The Bear Facts
August 31, 2024
 

Good morning! I’m Tate Foertsch!

And I’m Brooke Ludwig! Welcome back to the “Bear Facts”, where today we’re starting our thirty-second season of bringing you the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

This was a great summer for Golden Bear sports. For the first time in school history both the baseball and softball teams won the Top of Iowa Conference championship. The baseball team also advanced in playoffs to win the district championship. Justin Bauer was named to the first team all state in baseball, while in softball Abbie Capesius got first-team honors and Hanna Merron was an honorable mention. Justin also broke the school record for stolen bases, and Abbie set a new school record for home runs.

All nine baseball starters lettered: seniors Drew Lappe, Ben Trainer, and Justin Bauer; juiniors Keaton Helleseth, Daniel Meis, Brady Galligan, and Nick Leerar; and sophomores Tate Foertsch and Carter Schwab. Tate and Drew split the Gold Glove Award, Carter was named Silver Slugger, and Dan and Justin split the Cy Young pitching award.

In softball Abbie Capesius was named the team MVP, Hanna Merron won the Gritty Award for always giving 100%, Alyssa Haugland was the most improved varsity player, and Violet Bode and Carley Nielson won the Golden Bear team awards. Congratulations to both baseball and softball on an outstanding season!

Another area that had huge success this summer was quiz bowl. Four seniors on the Golden Bear quiz bowl team went down to New Orleans for the National Academic Championships. They finished with a winning record and made playoffs for just the third time in school history. Congratulations to Coach David Burrow and to recent graduates Ben Greteman, Sam Plathe, Brendan Plathe, and Zach Warren.

The halls at Garrigan are looking busier this fall. We have twenty-one new students in the Garrigan building, and even more down at Seton. Some have transferred from other schools, while others were homeschooled in the past. The new students have given us the largest freshman class we’ve had in the 21st Century, and enrollment is up all the way down to kindergarten. We’re pleased to see so many new people who want to be part of our school.

Fall sports have started, and the state champion Golden Bear football team is hoping for another great year. Fourteen seniors will be at the core of this year’s team: Owen Murphy, Trayton Cink, Keaton Helleseth, Drew Muller, Daniel Meis, Thadd Kollasch, Nick Leerar, Isaac DeLange, Nick Thul, Andrew Lichter, Wyatt Rosenmeyer, Scott Bormann, Brady Galligan, and Ben Matthews.

Key juniors returning to the team are quarterback Tate Foertsch, lineman Carter Schwab, and linebacker Ethan Marso. Others juniors to watch include Kyle Bormann, Carter McGregor, Kayden Graves, Lucas Behounek, Gibson Menke, and Amaury Thomas. Sophomores Michael Joyce, Madden Miller, Nate Leerar, and Eli Casey also return varsity experience. There are fifty players all together on the Golden Bear team, which makes them one of the largest teams in the eight-man class. Good luck all season long to Coach Marty Wadle and the Bears!

Cross-country is the smallest of the fall sports teams. This year head coach Brandon Rowley will be working with three athletes. On the girls side there’s Rosanne Curtis, Julia Swift, and Eva Kohlhaas, while Corbin Darling will be running for the boys. Go, cross-country!

In volleyball the returning seniors are Hanna Merron, Molly Peterson, and Alaina Bormann. The team also includes juniors Emmi Bartolo, Alyssa Haugland, Allison Denker, and Hailee Reutzel. Sophomore Gracelyn Eastman is a returning starter, and freshman Brooklyn Berte will also be suiting varsity. Good luck to Coach Dave Schnurr and the volleyball team!

For three decades now we’ve begun each year by shining our senior spotlight on our student council presidents. Today we’re looking at co-president Brooke Ludwig. Here to tell you about her is Tate.

Brooke Ludwig has been in lots of different activities in her years at Garrigan. She’s gone to nationals in DECA, and she’s been to all-state in speech. She also competes year—round in swimming, and she’s in quiz bowl, track, art club, and the criminal justice club. Away from school you might see Brooke working as a lifeguard or teaching swimming lessons. Next year she’d like to major in criminology and psychology, hopefully at North Carolina State University. Good luck, Brooke!

Thanks, Tate! On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s a volleyball tournament this morning at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. Then Monday there’s no school because of the Labor Day holiday.

Classes resume on Tuesday, and that night there’s cross-country at Mason City Newman. Then we’ll have mass Wednesday morning, with the senior class leading.

The volleyball team plays at Lake Mills on Thursday night. Friday is the first turn-in day for our Walk and Pray fundraiser. That night the football team hosts West Bend—Mallard, and there will be a meal at the game to raise money for after-prom.

Finally this week we want to offer our sympathy to Cassie Collison, a new P.E. teacher at Garrigan. Mrs. Collison lost her father in an accident this past week, and we want her to know that we’re keeping her and her family in our prayers.

That’s our first “Bear Facts” of the year. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to catch the show every Saturday morning to hear all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.