Heard in the Halls - April 2021
April 14, 2021
We encourage you to read all the current blogs, or click below to quickly go to a section.
ATHLETICS | COUNSELING | THEATER | JROTC
Athletics
While spectators are limited for spring sports, you can cheer on the Raiders from home by watching the live stream of many events! Learn more.
Boys Basketball
By Tony Yazbeck, Assistant Coach
Congratulations to the Boys Basketball team on finishing the season as the Class AAAA State Runner-Up. After a 4-4 start the Raiders went on to win 14 of their next 15 games and defeated East Ridge, Woodbury, Rosemount and Maple Grove consecutively. The Raiders finished the season with an 18-6 record and in the process captured the Section 4AAAA Championship for the 4th time in 5 years as well as making it to the finals of the State tournament!
Congratulations to Tre Holloman ’22 on being named to the Star Tribune All-Metro and the Associated Press All-State 1st team.
Holloman along with Marselio Mendez ’21 was named All-Conference as well as Holloman being named the Suburban East Conference Player of the Year.
For the second straight year, the team has won the Section 4AAAA Team Academic Championship. The team compiled a GPA of 3.55.
Boys Swimming and Diving
By Mike Steineman ‘92, Head Coach
The Boys Swimming & Diving team swam very well at the MSHSL Class AA State Meet on Friday, March 19 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Luke Leonidas '22 led the way for the Raiders as we finished in 23rd place overall!
Our first event was event #1 - 200 Medley Relay. Our relay team of Leonidas ( Backstroke), Jacob Wahlstrom ’22 (Breaststroke), Matt Baumberger ’24 (Butterfly), and Captain Adam Sewich ’22 (Freestyle) had a good swim, but a false start disqualified the relay.
Up next was event #3 - 200 Individual Medley (IM). Leonidas was seeded 7th in this event after dropping 8 seconds to qualify for State at Sections last week. On Friday night, he dropped another 1.13 seconds to finish in 8th place which makes him All-State! He is the first All-State swimmer we have had since 2010. With another time drop, Leonidas also bettered his school record which now stands at 1:53.51.
Our third event was event #10 - 100 Backstroke. Leonidas was seeded in 5th place going into the meet on Friday night. Based on his previous two swims, we all had a feeling that this one was going to be great! He dropped another 1.42 seconds from his previous lifetime best set last week at sections for a 50.35! He finished in 4th place, is All-State in this event too, and his time is an All-American Consideration time! We will find out in July if he has made it.
Our last event of the night was event #11 - 100 Breastroke. Wahlstrom had a good swim and finished in 21st place. This was a good experience and he is determined to improve on that swim next year!
With his 8th and 4th place finishes in the 200 IM and the 100 Backstroke, Leonidas will be recognized at the Virtual All-State Banquet held on Thursday, April 22. You can watch it on Facebook using this link: https://www.facebook.com/MinnesotaSwimCoachesAssn
Go Raiders!
Girls Lacrosse
By Sheala Osborne, Head Coach
The Girls Lacrosse team is excited to be back on the field after losing our 2020 season!
We open the season April 21 against conference opponent Mounds View. Going forward all games will be on Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. JV: 5:30 & V: 7 pm. Fans are encouraged to attend, while still implementing social distance guidelines.
The Varsity team is led by four captains: Annika Anderson ‘21, Erin Anfang ‘21, Luci Selander '22 and Ari Evans '22.
Boys Lacrosse
By Matt Hourigan, Head Coach
The Boys Lacrosse Team began their 2021 season with practice on April 5. The team will compete in a full 13 games at the Varsity, JV, and B Squad levels this year.
Despite missing an entire spring season in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Raiders return several key offensive playmakers from the 2019 season. Gabe Rasmussen ’22, Luke McCarthy ’22, and Owen Dobbs ’22 are poised to lead a potent young offensive unit this year that will be captained by midfielder Chuck Altier ’21. Defensively, another youthful but strong unit will be led by Captains Will Kaatz ’21 (defense) and Zach Steigauf ’21 (goalie). The Raiders begin the 2021 season on April 21 with a Suburban East Conference tilt versus Mounds View. Face-off is set for 7 pm on the Wingerd Turf Field at CDH.
Track and Field
By Chris Babcock, Head Coach
The Track and Field season started during spring break, on March 29. Since then the team has started to slowly come together. The boys are led by returning distance runner Andy Chestovich ’22 who is returning to the team after a strong cross country season last Fall. On the girls' team returning jumpers and sprinters Allie Sowatzka ’22 and Julianne Mason ’22 are leading the way.
Because of the lack of a season last Spring most of the team is new to the sport or has only one season under their belt. We are looking to expand the team. There are 18 events ranging from 100m to 3200m on the track as well as field events such as shot put, discus, long and triple jump, high jump, and pole vault. The season will continue through June 19 with practices Monday through Friday and meets on Thursdays throughout April and May. June will be the championship portion of our season with conference and section meets leading up to the State meet. See Coach Macken in the fitness center or Coach Babcock in room FH012 if you are interested in getting in shape for summer club sports, the beach, or whatever life has to offer. It is a great sport to help you grow as an individual while contributing to the success of your team.
Girls Golf
By Megan Smith ’00, Head Coach
There are nearly 50 girls in the CDH girls golf program at three levels: Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Development. A record 25 9th graders joined the team this year!
