The Bear Facts
September 5, 2026

 Good morning! I’m Madelyn Tigges.

 I’m Brooklyn Berte.

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

 Fall sports are well underway. We looked at the football team last week, and we want to take a look at the other sports on this week’s show. In cross-country junior Julia Swift has taken runner-up honors at two different meets so far this week. Most recently she finished the 5-K race in the Newman Invitational in a time of just 21 minutes, 14 seconds. Rachel Kahle and Emma Kollasch also medaled at the meet, and the girls as a team finished in 4th place overall. Other girls in cross-country include seniors Eva Kohlhaas and Sheila Reding.

On the boys side sophomore Caiden Buckner finished in 14th place at the Newman meet in a time of 19 minutes 17 seconds. This was the first large meet he’s medaled at. Senior Corbin Darling and freshman Samuel Foix are also running cross-country this year. Good luck all season long to Coaches Brandon and Cassie Rowley and the cross-country team.

 The Golden Bear volleyball team has a new head coach this year, with Michaela Creighton taking over the duties. At the core of this year’s team are five juniors: Kiah Villareal, Madelyn Tigges, Jenna Peterson, Cate Birkey, and Emma Garman. Other varsity players are sophomores Rikaya Nielson, Addie Bartolo, Rylee Garman, and Ava Besch, and freshman Lucy Illg. Good luck, volleyball!

 Again this year Garrigan senior Cora Deardeuff and sophomore Abby Deardeuff are part of the Algona girls swim team. This coming week they have swim meets at Boone on Tuesday and at Ft. Dodge Thursday night. There are also upcoming meets in Spencer, Mason City, Johnston, Marshalltown, and Carroll. The team will host home meets at the Algona YMCA on September 24 and October 6. Good luck to Cora and Abby and all the Algona swim team!

 The Golden Bear spirit squad is ready for another busy year. Again this fall the cheerleaders will be doing jumping jacks after each Golden Bear touchdown to reflect the total score. Last year the girls did 2,218 jumping jacks during the regular season, and we’re hoping they’ll get to do a lot of them this year as well.

 The 2026 fall spirit squad includes Kylie Capesius, Harper Nelson, Brooklyn Berte, Delaney Fessler, and Avery Culbertson; as well as Faith Glawe, Olivia Roethler, Hope Rooney, Charlotte Patten, Bree Ludwig, and Shiloh Trainer. Rounding out the group are Lillian Wickman, Lucy Eisenbarth, Leah Reutzel, Piper Roethler, Tinley Kron, and Jordyn Rogers. Thanks to our cheerleaders, and best wishes to them all season long.

 Last week we saluted a lot of baseball award winners, and this week we want to focus on some of the softball awards from last summer. Lillian Erpelding—Wickman was named the team MVP, Shiloh Trainer won the Grit Award for her work ethic, and Gold Glove awards went to Alyssa Haugland and Avery Culbertson. The Iron Claw mentality award went to Riley Doerning, and Rikaya Nielson earned the Playmaker Award.

 Emma Garman was the most improved varsity player, and Shiloh Trainer won the Golden Bear award. Alyssa Haugland, Shiloh Trainer, Lillian Wickman, Jenna Peterson, Kiah Villareal, Emma Garman, and Rikaya Nielson all earned all-area honors. Lilly was also honored as a Sports Illustrated player of the week after she scored five times and drove in three runs in a big victory at North Iowa. Congratulations to all these softball honorees!

 Two Golden Bear coaches were recently named CYO Coaches of the Year. Steph Ehlers was named coach of the year in golf, while John Bartolo won the top honor for girls track. Father Randy Schon, the head of CYO for the Sioux City Diocese will present them with the awards later this fall. Congratulations to Coach Ehlers and Coach Bartolo.

 Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Aidan Deitering. Here to tell you about him is Henry Bode.

 Aidan Deitering is a Bancroft native who is probably best known as a baseball player. He was named first team all-conference last summer as a middle infielder. Aidan has also been in choir all through school, and he’s had major parts in musicals. He’s also been part of the speech and quiz bowl teams. Aidan is taking four different college courses this fall, and he’ll be getting even more college credit in the spring. We wish him good luck in his senior year and after high school. Thanks, Henry! On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s no school Monday because of the Labor Day holiday. That night the JV football team hosts Newell—Fonda.

 Tuesday night the cross-country team takes on the hilly course up at Estherville. The volleyball team plays at Northwood—Kensett that night, and there’s a swim meet in Boone.

 We’ll have mass Wednesday morning. Thursday the volleyball team will host Clear Lake, and Friday the football team plays North Iowa in Buffalo Center.
 That’s our second “Bear Facts” of the year. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week when we’ll be previewing Homecoming here at Bishop Garrigan High School.