratings in Prose. Meredith Illg got a I in Poetry, and Jack Snyder earned top marks in Radio News Announcing. The other Division I’s went to Joe Trainer in Musical Theatre, Noah Bronk in Improvisation, Jordan Hansen in Literary Program, and Riley Rosenmeyer in Spontaneous Speaking. All these students now advance to the state speech contest next Saturday in Carroll. Congratulations, speech!

While the girls basketball team was competing at state, several other Garrigan girls were also being honored down in Des Moines, The Golden Bear danz squad was asked to perform its state championship routine at the halftime of two different games. In addition six Golden Bear dancers performed as part of the All-Iowa Honor Drill Team. Honorees were Jordan Hansen, Grace DeLange, Cora Ricke, Riley Rosenmeyer, Lillee Deike, and Meredith Illg. Congratulations to these all-state dancers!

During this celebration of state basketball, our Senior Spotlight this week shines on one of our basketball cheerleaders, Skye Waters. Skye is a second generation Golden Bear, as her mother went through Garrigan in the ‘90s. She’s been a cheerleader all through school, and she also helps out by working at the Bear Care at Seton. Skye will be off to UNI in the fall, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Daylight Savings Time begins tomorrow. Then Monday the boys state basketball tournament begins. The Garrigan boys will play Springville at 1pm down at Wells—Fargo Arena.

We hope the boys will be playing in the state semi-finals on Wednesday. If they are, there will be no school that day. Otherwise there will be an early dismissal for teacher inservice.

The state basketball consolation game is Thursday at 10:20am, and the championship game is at 2pm on Friday. There’s a good chance the Bears will be playing in one or the other.

The spring play, Runaways, is scheduled for next Thursday and Friday nights. There may be a change of schedule, though, due to conflicts with basketball. Finally next Saturday will be the state individual speech contest in Carroll.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week, when we hope we’ll have even more good news from Bishop Garrigan High School.