The Bear Facts
August 31, 2013
Good morning! I’m Levi Bernhard!
I’m Kara Eischen!
And I’m Erin Quinlin! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we keep you in touch with all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
This past week the Garrigan senior class voted for our 2013 Homecoming royalty, and we’re pleased to announce our royal court. The queen candidates for 2013 are Nicole Behr, Kristin Condoleon, Anna Hohmeister, Mariah McCall, and Aisha Miller. On the king side, the nominees are Neal Koob, Connor Langerman, Brayton Loss, Chris Loss, and Corey Weydert. Homecoming will be September 15 – 20, and this year’s theme is “Around the World”.
Each year many students at Garrigan enter the Catholic Daughters of America education contest. Many students have done well at the local and state levels, but this past summer Garrigan freshman Levi Capesius placed at the national level. Levi entered the music competition. He wrote and performed an original song expressing his faith. He advanced to the highest level in the competition and ended up taking second place at nationals. Congratulations, Levi!
It’s been brutally hot this past week. Only about half the rooms at Garrigan are air conditioned, and it’s definitely been uncomfortable at school. To help with the heat, in addition to dismissing early, sports practices have been modified. The cross-country team has practiced in the morning all week long, while the football team has waited until evening for their practices. We’re hoping for cooler weather and a more normal routine in the coming weeks.
In their last year in the North Central Conference, the Golden Bear softball team finished right in the middle of the pack. Among the varsity awards this year, Taylor Hovey was named “Big Hitter”, and she also earned the Coach’s Award. Kelsey Hovey won the “Golden Glove” award, and Kristin Condoleon was named Pitcher of the Year. The Infielder of the Year was Johanna Vaske, while Kaitlyn Fogarty was named Outfielder of the Year.
Avriel Miller and Olivia Vaske were Runners of the Year, and Kara Eischen received the Team Leader award. The Most Improved Players were Betty Straub and Emily Marlow, while Nicole Zeimet won “Rookie of the Year” honors. Taylor Hovey broke the school record for most doubles in a season, with 16. She also tied the record for most hits in a season, with 61. She and Johanna Vaske tied Taylor’s 2012 record for most season home runs, with 3, and Taylor now has the most career home runs, with 6.
The Golden Bear baseball team finished with a 25 – 14 overall record, and they just missed another North Central Conference championship. John Burns and Jake Kollasch were the baseball MVPs. Bobby Plathe and Elliot Boisjolie won the Golden Bear Pride award; Reece Wadle and John Burns received the Silver Slugger Offense Award; and Andrew McGuire, Dustin Miller, and Andrew Miller shared the Gold Glove Defense Award.
Adam Hamilton was named Most Improved Player on the baseball team, and Reece Wadle won the Cy Young pitching award. The Rookies of the Year were Tyler Schnurr, Zac Kibby, and Zach Boelter. While no records were broken this year, John Burns was named to the elite Iowa All-Star Team which played at Principal Park earlier this month.
Fall sports have already started up. Last night the Golden Bear football team began their season down at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. At the core of this year’s team are returning seniors Connor Langerman, Chris Loss, Brayton Loss, David Klein, Corey Weydert, Bailey Kohlhaas, Neal Koob, and Michael Berke. Among the younger stand-outs are veteran quarterback Reece Wadle and fellow junior Ben Vaske, as well as sophomore Zac
Kibby.
The volleyball team begins their season with a tournament today at St. Ed’s. Returning seniors include Vanessa Dodds, Kara Eischen, and Taylor Hovey. Others to watch include juniors Betty Straub, Paige Berte, Cassidy Vitzthum, Emily Marlow, Kaitlyn Fogarty, Patricia Brandt, and Taylor Frideres; and sophomores Johanna Vaske, Carolyn Baxter, Nicole Zeimet, Emily Baumann, Avriel Miller, and Olivia
Vaske.
This year’s cross-country team features five girls and nine boys. On the girls side there’s seniors Nicole Behr and Erin Quinlin, junior Morgan Frideres, and sophomores Emily Riesenberg and Kelsey Hovey. The boys’ team includes seniors Jake Hamilton and Nick Bronk; juniors Tony Kollasch, Tyler Schnurr, Mark Fakler, Zach Kollasch, and Taylor Illg; and freshmen Ben Fogarty and Josh Hamilton. Good luck all season to all our Golden Bear fall sports teams!
The annual Garrigan calendar drive began yesterday. The calendar raffle has been re-vamped this year, and now every entry has a chance of winning as much as $1,000. Of course, mostly the calendars are a donation to our school. The money goes to the transportation budget, to update our buses and suburbans. The calendar drive continues through mid-September, so find your favorite Golden Bear and be sure to get your Garrigan calendar.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Corey Weydert. Here to tell you about her is
Taylor Hovey!
Corey Weydert comes to Garrigan from the St. Joe area. He’s a letterwinner in football, and he also keeps busy with track and intramural basketball. Over the years his over activities have included band, choir, drama, quiz bowl, and speech. Corey will be a college man next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.
Thanks, Taylor! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s volleyball today at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. Monday is Labor Day, so we’ll have no school that day.
Tuesday the cross-country team runs in the Newman meet at the west campus of the Mason City hospital. Also that night there’s freshman—sophomore football at Garner.
We’ll have mass on Wednesday. Thursday is Catholic College Day. Then next Friday the football team has their first home game, as they face North Union. The cross-country team will serve root beer floats at the game.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for Labor Day weekend. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
