The Bear Facts
November 11, 2017

Good morning! I’m Caroline Bradley!

I’m Ashlyn Harrington!

And I’m Laurel Degen! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Last Saturday was a great day for quite a few Garrigan students. First there was quiz bowl. The Golden Bears took home two trophies from the Algona Invitational Quiz Bowl Tournament. Garrigan’s varsity team featured Ben Degen, Trevor Darling, Sam Trainer, and Logan Heying. They were undefeated on the day and easily took the overall championship in the tournament.

The Golden Bear’s JV team also had a good day. Sami Darling, Ashlyn Harrington, and Abbi Heying were undefeated after preliminary matches. They easily won the semi-final game, but the JV championship was more interesting. They were tied with Hartley Melvin Sanborn after the lightning round. Both teams got a tie-breaker question right, so even after a tie-breaker there was a tie for the overall championship. Congratulations to both the varsity and JV Bears for their victories.

There’s more quiz bowl action today. Garrigan is hosting the third annual Top of Iowa Conference Tournament, and the Bears are hoping to keep their traveling trophy as conference champions. Competing today are Will Eggers, Bryce Capesius, Gabe Trainer, Abbi Heying, Alex Mammen, and Reese Rosenmeyer; plus Ben Degen, Logan Heying, Sam Trainer, Caitlin Thilges, and Tommy Kollasch. Good luck to Coach David Burrow and the quiz bowl team!

Also on Saturday four Garrigan students competed in the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team state solo competition, which was held at Newton High School. All four Garrigan entries received Division I ratings and placed in the top twelve overall in their divisions. Laurel Degen ended up in third place statewide, Cora Ricke was fourth, Kat Willie seventh, and Grace Menke twelfth. Congratulations, solo dancers!

Tonight and tomorrow the BGHS music and drama departments will present Little Shop of Horrors—a strange combination of comedy, suspense, and music. Starring in the show are seniors Sam Trainer, Nolan Greene, Tommy Kollasch, Caitlin Thilges, Isabelle Davis, and John Zeimet; plus juniors Emma Thul, Aidan Koob, Sam Vaske, Eric Thul, Gabe Trainer, Logan Heying, Ashlyn Harrington, Layah DeLange, Megan Bronk, Lauren Kenyon, and Madison Illg. Rounding out the cast are Amanda Miller, Jordan Hansen, Bailey Kollasch, and the whole Garrigan concert choir.

There will be two performances of the musical. The first is tonight, with curtain time at 7pm. There’s also a matinee performance tomorrow at 3:00. Drama director Carol Eischeid and choir director David Fog are in charge of the show. So be sure to come to Friedmann Auditorium tonight or tomorrow to see Little Shop of Horrors.

The Golden Bear football and volleyball teams held their awards banquets this past Sunday. Grace McGuire and Jenna Boelter were named MVPs on offense, while Aubrey McEnroe, Emma Fogarty, and Maddie Meister earned defensive MVP honors. Maddie split the Hustle Award with Whitney Hovey, and Grace won the Deacon Bob Larsen Award. The Team Spirit Award went to Caitlin Thilges and Megan Wadle, and Katie Noonan and Kaylyn Meyers were named Most Improved Players in volleyball.

Grace McGuire won 1st team all-conference honors. Jenna Boelter and Maddie Meister were second team, and Aubrey McEnroe was an honorable mention. In addition to them, Emma Fogarty also won all-area honors. Grace McGuire was also named All-CYO. We also have two academic all-staters in volleyball: Caitlin Thilges and Megan Wadle. Congratulations to Coach Schnurr and the volleyball team on an excellent season.

In football Marty Wadle won district coach of the year honors. Drake Buscherfeld was named all-district defensive player of the year, and Drew Bacha was named all-district specialist of the year. Brad Capesius, T.J. Schnurr, Billy Erpelding, Zach Muller, Ben Degen, and Jackson Rosenmeyer also won first team all-district honors. Eric Thul and Cade Winkel were second team, and Myles Koob and Sam Trainer were honorable mentions.

Garrigan had twelve academic all-district players. They included seniors Drew Bacha, Drake Buscherfeld, Ben Degen, and Sam Trainer; and also juniors Gabe Trainer, Billy Erpelding, Preston Kohlhaas, Aidan Koob, T.J. Schnurr, Eric Thul, John Meis, and Sam Vaske.

Drew Bacha and Brad Capesius were named the football team’s top offensive players, while Drake Buscherfeld took defensive honors. T.J. Schnurr and Marcus Plathe won the special teams award; and Ben Degen, Mitch Buscherfeld, Kale Kramer, Derrick Kirsch, and Joe Merron split scout team honors. Drake won the Bill Higgins Memorial Trophy, Myles Koob won the Dennis Cruise Award, and Sam Trainer won the Larry Weier Academic Award.

Drew Bacha, John Meis, T.J. Schnurr, Myles Koob, and Tristan Ferguson were most improved on offense; while Eric Thul, Ben Degen, Billy Erpelding ,and Cade Winkel were most improved on defense. Jackson Rosenmeyer and Zach Muller won the defense award, and Zach split the Deacon Larsen award with Drake Buscherfeld. Drew Bacha and Drake Buscherfeld were named Team MVPs, and Eric Thul and Brad Cepasius were voted the 2018 football captains.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Zach Muller. Here to tell you about him is John Meis.

We just got done talking about Zach Muller’s football success. Over the years Zach has also been involved in wrestling, track, golf, and intramural basketball. He’s active in FFA and 4-H, he volunteers with lots of stuff around school, and you may have even heard him announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. Zach plans to major in business at college, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, John. On our Golden Bear calendar today there’s the conference quiz bowl meet at Garrigan. Then tonight and tomorrow the curtain goes up on the fall musical, Little Shop of Horrors.

Monday boys basketball and wrestling practice begin. There’s a girls basketball scrimmage on Tuesday, and we’ll have our weekly student mass on Thursday.

Next Thursday and Friday Sam Vaske, Bryce Capesius, Megan Bronk, and Joey Trainer will head down to Ames for the All-State Music Festival. Finally next Saturday there’s more quiz bowl, with the Bears travelling to Waukee.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

DM 10-7-17