The Bear Facts
May 18, 2013
Good morning! I’m Nicole Behr!
I'm Sydney McNertney!
I’m Aisha Miller!
I’m Connor Langermann!
And I’m Mallory Schiltz! Thanks for joining us for our next-to-last “Bear Facts” of the school year. Here’s the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
The state track meet has been going on since Thursday, and this year Garrigan has eight different events competing at state. On the boys side, junior Brayton Loss made it to state in the long jump. He was seeded 9th in the state and competed on Thursday. Senior Adam Hamilton also competed Thursday in the preliminaries of the 110-meter hurdles, where he recently broke the school record. We had to record this week’s show before results were in, but we’re hoping he’ll be running in the finals this afternoon.
The Golden Bear girls qualified six events for state. Senior Erin Reedy ran in the 3000-meter run Thursday morning, and she’s also competing in the 1500-meter this afternoon. Junior record-holder Nicole Behr ran at state in the 200-meter dash. The Bears also qualified three relays for state. The distance medley featured Taylor Frideres, Nicole Behr, Chelsi Lanus, and Erin Reedy, and the 4 x 200 relay included Taylor Frideres, Aisha Miller, Chelsi Lanus, and Nicole Behr.
The final relay the girls qualified was the 4 x 400. Running it were Taylor Frideres, Aisha Miller, Chelsi Lanus, and Nicole Behr. Alternates at state included Erica Carlson, Aubrie Meyers, Melanie Mergen, Brittany Kirsch, Kaitlyn Fogarty, and Emily Riesenberg. Congratulations to all the state track qualifiers!
It was a quick jump from snow at the beginning of the month to triple-digit temperatures this past week. The warm temperatures tell us that summer is coming, though, and it’s already time for baseball and softball to begin. Garrigan is known for its baseball tradition, and Coaches Gene and Rob Meister are hoping the defending district and conference champs will have another good season this year.
At the core of this year’s team are seniors John Burns, Jake Kollasch, Andrew McGuire, Adam Hamilton, Elliot Boisjolie, Dustin Miller, and B.J. Plathe, and all those returning veterans want to repeat last year’s trip to state. Other key players include sophomores Reece Wadle, Andrew Miller, Ben Vaske, and Tyler Schnurr; and freshmen Zach Boelter, Zac Kibby, Andrew Lallier, Alex McGuire, James Quinlin, Will Kellner, Logan Besch, and Devin Degen.
Nine eighth graders will also be making their baseball debut this year. The younger kids to watch include James Burns, Andrew Meister, Joel Vaske, Patrick Marlow, and Chase Hatten; as well as Grant Buscherfeld, Ben Fogarty, Ryan Kenyon, and Andrew Thilges. Good luck all summer to the baseball team.
One highlight for this year’s baseball team will be seeing a former Golden Bear. When the Bears play their Catholic schools tournament in Des Moines, they’ll also see a game at Principal Park, where Garrigan’s own Brad Nelson now plays for the Iowa Cubs. Brad is off to a good start this season—leading the team in homers and RBIs and in the top three in batting average and runs scored. We wish our own professional baseball player continued good luck all season long!
Coach Wendi Meister is hoping for good improvement from her softball players. At the core of this year’s team are junior veterans Kristin Condoleon, Kara Eischen, and Taylor Hovey. There are also five sophomores out for softball: Betty Straub, Patricia Brandt, Kaitlyn Fogarty, Emily Marlow, and Emily Riesenberg.
The biggest group in softball is the freshmen, with nine different players on the team. They include Johanna Vaske, Nicole Zeimet, Olivia Vaske, and Carolyn Baxter; plus Emily Baumann, LeAnn Eischen, Kelsey Hovey, Avriel Miller, and Cady Steinman. The team also features seven eighth graders: Gracie Behr, Courtney Noonan, Miranda Book, Courtney Kirsch, Ciera Hall, Samantha Bormann, and Megan Brown. Good luck to the softball team!
The Class of 2013 said their last goodbyes when they graduated last Sunday. We want to mention just a few more of the awards that were presented at commencement. Shawn Vaske received the Iowa Bar Association citizenship award, while Victor Berte was cited by the Rotary for Service Above Self. The Kiwanis Club recognized Janet Kenyon for her service and citizenship, and Amelia Golwitzer received the Catholic Daughters of the Americas award.
Two honors came in too late to be announced at graduation. Jamie Baumann and Victor Berte will each receive $3,000 Dallas Clark scholarships. All together roughly $300,000 in scholarships were offered to this year’s Garrigan graduates. In addition two juniors received awards to help them continue their education at Garrigan. Neal Koob received the Deacon Bob Larsen Scholarship, while Lydia Reding was awarded a scholarship in memory of Diane Elbert.
On our Golden Bear calendar this week, the state track meet finishes up today down at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Tomorrow is the Feast of Pentecost, and the eighth graders will have their final junior high mass.
The girls golf team competes at regionals on Monday, hoping to return to defend their state championship. Also on Monday baseball begins, with the Bears hosting Estherville.
We’ll start semester tests on Tuesday. There’s a special schedule, so we have open campus whenever we have no tests. That night softball begins, with the girls playing at Pocahontas.
The baseball team hosts Emmetsburg on Tuesday. Wednesday there’s more semester tests, and that night both baseball and softball play at North Iowa.
The school year ends on Thursday, with our last two semester tests. That night the softball team hosts Humboldt, while the boys travel to Bancroft to play North Union.
Next Friday the baseball team opens their conference season at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. Finally boys state golf is next Friday and Saturday at Lake Panorama.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to catch us one more time next week when we’ll wrap up the school year and look ahead to summer here at Bishop Garrigan High School.
