The Bear Facts
May 19, 2012
Good morning! I’m Elliot Boisjolie!
I’m Connor Garman!
And I’m Thomas Bradley! Thanks for joining us for our final “Bear Facts” show of this school year. Today we’ll be wrapping up the year and looking forward to summer here at Bishop Garrigan High School.
The school year is over for most of us at Garrigan. A few students still have some final tests on Monday, but the majority are done now and are ready to start summer. The seniors wrapped things up a week ago, and they graduated last Monday. The BGHS class of 2012 earned numerous awards, including $276,105 worth of scholarships. Garrigan students are always among the recipients of the H & K Scholarship from the Howard and Catherine Hoenk Foundation, and there are twenty-eight different scholarships that have been established specifically for BGHS students.
This year every single senior benefited from one scholarship, which is in memory of Bob Farrell. Bob’s son Joey Farrell is part of the class of 2012, and the family decided to split the money among all of Joey’s classmates. Thanks to them, and thanks also to everyone who has contributed to help Garrigan students continue their education.
Among the special recognitions given out at graduation, Jenny Broesder was honored with the Rotary Club’s “Service Above Self” Award. Daniel Gelhaus won the Bar Association Citizenship Award, Kim Schiltz received the Lions Club Award, and Mallory Bormann earned the Kiwanis Award for Citizenship.
State track is this weekend at Drake, and the Bears have seventeen events down in Des Moines. The Golden Bear boys won their district meet and qualified nine events for state: the 800-meter run, the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles, the high jump, the shot put, and the 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 800, and shuttle hurdle relays. Representing the Bears at state are Alex Boisjolie, Adam Hamilton, Daniel Gelhaus, Shawn Vaske, Mitch Rahm, Zach Keith, Brayton Loss, Tony Kollasch, Grant Reding, Austin Vaske, Tyler Schnurr, Dustin Miller, Elliot Boisjolie, Ben Vaske, Zach Kollasch, and Carter Hall.
On the girls side, eight events moved on to state: the 1500 and 3000-meter runs, the 100 and 400-meter hurdles, the 100-meter dash, and the 4 x 200, 4 x 400, and distance medley relays. The girls at state are Erin Reedy, Aubrie Meyers, Addison Miller, Taylor Frideres, Nicole Behr, Chelsi Lanus, Aisha Miller, Shelby Schindler, Emily Bell, Abbey Reding, Lana Larson, and Sophie Behr. Congratulations to all these Golden Bears on making it to state!
The golf teams have been advancing well in playoffs. The girls dominated their district meet earlier this week, winning by 97 strokes over second place Mason City Newman. Four Garrigan girls—Alexa Capesius, Haley Froehlich, Sheridan Berte, and Rebecca Richter—were among the top five players at district. The girls will be playing at districts next Monday, and they’re hoping to return to state and defend their state championship title.
The boys golf team had a closer match-up in their sectional meet. They beat the host team, Harris—Lake Park, by seven strokes. Eli Marlow was the meet medalist at sectionals. The win advanced the Bears to districts at Hinton. They’re also hoping for a return trip to state, which would be at the Lake Panorama golf course.
Baseball season begins next week. At the core of this year’s team are senior veterans Austin Vaske, Alex Boisjolie, Zach Keith, and Grant Reding. By far the largest group of players are juniors—including Elliot Boisjolie, John Burns, Adam Hamilton, Andrew McGuire, Jake Kollasch, Jason Reding, Dustin Miller, and Bobby Plathe. Michael Berke is the lone sophomore on the team, and the freshmen in baseball include Reece Wadle, Ben Vaske, Tyler Schnurr, and Andrew Miller. Good luck, baseball!
The softball team is also looking forward to a good summer. Returning seniors this year include Emily Bell, Addison Miller, and Abbey Reding. The juniors in softball are Janet Kenyon, Hannah Byrkeland, and Jamie Baumann. The team also includes sophomores Kristin Condoleon, Kara Eischen, and Taylor Hovey; as well as freshmen Betty Straub, Emily Riesenburg, Emily Marlow, Kaitlyn Fogarty, and Patricia Brant. Best wishes all summer to the softball team!
Less than a month from now eight members of the Golden Bear quiz bowl team will be competing at the thirty-first annual National Academic Championships in Chicago. This will be Garrigan’s thirteenth trip to nationals. Something new this year is that the Bears will be competing at both the varsity and JV levels, against both older and younger students from around the country.
Garrigan’s varsity team will include recent graduates Philip Detrick and Rachel Berte, together with Zach and Tony Kollasch. Playing at the JV level are Allison Frideres, Levi Bernhard, Jakob Hamilton, and Hannah Bernhard. Both teams will play at least six games at nationals, between June 9 and 12. Good luck, quiz bowl!
On our Golden Bear calendar, the state track meet finishes up today in Des Moines. Monday we’ll have the last of semester tests. That night baseball begins, with a double-header at Estherville.
Softball begins on Tuesday, with the girls playing at Pocahontas. Then there’s baseball and softball games almost every night through the end of June.
Among the big events of the summer, the band will play in Memorial Day festivities in Whittemore on May 28. June 2 and 3 there’s the CYO baseball and softball tournament in Carroll, and the quiz bowl team will be in Chicago for nationals June 8 – 12.
Softball playoffs begin on July 2, with district baseball starting July 10. At the end of July we’ll begin camps and practices for all the fall activities. Then on Monday, August 20 school will start up again.
That’s wraps up our twentieth season of the “Bear Facts”. A special thanks to KLGA for airing our show for airing our show and to all our sponsors for making it possible. Thanks also to David Burrow who has been our producer all these years and to Mary McCall and the DARTS program that provides funding for our show.
Thanks also to all of you for tuning in each week. We’ll be off for the summer, but we hope to be back with you again at the end of August, bringing you all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Have a great summer!