THE BEAR FACTS
March 12, 2022


Good morning! I’m Joey Doerning!

I’m Garrett Heying!

And I’m Eva Snyder! Welcome to the “Bear Facts”, where we’re doing some celebrating here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

If you look through the trophy case at Garrigan, you’ll see lots and lots of state champion golf and dance trophies. You’ll also see trophies for individual championships and for lots of state qualifying and state runner-up teams. Until last week, though, the only state championship Garrigan had won in a major spectator sport was 37 years ago in football. That changed last Saturday when the Golden Bears won the state girls basketball championship.
 

The Bears got to the championship game by first getting big wins over Burlington Notre Dame and North Linn. Saturday night they played the Marcus Meriden Cleghorn – Remsen Union Royals, a team that flew under the radar until they beat Newell—Fonda in the state semi-finals. While the Bears led by as many as 13 points midway through the game, MMCRU came back to tie the game with just two and a half minutes left.

The Bears stayed calm and didn’t choke. Audi Crooks got a huge layup, Molly Joyce made some clutch free throws, Abbie Capesius blocked a three-point attempt that would have sent the game into overtime, and Meredith Tigges got the final rebound as time ran out. The final score was Bishop Garrigan 52, MMCRU 49. Congratulations to the state champion Golden Bears!

 Every player on the Golden Bear team got playing time at state. Junior Molly Joyce was named captain of the all-tournament team, and she also received an award from the Iowa Pork Producers for her shot production at state. Fellow junior Audi Crooks led all players in all classes in scoring at state, and she made the all-tournament team for the third straight year. In addition to being one of the top rebounders at state, senior Meredith Tigges was the lone Class 1-A recipient of the Iowa Bankers Scholar-Athlete Award, honoring her achievement in the classroom and on the court.

Sophomore Abbie Capesius was also among the top-scoring players at state, and senior Emma Grandgenett played tough defense and got some key shots when it mattered. Freshman Zoe Montag ended up with one of the highest three-point percentages at state, and junior Ashlyn Hovey was also a key player off the bench. Rounding out the state champion team are senior Ella Muller, and sophomores Reagan Murphy, Caelyn Capesius, and Alaina Casey. Congratulations to Garrigan’s first-ever state champion basketball team!

Garrigan had one of the biggest crowds in all classes for the games at Wells—Fargo arena, with thousands of alumni coming to Des Moines for the tournament. The girls association always provides a lot of entertainment during the games. Among those, each year Jethro’s Barbecue in Des Moines does a wing-eating contest. This year Garrigan sophomore Klayton Kramer was the state wing-eating champion. Congratulations to him!

Another feature at the state tournament was the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team. This year six Golden Bear dancers qualified for All-Iowa and performed down in Des Moines last week. Congratulations to All-Iowa dancers Katelyn Cink, Lillee Deike, Meredith Illg, Riley Rosenmeyer, Ava Kemna and Ellie Rosenmeyer.


There’s some other success to celebrate, too. Last Sunday Algona’s YMCA swimming team competed at state. Seventh-grader Matt Besch ended up winning the state championship in his division, while freshman Brooke Ludwig was also among the top ten in the state. Congratulations swimmers!

This past week the Golden Bear quiz bowl team received the results from the spring Knowledge Master contest, which they competed in online last month. Garrigan had an overall score of 330 points, which made them the top team in Iowa and #17 out of all the teams that competed nationwide. Congratulations, quiz bowl!

Today Bishop Garrigan has fourteen entries at the state individual speech contest, which is being held over at Woodbury Central High School in Moville. Molly Peterson will begin the day with a reviewing entry at 9:30. Then Brooke Ludwig competes in improvisation at 9:52. Around noon Savannah Waechter will perform her acting entry, followed by Brooke Ludwig in spontaneous speaking.

 In the one o’clock hour Marguerite Fakler performs her musical theatre entry, Benjy Trainer competes in improvisation, and Ava Eisenbarth will present a poetry selection. Then Riley Rosenmeyer will compete in reviewing and Eva Snyder and Ava Eisenbarth will present literary program. Finally there’s a big rush around 3:30 this afternoon, when Riley Rosenmeyer and Marguerite Fakler will present prose pieces, and Meredith Illg and Isabella Waechter compete in poetry. Best wishes at state to all the individual speech entries!

It’s hard to believe that we’re just a week away from the BGHS spring play. This year’s show is called Acting Can Be Murder. The comedy murder mystery features a cast of almost thirty. Show time will be Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00. Be sure to come out to Garrigan to see Acting Can Be Murder.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Jackson Springer. Here with the scoop on him is Riley Rosenmeyer.

 Of all the things at Garrigan, Jackson Springer most enjoys his P.E. classes. He also likes the English and social studies classes that Mrs. Miller teaches. Jackson was a member of the golf team in the past, and he plans to go to college next year. We wish Jackson all the best after graduation.

Our Golden Bear calendar is pretty light this week. There’s state speech contest today in Moville. There’s round 3 of the K.C. Free Throw contest tomorrow, and golf practice begins on Monday.

We’ll have reconciliation on Tuesday, and the annual academic banquet is that night. Thursday we’ll have the annual pickleball tournament, and Friday we’ll do stations of the cross for Lent.

The spring play is next Friday and Saturday, and also on Saturday Garrigan will be hosting a big middle school quiz bowl tournament.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Congratulations once again to the state champion girls basketball team. Thanks to you for listening, and be sure to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.