Good morning! I'm Brooke Myers!
And I'm Scott Stence! Thanks for tuning in to the "Bear Facts", the weekly radio update from Bishop Garrigan High School.
The Bishop Garrigan danz squad got some incredible news this past week. Most people know that last spring they went out to California to compete against drill teams from all over the country in the Disneyland Classic. They took first place at Disneyland, and everyone was excited at the school's first championship against national competition. Well, the Disneyland Classic is just one of nine tournaments sponsored by the National Dance Association. After all nine were completed, the judges got together to re-evaluate films of the winners of all those competitions. After reviewing all those tapes, they decided to name Garrigan the grand champion-the best dance squad that competed in any of the national competitions.
Dance coach Colleen Schiltz said she was just stunned when she heard the good news. She knew nothing about it until UPS delivered an enormous four-foot gold trophy that's standing in the school lobby right now. We're proud to congratulate Coach Schiltz and all the danz squad. Remaining members of last year's team include seniors Maria Erpelding and Nicole Krieps; junior Ashley Shaw; and sophomores Jessica Cink, Monica Schiltz, Jennifer Vaske, April Wolf, Lizzie Mayer, Melissa Hilbert, and Michaela Pease. Congratulations to the overall national grand champions!
We'd also like to congratulate the Golden Bear volleyball and cross-country teams, both of which did an awesome job at district last Thursday. The volleyball team beat Emmetsburg in three straight games. They'll begin regional play at home next Tuesday night. The cross-country team qualified for state by placing third in the district championship at Holstein. The state meet will be at Ft. Dodge one week from today, and we'll tell you much more about it on next week's show.
The Golden Bear quiz bowl team began their season last Saturday, and they started things out pretty well. Almost forty Garrigan students competed in their home tournament, and seven of the school's eight entries had winning records. The top team-which featured John Kohlhaas, Scott Stence, Tyler Rolling, Amber Golwitzer, and Matt Courtney-had a perfect 8 - 0 record after the preliminary rounds and was seeded third going into the play-offs. They ended up losing by just five points in the quarter-final round to the eventual champions from Boone.
Today seven Garrigan quiz-bowlers are in Ankeny for the second big tournament of the season. Matt Courtney is captaining today's team, and he's playing along with Andrew Missal, Amber Golwitzer, Tyler Rolling, Joe Rahm, Chris Scobba, and Seth Rogers. The team will take on lots of large schools from the Des Moines area, so we wish them good luck as they compete today.
There's another group of students competing today, too. While you wouldn't know it from looking at the Algona paper, nine Golden Bears are in Storm Lake auditioning for the All-State Music Festival. The auditioners include the vocal trio of Jesse Bode, Bridget Doughan, and Eric Cassmann; the mixed quartet of John Kohlhaas, Rose Mayer, Jenna Kollasch, and Jacob Richter; and the duet of Jacob Hellmann and Chris Kirsch. They'll be singing a wide range of music-from patriotic selections like "America the Beautiful" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to international songs in German and Spanish. It's been a few years since Garrigan had an all-state music selection, but we have confidence this could be the year. Good luck to all the all-state music hopefuls.
The BGHS magazine drive is underway. For the next week and a half, Garrigan students will be selling low-priced magazine subscriptions to help raise money for the school. The money goes to student council, which in turn gives it to almost every school activity at Garrigan. Prices are almost always the best you'll find anywhere, so be sure to find your favorite Golden Bear, and renew your magazines through the school.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Amber Golwitzer and Jon Hanig. Here to tell you about her is Jesse Bode.
Amber Golwitzer is a Wesley native who has been active in a wide range of activities at Garrigan. She has probably been most successful in speech and drama, but she also enjoys music and Christian Leadership in Action. You might even see her chasing after the cross-country runners as a manager. Amber will be off to college next year, and we wish her good luck.
Jon Hanig is probably best known for his accomplishments on the baseball field. Throughout high school he's been a key contributor to the Golden Bear baseball team. He also enjoys intramural basketball, and after classes are over you may see him helping out cleaning up around the school. We wish Jon the very best in the future.
Thanks, Jesse! On our Golden Bear calendar today there's all-state music auditions and the quiz bowl team is competing in Ankeny. Also today the Garrigan gym is one of the host sites for the autumn craft show.
All next week the magazine drive continues. Monday the JV football team hosts Clarion, and Tuesday the freshman football players travel to Pocahontas. Also on Tuesday the volleyball team begins regional action at home. If they win Tuesday, they play again at Manson Thursday night.
Next Friday the faculty will receive flu shots. That night the varsity football team will be spooking St. Ed's for Halloween. Northwest Federal will host a chili supper before the game. Finally next Saturday is state cross country, state solo dance, and state cheerleading.
That's the "Bear Facts" for October. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us next week when we'll have a special salute to the state-bound cross-country team at Bishop Garrigan High School.
