The Bear Facts
December 1, 2012
Good morning! I’m Allison Frideres!
I’m Andrew McGuire!
And I’m Grace Steil! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, your weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
For the past two days the Golden Bear danz squad has been down in Des Moines at the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Championships. Garrigan has a long tradition of success in dance, going back to the days when dance coach Coleen Conway—Schiltz was in drill team herself in the 1980s. This year the girls competed with a kick routine based on a ninja theme, and they also competed in the pom category.
This year’s dance squad includes seniors Makayla Foertsch, Logan Kumm, and Sam Kollasch, as well as juniors Mallory Schiltz, Mariah McCall, Hunter Theesfeld, and Anna Hohmeister. The sophomores in dance are Paige Berte, Cassidy Vitzthum, Megan Lappe, Patricia Brandt, and Kaitlyn Fogarty; and the group also features freshmen Carolyn Baxter, Kylie Fox, Sophia Grandgenett, Hailey Kollasch, and Kassidy Schiltz. Hannah Boisjolie serves as the danz squad manager.
Quiz bowl is back in action, with a busy week coming up. Today the group is up in Spirit Lake for one of the oldest tournaments in northern Iowa. Garrigan is the defending champion at the JV level, and today they have both varsity and JV teams entered in the meet. The varsity competitors today are senior Dustin Miller; junior Levi Bernhard; and sophomores Zach Kollasch, Hannah Bernhard, and Tony Kollasch. The JV team features senior Allison Frideres, junior Jake Hamilton; sophomore Taylor Illg; and freshman Devin Degen.
Once today’s tournament is done, there are two more big quiz bowl events. Next Tuesday Garrigan will be competing in the Knowledge Master, a twice yearly event, where our school competes in cyberspace with schools from all around the country. The whole team works together to answer 200 questions, and the score depends both on how accurately and on how quickly they answer them. Then a week from today there’s another big quiz bowl tournament—this time at South O’Brien in Paullina. Good luck, quiz bowl!
Shortly before Thanksgiving all the fall sports teams gave out their post-season awards. On the Golden Bear football team Chris Loss and Reece Wadle were named Offensive Players of the Year, while Jake Kollasch and Jonathan Berte were Defensive Players of the Year. Brayton Loss and Zac Kibby won the Special Teams Award; and Kirk Kenyon, Elliot Boisjolie, Charlie Thilges, Carter Hall, Bailey Kohlhaas, and David Klein split Scout Team honors. The Larry Weir Award went to Charlie Thilges, Thomas Bradley won the Bill Higgins trophy, and Elliot Boisjolie won the Dennis Cruise Award.
Victor Berte and Chris Loss were named Most Improved on Offense, while Alex Matthews, Ben Vaske, and Connor Langermann received the Most Improved Defense award. The Coaches’ Award went to Jake Kollasch, Adam Hamilton won the D.E.F.E.N.S.E. award, and Jonathan Berte received the Deacon Bob Larsen “Fire In Your Belly” Award. Jake Kollasch was the team MVP, and Chris Loss and Connor Langermann were selected as 2013 captains.
In cross-country, it was no surprise that Erin Reedy, who holds the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior records at Garrigan was named Most Valuable Runner. Mark Fakler, Jake Hamilton, Nicole Behr, and Erica Carlson were the Most Improved Runners; and Jedd Magill and Emily Riesenberg were Rookies of the Year. The Coaches’ Award went to Erica Carlson, Kelli Rowley, Nick Bronk, and Courtney Carlson. Kelli Rowely was honored as a six-year cross-country participant, and Erin Reedy received the Adam Sundall Memorial Award. In addition to Reedy, Erin Quinlin, Jake Hamilton, and Tony Kollasch were named honorary team captains.
For the Golden Bear volleyball team Aubrie Meyers and Chelsi Lanus were named Offensive MVPs, while Hannah Byrkeland and Patricia Brandt won MVP for defense. Betty Straub and Taylor Hovey were the Most Improved Players, Hannah Byrkeland and Vanessa Dodds won the Hustle Award, and Cassidy Vitzthum and Olivia Vaske received the Team Spirit Award. The Deacon Bob Larson “Fire in Your Belly” Award went to Chelsi Lanus. Kara Eischen received the Coaches’ Award, and the “M.D.” Award went to Aubrie Meyers, Chelsi Lanus, and Hannah Byrkeland. Congratulations to all the fall sports award winners!
This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on Alissa Kirsch and Kendra Roethler. Here with the details is Erin Reedy.
Alissa Kirsch is a Wesley native who is active in HOSA, the Health Occupations Students of America. She enjoys her math and Advanced Chemistry classes, and outside of class she enjoys choir, speech, and drama. After high school she plans to go to Mt. Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, where she will major in nursing. We wish Alissa all the best in the future.
Keni Roethler’s biggest activity is swim team. All throughout high school she’s swum competitively. She has also been in speech, and you may have heard her announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. When she’s not busy with classes, Kendra enjoys hanging out with her friends. She’ll be off to college next year, and we wish her good luck.
Thanks, Erin! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, today is the funeral for Sergeant Joseph Richardson who was killed in Afghanistan. Garrigan students helped set up flags in his memory. Also today the quiz bowl team is competing at Spirit Lake.
Advent begins tomorrow, and we’ll start school with an Advent prayer service on Monday. Monday night the freshman basketball teams host Clear Lake, and also that night there’s a financial aid meeting for seniors who will be heading off to college next year.
Tuesday the quiz bowl team competes in the Knowledge Master. That night there’s basketball with Humboldt, and the National Honor Society will be serving chili at the games.
Next Wednesday we’ll have a reconciliation service in the morning. We dismiss early that afternoon for teacher inservice, and that night is the Christmas band concert and art show.
Thursday is St. Nicholas Day. We’ll have a jeans day at Garrigan that day, and that evening the freshman basketball teams host Humboldt. Finally next Friday the varsity basketball teams travel to Iowa Falls.
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.
