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Beyond the Books - February 2025

February 10, 2025

At Cretin-Derham Hall, students have important opportunities to grow, learn and thrive both in the classroom and 'beyond the books!' In fact, 98% of students participate in one or more sports or activities.

Beyond the Books is our brag book on all of your favorite co-curriculars at CDH: athletics, activities, JROTC, Campus Ministry, and the Arts. This can also be a place for occasional school-wide athletic department updates and current news on some of our activities.

Athletics

Boys Basketball

By Tony Yazbeck, Assistant Coach

The boys basketball team is currently ranked #1 in the state with an 18-1 overall record and an 11-1 conference record. Last week the Raiders defeated Park of Cottage Grove 91-74 behind a career high 39 points from Ty Schlagel ’27. The Raiders also defeated Irondale 85-50 behind a game high 26 points from Jojo Mitchell ’26. The Raiders will be home for three games this week when we host Roseville on February 12, Woodbury on February 14 and DeLaSalle on February 15 in a battle of Lasallian powers.

Congratulations to Tommy Ahneman ’25 on his nomination to the McDonald's All-American team. Tommy will play college basketball next season at the University of Notre Dame.

We will celebrate our seniors on February 27 when we host Forest Lake for senior night. Thank you to Monteff Dixon ’25, Ben Coyle ’25, Tommy Ahneman ’25, Abby Peterson ’25 and Sydney Gerczak ’25 for all you have done for Raider Basketball.

Girls Basketball

By Tara Gunderson, Head Coach

The CDH Girls Basketball team has hit a good stride winning 8 of our last 10 games. We currently have a 5 game winning streak and an overall record of 14-7. CDH currently sits in 3rd place in the SEC Conference and looks to finish strong in the final 2 weeks of the regular season. Sage Gilbert ’26, Isabella Deleeuw ’29 and Madeleine Hamiel ’29 are all averaging double figures this season for the Raiders. This team is full of unselfish players with a team first mentality that has been fun to coach and for fans to watch. We continue to strive on being a consistent team that will battle against any opponent.

Boys Hockey

By Matt Funk, Head Coach

The boys’ hockey team is getting close to the finish line and is currently 19-3-1 and rated #6 in state. We lost our last game in a tight one again top 5 Stillwater 4-2 at home on Saturday. Owen Nelson ’25 is one of the state leaders in wins with 16 wins and .924 save % and 1.71 GAA.

Nate Chorlton ’26 leads the team with 42 points trailed closely by Max Bennett ’25, Jonny Bloedow ’28, and Max Anderson ’26. The boys have two conference games this week against Park and White Bear Lake, needing only 1 win to wrap up the conference championship. Sections will begin on 2/20 with seeding happening on 2/16.

Girls Hockey

By Tony Scheid, Head Coach

The Raiders Girls Hockey lost to Eastview 4-3 in double OT in the Section 3AA semifinals. Earning the 2nd seed in Section 3AA has given the Raiders home ice advantage for the first 2 rounds of the play-offs. The Raider’s defeated Eagan High School 4-2 in the Quarter-finals on Wednesday night.

Abby Broz ’25 led the Raiders to victory scoring 3 goals against Eagan in the Section Quarter-Final game. Broz’s hat-trick puts her at a team leading 13 goals and 27 total points for the season. Broz got the scoring going early in the third period with her first goal 57 seconds in. Delaney Schwab ’25 then scored at 3:57 on an assist from Hope Hadac ’25. Broz then scored 2 minutes later on a goal set up by Greta Erickson ’28 and Channing Haycraft ’27. Broz completed the hat-trick at 13:57 of the third period on a pass from Ava Perry ’25. Standout goalie Grace Kemp ’26 made 16 saves on 18 shots.

Kemp is one of the top goalies in the state this year with the stats to back it up. Kemp has played 26 games and a total of 1352:30 minutes. She has a record of 15-8-3. She has had 702 shots on goal and saved 662 for a save percentage of .943 and her goals against per game average is 1.51. Kemp has 5 shutouts on the road this season including games at Stillwater, East Ridge, Forest Lake, Blake, and Park of Cottage Grove.

Other top performers for the Raiders this season are Channing Haycraft ’27 with 10 goals and 18 total points. Stella Hadac ’25 with 17 assists and 18 total points. Ava Perry ’25 with 9 goals and 17 total points. Delaney Schwab ’25 with 9 goals and 16 total points Lauren Fisher ’25 with 11 goals and 15 total points. Regan Flohrs ’25 15 total points, and Hope Hadac ’25 9 assists, and 12 total points.

Boys Swim and Dive

By Mitchell Reynolds, Head Coach

The Raiders Boys Swim and Dive Team is about half way through a very challenging and rewarding season! We're fortunate to Co-op with Minnesota Math and Science Academy (MSA) - the partnership affords us several very strong athletes. Some recent season highlights include the Maroon and Gold Invitational (Jan 4) and the dual meet with Roseville (Jan 9). At Maroon and Gold we raced in the "Tiger Division" and placed 6th of 17 teams, led by Top 8 Scoring swims from Ryan Cunningham, Alex Skluzacek, Gabe Kane, Owen Sargent '26, and Jack Kirchberg '25.

We lost the Roseville dual in the final event with a score of 92-88. The Raiders won 5 of 12 events, highlighted by a 1-2-3 sweep in the 500 Freestyle with Cunningham, John Kovats '25 and Chase Nelson '28 leading the way. Other high point scorers included Isaac Van Oosterom '25 and Chase Style '27. The Raiders won the JV team score 54-49!

