The Bear Facts
August 26, 2023


Good morning! I’m Violet Bode!
 I’m Ella Schaaf!

 And I’m Abbie Capesius! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, where for the past thirty-one years we’ve been bringing you the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
 

 A lot has happened since school got out last spring. First there was the state track meet, where the Golden Bear girls did especially well. As a team they ended up in ninth place statewide. Recent graduate Audi Crooks was the state champion in the shot put, and she finished in fourth place in the discus. The shuttle hurdle relay with Emmi Bartolo, Reagan Murphy, Molly Joyce, and Zoe Montag ended up fourth overall.

Molly Joyce finished 6th in the state in the 100-meter hurdles. Two other girls relays also placed at state. The 4 by 400 relay with Zoe Montag, Abbie Capesius, Reagan Murphy, AND Molly Joyce ended up 7th, while the 4 by 100 with Emmi Bartolo, Reagan Murphy, Zoe Montag, and Abbie Capesius was 8th.

 Avery Lichter represented the Bears at the state golf tournament. She finished with an 86 on the eighteen-hole course to take third place in the state. Avery was also medalist at the Top of Iowa Conference meet, and she was named Player of the Year in the conference’s western division. Avery also competed with Ben Greteman at the coed state golf meet, and they finished 24th out of 68 teams.

 It was a great year for the summer sports teams. The baseball team did especially well. They won the conference championship for the first time since the Bears joined the Top of Iowa. Garrett Heying, Drew Fogarty, Nathan Merron, Justin Bauer, and Keaton Helleseth were all first team all conference honorees. Cal Birkey, Drew Lappe, and Carter Schwab made second team all conference, and Benjy Trainer was an honorable mention.

Justin Bauer and Garrett Heying earned Class 1-A all-state selections. Garrett was named to the Elite All-State Super Team, which is made up of the top players in all classes. He was only the third player from Garrigan to win that honor, and he ended up hitting the game-winning home run in the all-star series in late July.

The softball team also had a great season. Darius Goche, Abbie Capesius, and Zoe Montag all won first team all-conference honors. Joey Doerning, Hanna Merron, and Sacha Alesch were all second-team all-conference, and Ella Schaaf was an honorable mention. Abbie Capesius was also named an all-state softball player. Congratulations to all the summer sports teams!

For the third straight year Bishop Garrigan received the Carrie Chapman Catt Award. This honor is presented by the Iowa Secretary of State to high schools where at least 90% of the eligible students are registered to vote. For 2023 more than 97% of Garrigan’s seniors were registered, putting them in an elite group of just 19 schools across the state to win the award. Social studies teacher Brian Patterson coordinated the voter registration program at BGHS.

Several Garrigan students competed at the state clay target trap championships in June. Students representing the Bears at state were Keaton Helleseth, Aidan Hovey, Ethan Marso, Collin Wiemers, Sam Bohan, Nate Bronk, and Matt Kollasch; as well as Scott Bormann, Wyatt Rosenmeyer, Blaire Becker, Josh Bernhard, Hailee Reutzel, Noah Berte, Drew Casey, Nick Thul, Andrew Lichter, and Connor Davis. Congratulations to the state trapshooters!

 Many Garrigan students won awards at the state level with their art and essay entries in the Catholic Daughters of the Americas education contest last spring Junior Hanna Merron did especially well. Her artwork advanced to the national competition, and she ended up second overall in the country. Congratulations, Hanna!

 There are a few changes on the Garrigan staff this year. Over the summer former principal Christy Peterson moved to a new roll as system president. She’ll now be in charge of operations for both the Garrigan and Seton buildings. Kristie Hough is now the principal for grades 3 – 12, and John Kesselring is the new principal at Seton. Also new this year, Fr. Zach Jones will be taking over as chaplain at Garrigan.

For three decades now we’ve begun our Senior Spotlights on the “Bear Facts” by saluting our student council presidents. One of this year’s presidents is Violet Bode. Here to tell you about her is Brendan Plathe!

In addition to student council, Violet Bode has been active in softball, track, and volleyball. She’s also done well in both individual and large-group speech, she’s in quiz bowl, DECA, drama, band, choir, and the honor society. Violet won a special recognition from the Iowa Musical Theatre Association for her performance in The Wizard of Oz last year, and she’s also been part of multiple state championship teams in dance. You’ve probably heard her announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. We wish Violet all the best, both in her senior year and after high school.

 Thanks, Brendan! On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s a volleyball tournament today at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. Monday the JV football team will start their season by hosting Rockford.

 We’ll have our first school mass of the year next Tuesday morning. That afternoon the cross-country team runs at Mason City Newman. Then on Thursday the volleyball team will host Lake Mills.

 We’ll have the kickoff for the “Walk and Pray” event next Friday. There’s an early dismissal for the holiday weekend that day, and Friday night the football team plays at West Bend.

That’s our first “Bear Facts” for the new school year. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to catch the show every week to hear all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.