THE BEAR FACTS
September 15, 2018

Good morning! I’m Abbi Heying!

I’m Gabe Trainer!

And I’m Laurel Degen! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, where we’re wrapping up Homecoming week here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

Our Homecoming theme this year was “Lights! Camera! Action!”, and all this past week we’ve been celebrating the fun of the movies. A lot of people really got into special dress-up themes like Horror Movie Day, Super-Hero Day, and Celebrity Day. We also had Class Color Day for the big class competition on Wednesday, and of course we finished the week with the traditional Black and Gold Day.

Monday afternoon we had a big pep rally where we crowned our 2018 Homecoming royalty. This year’s queen candidates were Megan Besch, Madelyn Cink, Cacy Steinman, and Emma Thul; while the king candidates were John Capesius, Billy Erpelding, Eric Thul, and Gabe Trainer. When the votes were all counted, our Homecoming king and queen were Emma Thul and John Capesius! Congratulations, Emma and John!

One of the biggest parts of Homecoming every year is the class competition. For as long as we’ve been alive, one day of Homecoming week has been set aside for the classes to compete in different games. This year the seniors won Twister, both sections of Ultimate Frisbee, dodgeball, pie eating, the egg toss relay, and boys Gatorade chug. The juniors won kickball, both boys and girls home run derby, and girls Gatorade chug.

The sophomore class won bean bag toss, hot dog eating, and the egg toss distance contest. The juniors and seniors split top honors in volleyball, and the seniors and sophomores won different sections of trivia. In other parts of the class competition, the juniors won the hoop contest, the juniors and seniors tied on Horror Movie Day; and the sophomores, juniors, and seniors all tied on Class Color Day. The seniors had the most dressed in the theme on Super-Hero Day, and they also had the best participation in the fan at the volleyball game Tuesday night.

We had to record this week’s show before the class competition was over, so we don’t know the winners of the last two dress-up days, or of the banner, lip sync, and charitable donation contests. It was a close contest, and technically any class could still win it. The seniors led most of the week, though, and we’re betting the overall winners will be the Class of 2019.

While football gets most of the attention during Homecoming week, the other fall sports had a lot to brag about this week as well. The cross-country team began the week by running in the CYO meet in Holstein. For senior John Meis, this was his first meet of the season, and he began the year by finishing in fourth place overall. Then on Monday the team ran in the Emmetsburg Invitational, and four different Garrigan runners earned medals. In addition to John Meis, Quinn Swift and Joseph Meis also medaled for the boys, while Bailey Kollasch was a medalist for the girls. Congratulations, cross-country.

The volleyball team also had a good Homecoming week. On Tuesday they took on North Union, a team with a strong volleyball tradition. While it was a close match, the Bears played hard and won in three straight games. Tomorrow the girls will be closing out Homecoming with the big CYO tournament, which this year is at LeMars Gehlen. Good luck at CYO, volleyball!

Another tradition at Homecoming is the elementary cheer clinic that the Golden Bear spirit squad sponsors for girls from kindergarten through eighth grade. This year’s football cheer squad features seniors Megan Besch, Madelyn Cink, Laurel Degen, and Layah DeLange, as well as Madison Illg, Cacy Steinman, and Emma Thul. They and the younger cheerleaders all worked hard to make a good clinic for the little girls on Homecoming afternoon.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on our Homecoming king, John Capesius. Here to tell you about him is Reese Rosenmeyer!

John Capesius is second generation royalty, since his dad was also Homecoming king at Garrigan back in the ‘80s. Most people call John “Ralph”, and he keeps busy all through the school year with football, basketball, and track. John is also in Christian Leadership, and away from school you might see him working at Emerald’s, Countryside Gardens, or Capesius Brothers. We’re glad to congratulate our Homecoming king, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Reese! On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s a JV and varsity volleyball tournament today at Algona High, and the JJV team will be in Armstrong for a tournament at North Union. Then tomorrow there’s the CYO volleyball tournament in LeMars.

Monday the cross-country team runs at Humboldt. There’s also JV football that night, with the Bears facing Eagle Grove. There’s a change in the schedule. That game will now be at home, rather than away.

The annual calendar drive ends on Tuesday. That night the volleyball team plays at North Iowa. We’ll have mass Wednesday morning, and Thursday the school board meets at Garrigan.

Next Friday the football team will be on the road. They play West Hancock that night. Then next Saturday the Bears host their home volleyball tournament.

That wraps up the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to catch us again next week to hear more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.