Good morning! I'm Ben Lickteig!
And I'm Scott McGuire! Welcome once again to the "Bear Facts," you weekly radio up-date from Bishop Garrigan High School!
This past week we've been spending "A Week in Hollywood" as we celebrate Homecoming, 2000 at BGHS. The highlight of the week came Thursday night, at the annual coronation. This year's royal court included queen candidates Sara Reding, Kelly Kunkel, Heather Johnson, Amanda Freking, and Lori Elsbecker. The king candidates were John Steier, Brad Nelson, Ben Lickteig, Hank Greer, and Steven Courtney. When the votes were all counted, the king and queen for Homecoming, 2000 were John Steier and Lori Elsbecker.
All week long we've had the traditional Homecoming class competition. Last weekend we put up decorations in the hallways of the schools. The senior hallway won top honors from the judges, followed by the juniors, the freshmen, and the sophomores. Every class built floats for yesterday's parade. The judges picked the senior float as first place, with the sophomores and juniors tying for second, and the freshmen close behind.
Another part of the competitions competition is the hoops, which the athletes ran through at the pep rally Thursday night. The seniors had the top hoop, the sophomores were second, the freshmen third, and the juniors finished fourth. The other big event was skits. Each class prepared a skit for a special assembly Thursday morning. The juniors won the skit competition, and they got to perform their skit at the coronation ceremony. Close behind were the freshmen, the sophomores, and the seniors.
Each day of Homecoming week we dressed up in special themes. Since we were celebrating Hollywood, all the dress-up days were named after movies and TV shows. The senior class took top honors on "Best Picture Day", and the freshmen and juniors tied for first on "Baywatch Day". On "Breakfast Club Day", the seniors, sophomores, and freshmen all had 100% participation; and on "Colors Day" every class except the seniors had the entire class dressed in black and gold.
The competition continued at the coronation and pep rally, where the classes were judged on the spirit they displayed. It was a close call, but in the end the judges awarded the spirit stick to the juniors. That meant the overall winner for the 2000 Homecoming class competition was the Class of 2001. Congratulations, seniors!
The Golden Bear cross-country team has been improving their times throughout the season. Last Wednesday at Clear Lake the Garrigan boys won two medals. Matt Studer led the team with an eighth place finish in just 18 minutes, 37 seconds. Fellow sophomore Jeff Hellman was close behind-running the 5-K course in 19 minutes, 3 seconds for a 13th place finish. Overall, the Bears ended up in 6th place at the meet.
The girls have been suffering from sickness and injuries. Three of the Bears' top runners were unable to compete last Wednesday, leaving just two girls running for the Bears. Senior Marian Studer was the top Garrigan runner. She ran the two-mile course in 14 minutes, 43 seconds, which was good for a 36th place finish. Cathy Hellman also competed for the Bears at the Clear Lake meet. Both the boys and girls will be running next Monday in Humboldt. You can also see them close by two weeks from now, on September 25, when they run in the Algona Invitational at Whittemore.
This week's Senior Spotlight shines on our Homecoming king and queen-John Steier and Lori Elsbecker. Here with all the details on them is Marian Studer.
Our Homecoming king is John Steier, the son of Tom and Marla Steier of Whittemore. John is a four-year member of the Golden Bear baseball team who was named most improved player this year. He also enjoys participating in intramurals. John is a senior class representative on the student council, he plays the drums in band, and he is also active in choir. He plans a career in law enforcement, and we wish John all the best in the future!
Lori Elsbecker is our Homecoming queen. She is the daughter of Philip and Geraldine Elsbecker of Bancroft. Lori is an honor student, who is co-president of this year's senior class. She is a four-year band member, and she has lettered and received a place in the honor band for her skill on the clarinet. Over the years she has also played softball and helped out at school liturgies. She works at the Algona Family YMCA. She'll be going to Iowa State next year, where she plans to major apparel design. Congratulations Lori and John, our 2000 Homecoming King and Queen!
On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there's JV volleyball this morning at Algona High. Then tonight the Homecoming festivities conclude with the annual Homecoming dance.
Tomorrow morning the football cheerleaders will be holding a breakfast at the Rochleau Center at St. Cecelia's. They'll be serving waffles from 8am to 12:30pm. Then at 1:00 there's an ice cream social at the K.C. Hall to raise money for Sean Beisch.
Monday the cross-country team runs at Humboldt. There's also volleyball at Clarion/Goldfield, and the freshman football team will be hosting Spencer.
Tuesday the school board meets. Then on Wednesday the volleyball team hosts Iowa Falls, while the JV football team travels to Ft. Dodge to play St. Edmond.
There's no school at Garrigan next Thursday-thanks to a faculty in-service and meeting our goal in the calendar drive. Then next Friday the football Bears will be playing at Rockwell City/Lytton.
Finally, this week, we'd like to congratulate history teacher and Garrigan athletic director Ron Patterson. Mr. Patterson was recently selected to receive the Bishop Lawrence Soens Award as Teacher of the Year in the Sioux City Diocese. Congratulations, Troj!
That's the "Bear Facts" for Homecoming week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us again next Saturday for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.