Good morning! I'm Eric Cassmann!
And I'm John Kohlhaas! Welcome to another exciting episode of the "Bear Facts", KLGA's weekly round-up of all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Most of our news this week revolves around quiz bowl--the activity that's been the most active this past week. Last Saturday Garrigan's top team won the championship at the first-ever Cougar Invitational Quiz Bowl Tournament at North Kossuth High School. Twenty-four teams competed, but the Bears dominated from beginning to end. They finished with a perfect 11 - 0 record and scored more than 200 points more than any other team. Their only close game was in the finals, when they edged Boone by 20 points to take first place overall. The championship team included my fellow announcer John Kohlhaas, Amber Golwitzer, Tyler Rolling, Matt Courtney, and me.
A second Garrigan team also did well at North Kossuth. Jacob Hellman, Jeff Lappe, Alison Brandenburg, Spenser Rahm, Andrew Missal, and Joe Rahm were seeded eighth after the preliminary rounds. They fell in the quarter-finals to the top-rated Garrigan team, but still had an excellent showing for the day. Congratulations to all the Garrigan quiz bowl team!
The win last weekend qualifies Garrigan to make the school's seventh appearance in the National Academic Championships. This year's national tournament will be June 3 - 6 in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition to the members of the qualifying team, other students planning on traveling to nationals include Scott Stence, Jesse Bode, Josh Broesder, and Adam Cink. Coach David Burrow and math teacher Daryl Kohlhaas will be accompanying the group to nationals. After the tournament, the team plans to spend a day in historic Philadelphia. We'll tell you more about national quiz bowl as plans are firmed up through the spring.
There was more quiz bowl action last Wednesday, when the Bears participated in the Trivia Champions Think-a-Thon, a charity event. Garrigan students managed to raise over $200 for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital by answering 300 challenging and entertaining questions. The quiz bowlers divided into teams, and the top team included Tyler Rolling, Matt Courtney, Chris Scobba, and me. Our team got 244 questions right. The second team of Alison Brandenburg, Spenser Rahm, and Jeff Lappe answered 232; while Jacob Hellman, Brandon Rowley, Seth Rogers, Gavin Freking, and Andrew Missal finished third with 230 correct answers.
The other news this week is from band. Next Thursday twenty-two Garrigan students will be in Storm Lake for the annual Sioux City Diocesan Honor Band. Garrigan has more students participating in the honor band than any other school. They include Jacob Detrick, Ashley Waller, Amanda Elbert, Adam Elbert, Amanda Thompson, Renee Taphorn, Scott Stence, Allison Even, Gavin Freking, Amanda Golwitzer, and Kelly Schmidt. Others involved are Amber Golwitzer, Jacob Hellman, JoAnn Kirsch, Brandon Rowley, John Kohlhaas, Samantha Kirsch, Tim Lind, Andrew Missal, Brooke Myers, Jacob Richter, and Kandice Roethler. Congratulations, honor band!
Intramural basketball season is here. This year six teams are competing for the coveted intramural title. Last week a team of juniors captained by Jim Garman was all over Jeff Lappe and his fellow sophomores. Meanwhile, Miles Berte and Mason Elbert's senior team had to come from behind to beat a quick group of freshmen captained by Chris Loebach and Joey Dailey. Intramurals resume tomorrow and continue through early March.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Maria Erpelding and Grant Smith. Maria Erpelding is a volleyball and dance captain who was twice named an "all-star" by the National Dance Association. She is also active in choir and publications, and away from school she works at the Good Samaritan Center. Maria plans a career in nursing, and we wish her all the best.
Grant Smith's top activity is probably baseball. He's played varsity games since his sophomore year and now is a starter. You may also see him playing at the end of varsity basketball games, and he has also played football. Grant plans to attend college next year. Good luck to both Grant and Maria!
On our Golden Bear calendar this week there's quiz bowl today in Eagle Grove. Tomorrow intramural basketball continues. Then Monday the freshman basketball teams play at Emmetsburg.
Tuesday the varsity Bears host Webster City. Then on Wednesday there are no classes at Garrigan, due to a faculty in-service and our reward for meeting the goal in the magazine drive last fall.
Next Thursday there's the diocesan honor band in Storm Lake. That night the freshman basketball teams play West Bend Mallard, with the boys at home and the girls away.
Friday night the Bears have a four-game match-up with Eagle Grove. The National Honor Society will be serving a chili supper during the games. Then next Saturday is the district large-group speech contest at Fort Dodge.
Finally this week we'd like to offer our condolences to band director and counselor Dennis Freking, whose mother died this past week. We'd like Mr. and Mrs. Freking, as well as our classmate Gavin Freking, to know our thoughts and prayers are with them.
That's the "Bear Facts" for this week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