Action continues with True Team Section, 7 more dual meets, the JV Conference Champs and the Section 6AA Championships. Many of these contests take place at St Catherine University so come check out a meet and cheer on the Raiders!

Boys Volleyball

By Dan Willaert, Head Coach

The Raiders Boys Volleyball team is gearing up for their second season overall and first season as an official MSHSL program! After participating at the club-level last season, the Raiders are eager to take on new challenges at the Varsity and JV levels this season.

Team Captains Andrew Green '25 and Gino Krejce '25 are excited to step up and lead this inaugural campaign. Several other returning players participated in camps and club seasons over the summer and fall and will form a terrific nucleus to build around as we add new faces to the group. Additionally, assistant coaches will be hired and announced soon.

Tryouts begin on Monday, March 17. The first scrimmage is on Saturday, March 29 in Anoka, and the Raiders will open their Suburban East Conference schedule on Tuesday, April 15 at Irondale. Due to the athletic facilities upgrades construction last spring, the Raiders were unable to host home matches. So we are hoping to pack the gym for an intense rematch against Stillwater in the first-ever home match for Raiders Boys Volleyball on Thursday, April 17. Hope to see you all there!

Wrestling

By Joe Piazza, Head Coach

Congratulations goes out to Xavier Washington ’28 for his first place finish at the 9th Grade and Under regional tournament. Xavier qualifies for the 9th Grade State Tournament. Let's go Xavier!! Great job representing CDH High School!!!

The Roseville invitational was a great set up for our upcoming duals. The boys had some of their best performances led by Mickey Piazza ’25 with a first place finish. Bud Brondum ’25 and Issac Henry ’26 both placed third. Pla K'Paw Khu ’27 4th place, and Jaziel Enriquez Olvera ’26 with a 5th place finish. Congrats to our varsity wrestlers. The JV also had some outstanding matches, congratulations to your hard work and discipline to the sport.

The tough Raiders also racked up a big Dual win against rival AAA Conference White Bear Lake. This is a first in CDH history to beat the Bears of WB. This season the boys have won duals against three AAA Suburban East Conference opponents, this is also a first in CDH history.

Go Raiders!!!

Activities

Activities Announcement

By Tony Yazbeck, Activities Director

We would like to congratulate Social Studies teacher Jenn Androsky, who has been named the Senior Division Teacher of the Year for Minnesota History Day! Ms. Androsky has been leading CDH History Day efforts for a decade. Ms. Androsky was selected from all high school History Day teachers in Minnesota. The award will be presented on April 27 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Band

By Teddy Williams, Band Director

The band will be busy the month of February! Please check out the following dates to see some band performances:

Friday, February 7: Pep band performance at Varsity Boys Basketball
Saturday, February 15: Combined CDH Pep band with Nativity and Holy Spirit middle school students at Varsity Girls Basketball
Wednesday, February 26: Combined Band and Choir Concert at 7:00 in the Aux Gym

Additionally, the band is fresh off a performance at the SEC Music Festival. CDH band had 8 members appear in the Honors Band and Orchestra and the CDH band put on a fantastic performance for the rest of the conference!

Choir

By Delilah Schuster, Choir Director

The CDH Choir had a great time at the annual SEC Music Festival, hosted at Irondale High School this year. The group got the chance to perform, get feedback from experts in the choral craft, and see great performances by other top ensembles from our conference. Now, we are focused on preparing for our next performance: the Midwinter Concert! The theme of this concert is From the Sea to the Stars: Songs of Water, Earth, and Sky. This concert, which is a collaboration with the Concert Band, will take place on Wednesday, February 26, 7pm in the Auxiliary Gym.

Several students will also be competing in the Vocal Solo/Ensemble competition on Saturday, February 22 in White Bear Lake, where they will perform classical solos for judges who will give them feedback and score.

JROTC

By SGM David Berrisford '81, MSG Ken Peloski, COL Scrocca, and SFC Thingvold

On February 7, the Cretin-Derham Hall Raider Brigade hosted the 33rd Annual Upper Midwest JROTC Challenge (UMJC). Nearly 300 Army, Air Force and Marine Corps cadets from 12 local and regional JROTC programs attended the competition and approximately 30 of our own cadets competed in the competition, while more than 100 more cadets ran the competition and its various events. The cadets competed in Regulation Drill (precision marching), Color Guard, Knowledge Bowl, Physical Fitness, Archery, Air Rifle, and Tug-O-War. Make no mistake about it - this was a cadet/student run event with the instructors only maintaining oversight.

The CDH Raider Brigade once again represented itself with distinction finishing 2nd Overall and the following teams took home honors: The Archery and Tug-O-War teams placed first, the Knowledge Bowl team placed 2nd and the Air Rifle and Physical Fitness teams placed third. The Color Guard team missed placing by only 1 point and the Regulation Drill team had one of the top performances in the competition.

The annual Raider Brigade Military Ball will be held on February 21 at TST Catering in St. Paul. We encourage our cadets to attend this fun event. It gives the cadets an opportunity to dress up in a formal version of their uniform and their dates and young women in the program can wear a formal civilian suit or gown. Students arrive at 5 pm, have their pictures taken, eat a wonderful meal, and then dance the night away. The event ends at 10 pm. All cadre attend as chaperones as well.

Finally, the JROTC Department will be collecting names of interested cadets for our final event of the school year – the JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge at Camp Wilderness in Park Rapids from May 27-31. In this CDH-led event, 12 Raider Brigade cadets will join approximately 50 other Army JROTC cadets from other Army JROTC programs throughout the region to participate in a host of individual leadership and team-building activities to include: rock wall climbing, rappelling, a high ropes course, archery, kayaking, and orienteering.