The Bear Facts

November 2, 2024

Good morning! I’m Tate Foertsch!

I’m Sacha Alesch!

And I’m Spencer Doerning! Happy All Soul’s Day from everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School!

Last Sunday the Golden Bear spirit squad went down to Ft. Dodge for the Triton Cheer Competition at Iowa Central Community College. They ended up taking first place in the contest. That gives them a good starting point for the state cheer festival, which is being held today in Des Moines. The girls will perform at 1:50pm at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

The competition spirit squad includes Zoe Montag, Reece Kemna, Ava Roethler, Ava Snider, Sacha Alesch, and Addison Kuper; as well as Aubrey Meyer, Harper Nelson, Kylie Capesius, Delaney Fessler, and Lilly Wickman. Good luck at state, cheerleaders!

Last week three Garrigan dancers were down in Pella for the state solo dance preliminary competition. Addison Laubenthal, Rosanne Curtis-Ricke, and Delaney Fessler-Arndorfer competed. Both Rose and Delaney earned Division I ratings, and Delaney was ranked in the top ten of 73 Class I dancers. She advances to the state dance championships December 5 in Des Moines. Congratulations to Delaney and to all the solo dancers!

This morning freshman Julia Swift will be running in the state cross-country meet. Last week she was the #3 finisher at the state qualifying meet in Manly, and her time was one of the best in the entire state. She’ll be starting in box #1 at state and wearing big #553. The race begins promptly at 10:30am, and Julia should be finished with her 5-K run by 10:50.

Julia has broken the school record for girls cross-country three times in her freshman year. Her current record is just 19 minutes, 35.1 seconds. That’s almost two minutes faster than the old record, which was held by her coach Alisa Altman. We expect that Julia will continue to improve her time over the next three years.

The state cross-country meet is held at the Lakeside Golf Course at Kennedy Park, which is just off of county road P-56 north of the Ft. Dodge Airport. Tickets have to be bought online at Bound and cost $13, which includes on-site parking for the meet. We encourage fans to head down to Ft. Dodge to cheer on Julia Swift at state.

The final week of rehearsals are here for Garrigan’s fall musical. This year’s show is called The Drowsy Chaperone. It features Griffin Geving as “Man In Chair”, who is actually the central character in the show. Cora Deardeuff stars as Mrs. Tottendale, Kayden Graves is Underling, and Amaury Thomas will play Robert Martin.

Tate Foertsch has the role of George, Matt Besch is Feldzieg, and Shiloh Trainer plays Kitty. Spencer Doerning and Leo Snyder are gangsters, Aidan Deitering plays Adolpho, Isabella Waechter is Janet, Madelyn Tigges plays Trix, and Alice Casey is the Superintendent. Sacha Alesch has the title role of the Drowsy Chaperone. There are also four ensemble players: Kylie Capesius, Henry Bode, Gabe Swift, and Addison Laubenthal.

Showtime for The Drowsy Chaperone is next Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9, at 7pm in Friedman Auditorium. There’s also a special matinee performance Wednesday at 1pm for middle school students, and the public is invited to attend. Admission is free for supporters of the DARTS organization. Otherwise the cost is $7 for floor seats or $5 for bleachers. Be sure to come out next Friday or Saturday to see The Drowsy Chaperone.

After a perfect 8 – 0 regular season, the Golden Bear football team began playoffs a week ago with a match-up against the Tripoli Panthers. Garrigan made easy work of Tripoli, winning 62 – 15 with a mostly continuous clock to advance to the round of 16. They faced Riceville in the second round last night. We had to record this week’s show before that game, but we know they played hard, and we’re hoping the Bears will also be hosting the state quarterfinals next Thursday night.

This past Monday the Algona Chamber of Commerce presented Garrigan senior Brooke Ludwig with a special award for volunteerism. Brooke has served as the school ambassador on the chamber’s board of directors for the past two years, and she’s also helped out with many events sponsored by the chamber of commerce. In presenting the award, the board noted that community events can’t happen without lots of assistance and volunteers, and they thanked Brooke for lending a helping hand wherever needed. Congratulations, Brooke!

One activity that students in Mrs. Meyer’s Creative Writing class have done is writing their own children’s stories. This past week Graclyn Eastman, Jaelyn Antoine, Sawyer Herrick, Blaire Becker, Logan Buscher, and Sophie Meraz were over at Seton reading their books aloud for the little kids. It’s a fun way to see how the stories the high school students wrote go over with younger children.

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

Daniel Meis is a year-round athlete. His top sport is baseball, where he was the ace pitcher for the conference champion Golden Bears. “Beegz”, as everyone calls him, has been a kicker, receiver, and defensive back for the Golden Bear football team, and he’s also been successful in track and basketball. Outside of sports he’s active in DECA, choir, and the honor society, and you’ve probably heard him announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. Next year Dan plans to attend Buena Vista University, where he’ll be playing college baseball. Good luck, Beegz!

Thanks, Kayden. On our Golden Bear calendar today Julia Swift is running in the state cross-country meet in Ft. Dodge. Then this afternoon there’s state cheerleading at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

Daylight Savings Time ends tomorrow morning,  Next Tuesday is election day, and many of our seniors will be voting for the first time.

Wednesday we’ll have a special mass honoring veterans, and that afternoon is the matinee of the musical.  Thursday night is the state football quarterfinals, the game where we play for the right to go to the dome.

Friday and Saturday at 7pm the curtain opens on The Drowsy Chaperone.  Next Saturday is the girls’ regional swim meet. There’s also quiz bowl that day at Algona High.

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