Good morning! I'm John Kohlhaas!
And I'm Jesse Bode! Welcome to the 414th weekly episode of the "Bear Facts", KLGA's weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
This morning sixteen Garrigan students got up very early to head westward for LeMars. They're competing at the Iowa High School Speech Association state individual speech contest. The Golden Bears did extremely well two weeks ago at district, earning nineteen Division One (or "excellent") ratings. All those entries get to compete again this morning at state contest.
John and I are among the students competing at today's state contest. Other students entered are Amber Golwitzer, Chris Loebach, and Eric Cassmann-all of whom have two entries each at state. The rest of the group is Cassie Recker, Samantha Kirsch, Alex Elbert, Garrison Brosnan, Brooke Myers, Anna Bormann, Josh Broesder, Nancy Syharath, Sadie Foertsch, Amanda Golwitzer, and Kathy Preylowski. Best wishes to Coaches Mary McCall and Sarah Freking and all the speech team!
Intramural basketball is over, and I'm proud to say that the best team came out on top. We could have predicted back at the beginning of the season that the championship game would come down to the two senior teams. During the regular season the team captained by Mason Elbert and Miles Berte won the day. Things turned around in play-offs, though, and last Monday the team of Josh Broesder, Eric Cassmann, Jason Lallier, Andrew Thilges, Ben Geelan, and me-John Kohlhaas, came out on top by a score of 47 to 43. All the winners receive championship T-shirts for their victory.
Also last Monday the selections to this year's All-Intramural Team were announced. The 2004 all-intramural captain is Colby Reding. Joining him on the first team were Ben Geelan, Jason Lallier, Mason Elbert, John Kohlhaas, and Miles Berte. All the first-team nominees got holographic medals. Second team certificates went to Eric Goodman, Kris Sutter, Andrew Berte, Andrew Thilges, and Brian Marso.
There were also six all-intramural honorable mentions. They went to Joey Dailey, Jesse Bode, Jeff Lappe, Eric Cassmann, Adam Cink, and Jim Garman. Finally, varsity player Matt Vitzthum was named the All-Intramural Referee for 2004. The student council organizes intramurals every year, and everyone agreed that they provide some fun competition for everyone involved.
Did you know that "our state fair is the best state fair in our state"? That's one of the classic lines from State Fair, the musical that the BGHS drama and music departments will present next Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm. Actors, musicians, and artists been working hard since Christmas getting everything ready for the show, which we hope will come off well. Tickets are just $5, and we encourage everyone to come out next weekend and enjoy State Fair.
There are a lot of recent updates to check out on the BGHS website. In addition to some action and crowd shots from basketball season, there are also lots of additions to the alumni section. Information about 2004 reunions is no online, and we've completed the "Through the Years" section that takes a photographic look at every year in Garrigan's history. You can check-out Garrigan online at garrigan dot unlimitedweb dot net.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Andrew Kollasch and Nicole Krieps. Andrew Kollasch stands out above the crowd through his accomplishments in art. He's taken art classes all through school, and some of his work has won awards. Andrew also enjoys playing music, and away from Garrigan you may see him working at Fareway. We wish "L.P." the very best in the future.
Nicole Krieps is probably best known for her accomplishments in dance. She was part of the national champion Golden Bear danz squad last year, and she was in Des Moines during basketball tournaments with the all-Iowa drill team. In her spare time she works at the YMCA and at the pool. She plans to go to Iowa next year, where she hopes to continue working with cheer and dance. Good luck to both Nicole and Andrew!
On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there's the state speech contest today in LeMars. Then the state health occupations convention runs in Des Moines through Tuesday.
Wednesday we'll have a jeans day to help out Garrigan graduate Adam Raney, who is in the hospital. Friday and Saturday the curtain goes up on State Fair, and also next Saturday the quiz bowl team plays at Boone.
Finally this week we want to send get well wishes to Garrigan biology teacher Tom Froehlich. Fro ripped off a finger last weekend and has been spending some time recuperating. We're looking forward to having him back.
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.
