THE BEAR FACTS
October 24, 2020

Good morning! I’m Jack Snyder!

I’m Meredith Tigges!

And I’m Reese Rosenmeyer! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
 

If you check out the state school activity calendar for today, the big event it will say is all-state music auditions. Like almost everything in the age of the coronavirus, though that works a little bit differently this year. Instead of heading to a regional site and performing in person before judges, students made pre-recorded videos of them singing different parts of the audition songs. Those were submitted in the middle of the week, and they’ll be judged remotely to decide the all-state selections.

There’s always a wide variety of all-state music. This year’s selections include several classical numbers such as Verdi’s “Sanctus” and a German song by Mendelssohn. A more modern piece is “Best of All Possible Worlds” by Leonard Bernstein, and there’s even an African spiritual called “Water Fountain”.

Six Garrigan students are auditioning for all-state in 2020. Among them is senior Joseph Trainer who is hoping to earn his fourth all-state medal. Also trying out are Kelle Bormann, Meredith Tigges, Meredith Illg, Avery Lichter, and Benjy Trainer. Instead of one big festival in Ames, those selected for all-state will compete in regional concerts this year. The event for northwest Iowa will be held at Briar Cliff University in mid-November. Best wishes to all the all-state auditioners!

This past week was a big one for the Golden Bear volleyball team, as they racked up two big wins in regional action. Monday night the Bears rolled past Graettinger Terril Ruthven Ayrshire in three straight sets. They were technically the underdogs in the regional quarterfinals, but their tough regular season matches served them well. The Bears easily beat West Bend Mallard 3 – 1 Wednesday. They’ll play in the regional semi-finals vs. North Butler next Monday night at Britt. Good luck, volleyball!

The cross-country state qualifying meet was held last Thursday at Central Springs in Manly. Garrigan junior Quinn Swift continued his season-long success. Quinn finished in 9th place overall, which qualifies him to run at state. His time for the 5-K course was 17 minutes, 36.38 seconds. Gavin Swift, Hollis Bode, and Joseph Bonstetter also finished in the top half of the pack.

On the girls side Abbie Capesius was the Bears top finisher, in 25 minutes, 51.71 seconds. Lauren Swift was just six seconds behind her, and both were right around the middle of the girls race. State cross-country will be next Saturday, October 31st in Fort Dodge. You can see Quinn Swift run in the 1-A boys race at 4pm. Admission is $10. Good luck at state, Quinn!

This has been a busy time of year for the Golden Bear quiz bowl team. The annual Bishop Garrigan tournament was held online this year, and it was spread over two weekends, finishing up last Saturday. Today there’s more quiz bowl action, with an online tournament based in Waukee. Garrigan has two teams entered in the small school division, and they’re hoping to make a decent showing.

Competing for the Bears today are seniors Abbi Heying, Aric Laubenthal, and Noah Bronk; sophomore Garrett Heying; and freshmen Sam Plathe, Benjy Trainer, Brendan Plathe, and Nathaniel Darling. They’ll play six games against teams from all over Iowa using a computer app that lets them “buzz in” to answer questions remotely. Good luck, quiz bowl!

Earlier this fall students at Garrigan took the STAR, a standardized test in math and reading. Overall we did very well on the STAR, especially in math. The goal is for students to be in the “proficient” category, and most classes had more proficient people than we did last year. The top groups were this year’s sophomores and juniors, where almost everybody was proficient. We hope the success continues with other tests we take later this year.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Joe Meis. Here to tell you about him is Joey Trainer.

Joe Meis’s biggest activities involve running. He has been to state in distance events in track, and he was one of the Golden Bears who medalled at cross-country meets throughout the season. Joe was also part of the state tournament basketball team last winter, and he’s also active in baseball and in DECA, the group for future business leaders. Joe will be a college man next year, and we wish him good luck in the future.

Thanks, Joey Trainer. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s another online quiz bowl tournament today, and it’s also the day when the all-state audition selections are being judged.

Monday the second quarter begins. The regional volleyball semifinals are that night, with the Bears playing North Butler at Britt.

The regional volleyball finals are next Wednesday. We’ll have mass that morning and an early dismissal for teacher inservice.

Next Friday the little kids will have their fall festival, and then we’ll celebrate Halloween next Saturday with the state cross-country meet in Fort Dodge.

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