The Bear Facts

November 1, 2025

Good morning! I’m Harper Nelson!

I’m Shiloh Trainer!

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

The state cross-country meet is happening today down in Ft. Dodge, and Bishop Garrigan sophomore Julia Swift will be running at state. Julia finished in fifth place out of 79 runners in the state qualifying meet at Mason City last week. She ran the 5-K course in a time of 19 minutes, 43 seconds. Julia will be finishing her season at the 1-A state meet today at 2pm.

The state cross-country meet is held at the Lakeside Golf Course at Kennedy Park, which is just north of the Ft. Dodge Airport. Tickets have to be purchased in advance on Bound. Julia will start in box 2. She finished in 16th place at state as a freshman last year, and we’re hoping she’ll have an even better finish in 2025. Good luck at state, Julia!

Last Sunday the Golden Bear cheerleaders went down to Iowa Lakes to take part in the Triton Cheer Competition. The girls ended up taking home the first place banner from the contest. Addison Kuper, Sacha Alesch, Ava Roethler, Ava Snider, and Aubrey Meyer are at the core of the competition cheer squad. They cheer together with Delaney Fessler—Arndorfer, Harper Nelson, Lilly Erpelding—Wickman, Brooklyn Berte, Avery Culbertson, Olivia Roethler, and Piper Roethler.

Competition cheer continues this weekend. Garrigan’s cheerleaders are down at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines for the state cheer finals. They’re hoping to build on last week’s success by adding even more difficulty to their routine. Congratulations on the win at Iowa Central, and good luck at state, cheerleaders!

Last Friday four Garrigan dancers competed in the Iowa Dance and Drill Team solo dance championships. Out of more than seventy competitors, Golden Bear dancer Delaney Fessler—Arndorfer was named one of the top ten finalists. She will move on to compete in the solo finals in December. In addition to Delaney, Roseanne Curtis—Ricke and Avery Culbertson both received Division I ratings for their dances, while Addison Laubenthal eanred a Division II. Congratulations to all our Golden Bear dancers!

The Golden Bear football team has seen some familiar competition as they’ve advanced through playoffs. Their first round opponents were the Kingsley—Pierson Panthers, who the Bears faced in the first week of the regular season. The game featured interceptions by Tate Foertsch, Madden Miller, and Mike Joyce, and C.J. McGregor, explosive running by Ethan Marso and C.J. McGregor, great blocking by Carter Schwab and Nate Leerar, good kicking by Gage Meyer, and even an unexpected two-point conversion by center Kayden Graves.

After the first-round win, the Golden Bears had the top seed in Pod A of the eight-man playoffs. This brought them another re-match, this time with the North Union Warriors. We had to record the “Bear Facts” before that game, but we know the top-ranked Bears did everything they could to move on to the state quarterfinals next Thursday, the last game before they head back to the Dome.

Next week the Garrigan music and drama departments will be presenting the 2025 fall musical, The Addams Family. The cast and crew feature seniors Sacha Alesch, Amaury Thomas, Gabe Swift, Kayden Graves, Tate Foertsch, Alyssa Haugland, and Ava Roethler. Also in the cast are Shiloh Trainer, Aidan Deitering, Alice Casey, Matt Besch, Cora Deardeuff, Madelyn Tigges, and Leo Snyder.

Also on stage are Eva Kohlhaas, Addy Laubenthal, Henry Bode, Rachel Kahle, Emma Kollasch, Rylee Garman, Anaya Thomas, Riley Doerning, Jared Graves, Avery Culbertson, and Abby Deardeuff. Among those behind the scenes are Gabby Buscher, Sheila Reding, Josephine Joyce, Julia Swift, Kylie Capesius, Addyson Faris, Adrienne Kuper, Caelum Blocker, Dawson Lappe, Lucy Eisenbarth, Joey Lallier, and Levi Larson.

There will be three performances of The Addams Family. You can see the show next Friday night at 7pm and Sunday, November 9 at 2:00 and 6pm. Be sure to come over to Friedmann Auditorium to see the Garrigan music and drama departments perform The Addams Family.

Two Garrigan employees were recently honored by the Diocese of Sioux City. High school teacher Erin Miller won the Excellence in Education Award, while Seton office worker Deb Kollasch won the Good Shepherd Award. Bishop John Keehner honored them at a special luncheon in Sioux City in mid-October. Congratulations to Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Kollasch.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Kayden Graves. Here to tell you about him is Cora Deardeuff.

Kayden Graves is one of the seniors who wants to win back the football state championship trophy. He also plays baseball and is a thrower in track. While people think of him mostly as an athlete, he’s been in band and choir all through school, he acts on stage, he’s in DECA, and you’ve probably heard him here on the “Bear Facts”. Kayden is a Whittemore native, you might see him working at Eagle Hills or playing videogames. He’d like to major in engineering at college, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Cora. On our Golden Bear calendar today is the state cross-country meet in Ft. Dodge. Julia Swift will run in the 1-A girls contest at 2:00 this afternoon.

Also today the Golden Bear cheerleaders will compete in the state cheer contest at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines. Their performance will be around 1pm.

Monday several junior high and high school students will perform in an honor choir at NIACC. The fifth and sixth grades will also make a trip that day to see Garrigan graduate Audi Crooks play for the Iowa State Cyclones.

Wednesday we’ll have a special mass honoring area veterans. Later that day we will have a speaker on “fulfillment in Christ”.

Thursday night we should be hosting the state football quarterfinals here at Garrigan. Finally next Friday is the first performance of The Addams Family.

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