THE BEAR FACTS
November 19, 2022
: Good morning! I’m Joey Doerning!

: I’m Garrett Heying!

: And I’m Eva Snyder! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Bishop Garrigan High School.

: Basketball season is just around the corner. The defending state champion Golden Bear girls are looking for another good season. Seniors Audi Crooks, Molly Joyce, and Ashlyn Hovey are all back for the Bears. They’re joined by juniors Abbie Capesius, Reagan Murphy, and Alaina Casey, and sophomore Zoe Montag. There are also seven freshmen on the Golden Bear roster: Sacha Alesch, Emmi Bartolo, Alyssa Haugland, Reece Kemna, Haley Nemmers, Ava Roethler, and Ava Snider.

: The girls will start their season on Black Friday, when they’ll be participating in the Twin Cities Classic Tournament up in Mendota, Minnesota. They’ll play Hopkins, which is one of the top teams in the country, and also St. Thomas Academy. The Bears begin conference play on Tuesday, November 29, at Belmond—Klemme, and Thursday, December 1 they’ll be hosting Mason City Newman.

: The Golden Bear boys are also looking forward to a great season. Next Monday they’ll have a special scrimmage at GTRA in Graettinger. The boys will then travel to St. Edmond on Monday the 28th, and they begin district play at Belmond on the 29th. Andrew Fogarty, Jack Grandgenett, Aidan Hovey, and Ryan Noonan are the seniors for the Golden Bear boys.

: Junior Logan Nemmers and sophomore Drew Muller also return with lots of varsity experience. Other juniors out for basketball are Justin Bauer, Drew Lappe, and Ben Greteman. The sophomores include Trayton Cink, Isaac DeLange, Brady Galligan, Thadd Kollasch, Nick Leerar, Daniel Meis, Schyler Morse, and Wyatt Rosenmeyer. Finally there’s the freshmen: Keegan Berte, Tate Foertsch, Carter Schwab, Gabe Swift, and Amaury Thomas. Good luck all season long, Golden Bear basketball!

: The fall sports recently announced their post-season awards. Garrett Heying was named Defensive Player of the Year for the Golden Bear football team, while Cal Birkey was Offensive Player of the Year. Jack Grandgenett and Brody Ludwig won Special Teams Player of the Year. Andrew Fogarty earned the Larry Weir Academic Award, Caleb Bormann won the Bill Higgins Memorial Award, and Matt Kollasch won the Dennis Cruise Memorial Award.

: Keaton Helleseth and Aidan Hovey were the Most Improved Players, Caden Roethler won the Deacon Larsen “Fire in the Belly” Award, and Nate Bronk won the “D.E.F.E.N.S.E.” Award. Cal Birkey was named team MVP. First team all-district honors went to Garrett Heying, Nate Bronk, and Cal Birkey. Aidan Hovey and Caden Roethler won second team honors, and Drew Casey and Jack Grandgenett were honorable mentions. Academic all-district awards went to Cal Birkey, Garrett Heying, Drew Fogarty, Drew Casey, Benjy Trainer, Sam Plathe, Nate Bronk, and Justin Bauer.

: In volleyball Audi Crooks and Maggie Vaske were the MVPs on offense, while Ashlyn Hovey and Molly Joyce were the defensive MVPs. Eva Snyder, Zoe Montag, and Emmi Bartolo were the most improved players. Avery Lichter and Maggie Vaske split the Hustle Award, while Reagan Murphy and Violet Bode won Team Spirit honors. The Coaches’ Award went to Avery Lichter, and Ashlyn Hovey won the “Fire in Your Belly” Award.

: Molly Joyce won first team all-conference honors. Maggie Vaske and Audi Crooks were second team, and Ashlyn Hovey was an all-conference honorable mention. Audi Crooks, Ashlyn Hovey, Emmi Bartolo, Maggie Vaske, Molly Joyce, and Zoe Montag all won all-area honors, and Eva Snyder was an academic all-state honoree. Congratulations to all the football and volleyball award winners!

: Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Nate Bronk. Here to tell you about him is Gavin Swift.

: This weekend Nate Bronk is in Ames singing in the all-state choir. He’s won many other music awards, and he’s been part of lots of plays and musicals over the years—including recently playing the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. Nate is also a lineman in football, and he’s a thrower on the track team. Next year he plans to study for his career as a power lineman. We wish Nate all the best in the future.

: Thanks, Gavin. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ll be looking through two weeks of events on our Golden Bear calendar. Tonight is the All-State Music Festival concert. Nate Bronk, Benjy Trainer, and Izzy Waechter will be performing at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

: Monday night the boys basketball team has a pride scrimmage at Graettinger. Tuesday we’ll have an early dismissal, and that night the winter activities will hold a Tip-Off Evening where you can come to meet the athletes.

: Garrigan and Seton have school on Wednesday, though it’s a day off for the Algona Community Schools. There will be parish busing that day.

: Wednesday morning we’ll have the annual memorial mass for deceased alumni. The mass starts at 9am in Friedmann Auditorium at Garrigan, and the public is invited. We’ll dismiss early that afternoon for the holiday weekend.

: Thursday is Thanksgiving day. Then on Friday and Saturday the girls basketball team will be up in Mendota, Minnesota for the Twin Cities Classic.

: Advent begins on Sunday, November 27. We’ll start day on Monday the 28th with an Advent prayer service. There will be a pep rally to kick off winter sports at 2:30 that afternoon, and that night the boys basketball team plays at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond.

: Tuesday the 29th the danz squad will leave for their state competition in Des Moines. The basketball teams start conference play that night at Belmond. State dance continues through Friday, December 2nd.

: Wednesday, November 30th the quiz bowl team will participate in the fall 3—2—1 contest. Thursday the 1st the basketball teams host Mason City Newman. Then there’s more quiz bowl Saturday the 2nd, with the Bears traveling to Spirit Lake.

: That’s the “Bear Facts” for November. We’ll be off next week for Thanksgiving break, but be sure to join us again two weeks from now for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.