Good morning! I'm Amber Golwiter!
And I'm Cassie Recker! You're listening to the "Bear Facts". Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at Bishop Garrigan High School.
The varsity Golden Bears have been getting lots of attention lately with their race for the conference championship, but many of the lower level teams have also been having good seasons. The freshman girls, for instance, were undefeated as of mid-week. They've gotten big wins over teams like Emmetsburg, Clear Lake, Pocahontas, and Webster City, and the freshmen wanted to be sure we mentioned Kelli Black's big dunk against Estherville. Besides Kelli, Garrigan's freshman girls team includes Abbie Bradley, Alyssa Gisch, Alicia Miller, Cindy Reding, Brittany Pfeffer, and Maria Kohlhaas. All those girls also play JV ball, and some even suit varsity.
The JV girls team hasn't had quite the success as the freshmen. All their games have been close, though, and they've gotten big wins over Iowa Falls and West Bend/Mallard. In addition to the freshmen, sophomores Alison Brandenburg, Kayla Reding, Sara Kunkel, Alicia Shackelford, Sarah Funk, and Denise Kohlhaas make up the JV team. Congratulations to coaches Joe Elbert, Dave Beisch, and Angie Sundall, and all the lower-level girls basketball players!
The JV boys have had an outstanding season this year. Even after sophomore Dan Garman was injured early in the season, the boys have continued to do well. At midweek the JV boys had a 12 - 2 record, with their biggest victory being against Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. Juniors Sean Kohlhaas and Matt Courtney and sophomores Gavin Freking, Bob Geelan, Ross Froehlich, and Nate Pierson play varsity as well as JV. The rest of the team includes junior Konny Mittlestadt and sophomore Noah Devine.
The freshman boys basketball team got victories over Estherville, West Bend, and North Kossuth earlier this season. Starters for the freshmen are Chris Cassmann, Nick Reding, Scott Kollasch, Brian Capesius, and Josh Rahm. Rounding out the team are Alex Elbert, Tony Rouse, Spenser Eischen, and Logan Wood. Congratulations to coaches Dave Schnurr and Steve McCall and all the lower-level boys!
Last Saturday the Golden Bear speech team competed at the state large-group contest in Spencer. Because of all the snow days this past month, some of Garrigan's entries had not practiced since district. Even so, the Bears managed to bring home four Division One, or "excellent" ratings and four Division Two, or "good" ratings. Events earning ones were the readers theatre "All's Well That Ends Wrong", the ensemble acting selections "My Name Is Leslie" and "Act 3, Scene 5", and a sophomore group improvisation. Congratulations to coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow and the speech team.
Next month the BGHS music and drama departments will present the musical State Fair, which tells about the Iowa state fair in the 1940s. Playing lead roles are Jenna Kollasch, Eric Cassmann, Amber Golwitzer, John Kohlhaas, Ashley Waller, and Jesse Bode. They and the whole cast have been practicing hard already. The show will be Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27. We'll fill you in on more of the details in coming weeks.
If you haven't looked through the Garrigan website lately, you've got a lot to look at. In just the past two weeks Mrs. Freking's web pages class has added or updated more than three dozen pages. You won't want to miss the whole new section about the Algona-Garrigan Senior Night game, with great pictures of both basketball games, as well as the cheerleaders, the pep band, the danz squad's joint routine, the senior night ceremonies, and the fans. Another interesting addition is pictures of the watercolor art projects that Seton students did for Catholic Schools Week. You can always check out Garrigan on-line at garrigan-dot-unlimitedweb-dot-net.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Nick Golwitzer and Lisa Thilges. This time of year Nick Golwitzer keeps busy as a basketball cheerleader. His favorite activity is football, and he's also active in track and in intramural basketball. Nick plans to go to college next fall, and we wish him the very best in the future.
Lisa Thilges' biggest activity is probably track, where she's competed in the state tournament. She runs 100- and 200-meter sprints, and she's also a long jumper. Lisa was a cross-country manager last fall, and over the years her activities have included speech, music, Christian Leadership, and National Honor Society. She'll be off to college next fall. Good luck, Lisa!
On our Golden Bear calendar this week, intramural basketball action resumes tomorrow afternoon. Then on Monday we'll have a special speaker talking about a mission trip to Honduras.
Tuesday night the Bears wrap up their North Central Conference season as they host Iowa Falls. Then on Wednesday the girls start district play. They'll play at Emmetsburg at 7pm that night.
Next Thursday Ballet USA will give some special presentations during our P.E. classes. They'll have a community performance of Rumpelstiltskin next Saturday night. Also next Saturday is Round 2 of girls districts, and the math team competes in Ames that day.
That's the "Bear Facts" for Valentine's Day. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to set your dial here again next week to hear more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
