The Bear Facts
April 15, 2025


Good morning! I’m Spencer Doerning!

I’m Scott Bormann!

And I’m Isabella Waechter! Welcome to another episode of the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show where we keep you up to date on all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

We were off last week because with three straight snow days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday there was no opportunity to get the show recorded. Those recent snow days put Garrigan and Seton slightly over the extra time that was built into our school calendar. To make sure all the required time is accounted for, we’ll be adding an extra school day at the end of the year on Friday, May 16.

A lot has happened in the two short weeks since we were last on the air. First there’s speech. Two weeks ago six Garrigan entries performed at the district individual speech contest in Ft. Dodge, and all six of those entries earned division 1 or “excellent” ratings—the best outcome they could possibly have gotten. One of those was junior Tate Foertsch, who advanced to state in Radio News Announcing.

Senior Isabella Waechter and sophomore Eva Kohlhaas earned two Division 1’s each. Izzy advances to state in Musical Theatre with the song “Home” from Beauty and the Beast and also in Prose with “The Waltz”. Eva earned 1’s in Storytelling with “Goldilocks” and in Prose with “Leaving Home”.
 

Garrigan’s final Division 1 rating was from senior Molly Peterson, who advanced to state with her Reviewing presentation on the movie Legally Blonde. All six Garrigan individual speech entries qualified to advance to state contest. They’ll be competing this afternoon at Woodbury Central High School in Moville. Best wishes at state, speech!

The Golden Bear girls basketball team also competed at state. The snowstorm stranded them down in Des Moines for three days, but they made the most of their time there. The girls played their opening game at state on Wednesday, March 5, when they faced Montezuma. There weren’t many fans in the stands, but the state association said Garrigan set a new record for people livestreaming the game—and that’s in addition to those who were listening to Tyler Lance on KLGA.

The Bears dominated their opening game. Montezuma had been the state’s top team in three-pointers, but the Bears held them to just one three in the game, as they built their way to a 35-point lead and a continuous clock. Garrigan had balanced scoring—with double digit contributions from Zoe Montag, Graclyn Eastman, Madelyn Tigges, and Emmi Bartolo.

The team also racked up 38 rebounds, including 26 on offense. In addition to the four top scorers, Sacha Alesch, Carley Nielson, Alyssa Haugland, and Ava Roethler all played for more than ten minutes, and every Golden Bear got at least three minutes playing at state. The Bears’ other bench players include Brooklyn Berte, Addyson Faris, Shiloh Trainer, Lillian Erpelding—Wickman, Jenna Peterson, and Bree Ludwig.

The 69 – 31 win advanced the Bears to the Final Four at state. They played top—seeded Council Bluffs St. Albert on Friday, and unfortunately that game didn’t go quite as well for the Bears. Garrigan got off to a slow start, and while they came back to get within three near the end of the game, St. Albert ended up winning 59 – 51. It was still a great year for the Bears, who finished the season with a 23 – 4 overall record. Congratulations!

In addition to the girls’ success, lots of fans also had fun at state girls basketball. Daniel Meis won the wing-eating contest sponsored by Jethro’s Barbecue, and Hanna Merron won a halftime race that earned her a gift card for Fareway. On top of that Rosanne Curtis-Ricke and Delaney Fessler-Arndorfer were honored as part of the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team. It was a great week all around for the Golden Bears.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Spencer Doerning. Here to tell you about him is Sam Greteman.

You’ve likely heard Spencer Doerning announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. His biggest activity over the years has probably been band. He’s also been involved in plays and musicals, both at school and with the community theatre. At pops concert two weeks ago Spencer also got thunderous applause for his vocal solo. At Garrigan he challenges himself with tough classes like Calculus and Comp II, and he also enjoys art. Away from school you might see him working at Hager Foods in Bancroft. Spencer plans to major in mechanical engineering at college, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Sam. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s state speech contest today in Moville. Tomorrow Bishop Nickless will be at St. Cecelia’s to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation for our freshmen.

Monday and Tuesday the seniors will be at Okoboji for their retreat. The other students will begin the day those days by taking the Iowa Assessments.

Garrigan will have parish busing next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, because the Algona Community Schools are not in session. Wednesday we’ll begin the day with a student mass.

Third quarter report cards go out on Wednesday. We’ll have no school at Garrigan next Thursday and Friday, with a mini spring break.

Thursday night the girls track team will compete in an indoor meet at Humboldt. The carpet also goes down to set up for Gala that day.

Finally this week we want to offer our sympathy to the family and friends of longtime Garrigan teacher Mary McCall. Miss McCall retired a few years ago, and she died last week in Minnesota. There is a funeral today in Mankato, but there will also be a memorial mass at St. Cecelia’s this summer. Miss McCall taught English for more than forty years, and she had a big effect on all the students she worked with.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for another week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.