THE BEAR FACTS
February 10, 2018
Good morning! I’m Jordan Hansen!
I’m Isabelle Davis!
And I’m Layah DeLange! Thanks for joining us once again for the “Bear Facts”,
the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
It’s playoff time for the Golden Bear basketball teams. Last Tuesday both the
boys and girls teams wrapped up their conference seasons with big wins over some
of the top teams in the eastern part of the Top of Iowa Conference. The boys
beat Osage 84 – 75, while the girls defeated St. Ansgar by a score of 59 – 48.
Playoffs have officially already begun, but both the boys and girls teams
received byes in the opening round. The girls’ first regional game is next
Tuesday, when they’ll host West Bend Mallard. A win will advance them to the
regional semi-final, which will also be at Garrigan next Friday. The boys also
have home court advantage in playoffs. They host the second round of districts
next Thursday night, and a win then the third round on Tuesday the 20th. The
district final is at Clarion Thursday, February 22.
Throughout the season the Golden Bear girls have been led by senior stand-out
Jenna Boelter. Jenna is a confident point guard, and she’s one of the top
three-point shooters in school history. Seniors Whitney Hovey, Gracie McGuire,
and Alisa Altman have also been starting for the Bears all season; and freshman
Kaylyn Meyers was also starting and racking up points regularly until an injury
forced her to sit out a few games at the end of the season.
As the girls head to playoffs other key players to watch are seniors Catlin
Thilges, Emory Miller, Megan Wadle, and Livia Miller; sophomores Maddie Meister,
Amanda Miller, Emma Fogarty, Mackenzie Meister, Emma Lichter, and Katie Noonan;
and freshman Gracie Elsbecker. Good luck in playoffs to Coach Brandon Schwab and
the Golden Bear girls.
Coach Harry Condoleon’s boys team has enjoyed a height advantage over most of
their opponents this season. The Bears’ top scorer is 6’5” junior T.J. Schnurr,
who passed the milestone of 1,000 career points this week. Other starters this
year include junior Brad Capesius, sophomores John Joyce and Cade Winkel, and
freshman Angelo Winkel. Among the top players off the bench are three-point
specialists Cameron Baade and John Meis and posts Tristan Furgeson and John
Capesius.
Many JV players have also gotten lots of varsity experience this year. They
include Andrew Arndorfer, Kurt Condoleon, Colby Graves, Marcus Plathe, and Kyle
Schaaf. The boys have done very well against their 1-A opponents this season,
and they’re looking to make a good run in playoffs. Good luck to Coach Condoleon
and the Bears!
Individual speech rehearsals have started. Garrigan will be hosting district
speech contest next Saturday, and we’re hoping our own entries have a good day
in the competition. Returning all-stater Caitlin Thilges will have two entrikes
at district contest, a prose piece called “So You’re Kate’s Girl” and the
musical theatre selection “Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind”. Bryce Capesius is
also hoping for a return trip to all-state as he presents “Gambling Grandmas” in
prose.
Garrigan will have three literary program entries this year: John Zeimet with
“Hillbilly Love”, Emory Miller with “Love and Sarcasm”, and Sam Vaske with
“Fickle Females”. Gabe Trainer is preparing “Nerds Are Cool” for prose and
“Internal Struggle” for acting, and Logan Heying will be competing in both
acting and radio news announcing.
The Bears will have two entries in the storytelling category: Jordan Hansen with
“Click, Clack, Moo—Cows that Type” and Sam Trainer with “The Real Most
Interesting Man in the World”. Ashlyn Harrington is preparing the acting
selection “Born a Girl”, and Sam Trainer will be competing in improvisation.
Best wishes to Coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow and all the individual
speech team!
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Grace Menke. Grace has been on the danz
squad for four state years. She won two state titles and finished twelfth
statewide in solo dance. She’s also a football cheerleader, she’s gone to state
in golf, and she’s active in Christian Leadership. Grace plans to attend
Kirkwood Community College next year, and later she’ll transfer to Iowa State.
She wants to major in business management, and we wish her good luck in the
future.
On our Golden Bear calendar, tomorrow afternoon is the second round of the KC
free throw contest. Then on Tuesday there’s girls regional basketball, with the
Bears hosting West Bend Mallard.
Wednesday is both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. Students from St. Mary’s in
Humboldt will be coming up to Algona to join us for our service of word and
ashes that day.
We’ll dismiss early for teacher inservice on Wednesday, and at 4pm there will be
parent/teacher conferences. Then Thursday night the boys begin their district
run.
Friday the sophomores will head to Emmetsburg Catholic. Then next Saturday
there’s a math competition in Johnston.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to
tune in next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.