Good morning! I'm Kathy Kohlhaas!
And I'm Shane Koob! You're listening to the "Bear Facts", the show where each week we bring you all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Did you know that Memphis was the city where Martin Luther King was shot? ... or that McDonalds is the world's biggest user of potatoes? ... or that the packaging for the new Simpsons DVD set looks like a human head? If you know those and other facts, than quiz bowl is for you. Today Garrigan is hosting their annual quiz bowl tournament. Seventy-two teams from all over northern Iowa are in town today for what is by far the largest academic competition in the Midwest. There are more than 350 students competing, and they've come from as far away as LeMars, Boone, and Parkersburg. Everyone will compete in four preliminary rounds, and this afternoon the top sixteen teams will advance to the play-offs. The top four will go home with trophies.
As the host school, Garrigan has the privilege of entering multiple teams in the tournament. Forty-eight Golden Bears will be competing on eight different teams this morning. They include national quiz bowl veterans Jacob Hellman, Jeff Lappe, Gavin Freking; and fellow seniors Andrew Missal, Amanda Golwitzer, Seth Rogers, Alison Brandenburg, Brandon Rowley, Joe Rahm, Spenser Rahm, Jude Studer, and Jesse Studer. They're competing together with juniors Chris Loebach, Josh Rahm, Bridget Doughan, Chris Scobba, Maria Kohlhaas, and JoAnn Kirsch; as well as Rachel Byrkeland, Kelli Black, Alex Bradley, Joe Dailey, Adam Finley, Tami Lallier, Alex Elbert, Laura O'Kane, Andrea Richter, Abbie Bradley, and Amanda Cruise.
The sophomores on this year's quiz bowl team include Shane Koob, D.J. Thopson, Ben Golwitzer, Dylan Freking, Melissa Cruise, and Brent Kajewski; plus Jacob Zittritsch, A.J. Doughan, Ethan Dahlhauser, Chad Lambert, Jake Lane, Chris Gelhaus, and Mark Poeppe. There's also six freshmen out for quiz bowl this year. They are Joe Straub, Chris Hansen, Ben Hellman, Alec Boeckholt, Brian Patterson, and Sam Norland. Today is just the first of more than a dozen events that will continue through next April. Good luck all year long to Coach David Burrow and all the quiz bowl players!
In addition to the players, it takes a lot of workers to make the BGHS quiz bowl tournament run smoothly. With twenty-four competition centers, there need to be twenty-four readers and twenty-four judges, as well as scorekeepers and runners to make sure everything goes smoothly. Lots of students, parents, and alumni have volunteered to help, and the quiz bowl team would like to thank everyone for their assistance.
The Golden Bear volleyball team made a good showing last weekend at the CYO tournament in LeMars. They defeated the host school, Gehlen, to advance to the play-offs, and they ended up in fourth place overall. Senior Ashley Waller was selected to the All-CYO team. They'll begin play-offs next Wednesday when they begin district play at Manson.
The cross-country team has also been doing great. At the North Central Conference meet last Tuesday three Golden Bears were named all-conference runners. Kelli Black was third in the girls race in a school record time, while Tami Lallier finished fifth. Chris Scobba earned at fifth place medal for the boys. The cross-country team runs at district in Holstein next Thursday, and both the boys and girls will be trying hard to get to state.
One other successful group last week was the Solid Gold Marching Band. The BGHS band went down to Ft. Dodge last Saturday for the state marching band competition. The judges were very strict all morning long, and Garrigan was one of very few small schools that earned a Division I or "superior" rating. This was the fourth consecutive "I" at state for the Bears-quite a turnaround from the days when we didn't want to talk about our band. Congratulations to Mr. Dennis Freking and the Solid Gold Marching Band!
The Golden Bear football team played one of their best games of the season last weekend, but they ended up losing a heartbreaker. Suffering a few key injuries, the Bears ended up just short of defeating #3-rated perennial powerhouse Aplington-Parkersburg. The Bears will finish out their district season with games at Mason City Newman next week and North Butler Greene October 28. They should still make play-offs, which will begin Wednesday, November 2nd. Go Bears!
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Jacob Hellman. Here to tell you about him is Alison Brandenburg.
Jacob Hellman is one of the players who was at national quiz bowl last summer. This Burt native also keeps busy with activities like music, speech, math team, and National Honor Society. Jacob will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best.
On our Golden Bear calendar, the big event today is the BGHS quiz bowl tournament. Competition starts at 10am, and every room in the school is in use.
Monday the JV football team plays at Clarion, while the freshman football players host Algona High. Then on Tuesday the school board meets.
Wednesday there's no school at Garrigan, and Seton will dismiss at 12:45am. There's faculty inservice that day at school. That night the volleyball team plays in districts at Manson.
Thursday there's district cross-country at Holstein. Then next Friday the annual magazine drive begins. That night the football team plays at Mason City Newman.
That's the "Bear Facts" for this week. Thanks for joining us, and remember to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
