THE BEAR FACTS
November 13, 2021


Good morning! I’m Riley Rosenmeyer!

 I’m Ava Eisenbarth!

And I’m Marguerite Fakler! Welcome back to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

This morning Bishop Garrigan is hosting the Top of Iowa Conference Quiz Bowl. There’s a traveling trophy for the top quiz bowl team in the conference. That trophy has been at Garrigan since the conference was called the “North Iowa Conference”, and we’re hoping it will stay here one more year.

The Bears have two teams competing in today’s tournament. The first includes seniors Xander Darling, Ava Eisenbarth, and Mya Kemna, plus juniors Garrett Heying and Gavin Swift. The other team is made up of sophomores Ben Greteman, Brendan Plathe, Sam Plathe, Benjy Trainer, and Nathaniel Darling. Good luck, quiz bowl!

This past week the Golden Bear football and volleyball teams announced their awards for 2021. In volleyball the Bears had three all-conference selections. Audi Crooks was first team all-conference, Molly Joyce was named to the second team, and Meredith Tigges was an honorable mention. Meredith was also honored with an academic all-state award.

Audi Crooks and Emma Grandgenett were named the offensive MVPs in volleyball. Ashlyn Hovey and Molly Joyce were the defensive MVPs. Maggie Vaske and Meredith Tigges won the Hustle Award; while Isabel Casey, Maryanne Capesius, and Mya Kemna earned Team Spirit honors. Eva Snyder was the most improved player; Ella Muller and Ashlyn Hovey won the Coaches’ Award, and Meredith Tigges earned the “Fire in Your Belly” award.

In football, Cal Birkey, Caden Roethler, and Nate Bronk were all first-team all-district selections. Aiden Hovey and Jacob Leerar earned second team honors; and Collin Casey and Garrett Heying were honorable mentions. Garrett Heying, Cal Birkey, Drew Casey, Grant Haugland, and Collin Casey all earned academic all-district awards.

Nate Bronk and Caden Roethler were named defensive players of the year, while Cal Birkey was the offensive player of the year in football. Scout team honors for 2021 went to Caleb Bormann, Conner Davis, Matt Kollasch, Brody Ludwig, Keaton Helleseth, and Trayton Cink. Grant Haugland won the Larry Weier Scholastic Award.

Grant was also the recipient of the Dennis Cruise Memorial Trophy. Collin Casey and Garrett Heying were named the most improved players, in spite of them both playing only part of the season. Jacob Leerar was the football MVP, and Brody Ludwig won the Deacon Larsen “Fire in the Belly” Award. The team captains for next year will be Cal Birkey and Garrett Heying.

If you happen to come out to Garrigan and you use the restroom here, you’ll see something new. This year the publications class is producing a weekly update that they’re distributing by posting it in all the bathroom stalls around the school. The BG Toilet Talk shows what events are happening and gives the lunch menu for the week. It also honors people who are celebrating birthdays and gives some a fun trivia fact each week.

The girls basketball team officially started practice this past week. The girls should be the team to beat in the Top of Iowa Conference this year, and they’re hoping for their third consecutive trip to state this winter. The girls will be getting in shape for the season with a scrimmage at Wartburg College today. Their season officially begins right after Thanksgiving, when they’ll play Class 5-A Iowa City West at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

At the core of the team for the Bears are juniors Audi Crooks and Molly Joyce, who were all-state selections at post and point guard. Seniors Emma Grandgenett, Ella Muller, Meredith Tigges; junior Ashlyn Hovey; and sophomore Abbi Capesius will also be in or near the starting line-up. Lending depth to the team are sophomores Caelyn Capesius, Alaina Caey, and Reagan Murphy; and freshman Zoe Montag. Good luck to Coach Brandon Schwab and the girls basketball team!

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Grant Haugland. Here to tell you about him is Xander Darling.

We told you about Grant Haugland’s football awards earlier on today’s show. Grant is a Wesley native who also went to state in boys basketball. He has also played baseball, and he enjoys snapping photos for publications. Grant will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Xander. On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s the Top of Iowa Conference quiz bowl at Garrigan today. Competition begins at 9am, and the public is welcome to watch. Also today there’s a girls basketball scrimmage at Wartburg College in Waverly.

Tomorrow the freshmen have a confirmation retreat, and there’s also the St. Cecelia’s fall roast beef dinner. Then on Monday boys basketball practice begins.

The Top of Iowa Conference will hold their honor band on Monday. Wednesday the freshmen will have a special luncheon at the K.C. Hall. Finally next Saturday, there’s more quiz bowl, with the Bears traveling to Waukee.

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