Megan Smith '00 is returning as the Head Coach and Jeremy Wang is returning as Assistant Coach. Audrey Hapka '17 joins the team as an Assistant Coach. Hapka is a former varsity player for CDH.
For the past two weeks, the team has been practicing their drives, chips, and putts at Highland National golf course. On March 31, a small group worked on their swings at an indoor facility with golf simulators for a fun and interactive golf practice. The first Varsity conference match was on Monday, April 12 at Tanner's Brook and the first JV conference match is on Wednesday, April 14 at River Oaks Golf Course. The Development Team will play with other conference teams at local par 3 courses during the season.
The 2021 Varsity and JV schedules are posted on the CDH Girls Golf website.
Look for returning players Kalina Fitzgerald '21, Megan Haugh '21, Lexi Rooney '21, Catherine Tracy '21, and Ellie Wicklund '21 as the senior leaders for the team.
We hope for good weather as the season continues and improvement from all levels throughout the season. Go Raiders!
Wrestling
By Dan Willaert, Head Coach
The Wrestling Team wrapped up a successful 2020-2021 season in late March! All season long, we talked about being grateful for the opportunity to compete, and making the most of our chances. The team and individuals did exactly that! The Raiders reached the Section 4AA Team Semifinals for the second season in a row! There they lost to St. Paul Humboldt by 12 points (the difference of one wrestler losing by pin, winning by pin instead).
In the Section 4AA Individual Tournament the following week, seven wrestlers placed top-6 in their weight classes: John Page ’23 (106), Ben Tallman ’22 (152), Jack Welsch ’22 (160), Zach Steigauf ’21 (170), Cage Linton ’21 (182), Langston Butler ’21 (220), and Benny Williams ’21 (285). Tallman, Steigauf, and Linton placed high enough to qualify for the MSHSL State Preliminary meet! Three state qualifiers in the same season tied a school record set in 1999! At the State Preliminary meet, Linton led the way with a 1-2 record, losing one round prior to the placing matches.
Boys’ Tennis
By Randy Muetzel, Head Coach
After not being able to play last spring the Boys Tennis team is especially excited to start their season. This year's team will be led by Theo Paar ’21, John Harms ’21, Nate Muetzel ’22, and Jack Sweeney ’23. The CDH tennis team is a hard-working group of guys who I expect to improve a lot as the season progresses.
Counseling
By Joan O'Connell, College Counselor
Senior Students and Families:
* Most colleges and universities require an enrollment deposit by May 1st to hold your spot in the class entering in Fall 2021. This year, some colleges have extended their deposit deadlines. The schools you have applied to will notify you of any deadline changes. If you feel you need a deadline extension at a school that has not offered one, call the Admissions Office to request an extension. Most places are being very accommodating, but you do need to ask if they have not offered.
* You will, most likely, have all of your admissions decisions and financial aid packages by now. Be sure to read the entire decision letter as it will contain important information about making a deposit, housing, orientation and other steps to take next. Making enrollment decisions can be difficult under any circumstances, but given the uncertain times right now, your choices could be even more stressful. Please reach out to us if you need anything … help understanding a financial aid award, deciding on which college, etc. Email one of us at joconnell@c-dh.org (last names A-L) or lconnelly@c-dh.org (last names M-Z).
* If for any reason you want to apply to any additional schools, there are many colleges still accepting applications. We can still send your CDH supporting materials (transcripts, teacher recs) for you … just email us with your request and tell us whether or not you used the Common Application to apply.
Junior Students and Families:
We are excited to say that our Education Fair has gone virtual this year. In cooperation with the other Twin Cities Catholic High Schools, there will be evening college exploration events beginning Monday, April 19 through Thursday, April 22. Learn more here.
-
Here are three ways to use your Naviance Account:
-
Do the career inventories. Once you are into your account, click on the “Self Discovery” tab and complete, Personality, Strengths Explorer and Career Interest Profiler. All of these will help you to gather clues about yourself and point you to possible career paths.
-
Don’t forget about RoadTrip Nation! These are videos of high school students interviewing people in various career fields. You can sort the videos in a variety of ways depending on your career interests. The videos are short, informative and fun to watch. Click on the careers tab and then Roadtrip Nation.
-
Research some colleges. Naviance has a couple of search functions where you can put in your preferences and see what schools match. Click on the Colleges tab, then Find Your Fit, then either SuperMatch or Advanced College Search.
∙ Most colleges have limited in-person campus visits this spring…but there are many comprehensive virtual visits on their websites for you!
* Email one of us at joconnell@c-dh.org (last names A-L) or lconnelly@c-dh.org (last names M-Z) if you have any questions.
Theater
The Spring Musical, "High School Musical," is being presented as a movie! The cast and crew has been hard at work filming the show over the past couple of months and are excited to share the finished product.
Tickets are available now! Purchase tickets at this link with the code CDHHSM. Tickets cost $20 per household.
JROTC
Our incoming JROTC class of 2025 is again very large. Currently, there are 58 incoming 9th graders registered for JROTC. We also anticipate a few more incoming 9th graders registering for JROTC throughout the spring and summer as well. We are very proud of this accomplishment and look forward to helping them grow and hone their leadership and citizenship skills. With this large class again, we are projecting an opening enrollment of 300 cadets.
On March 23, we were scheduled to conduct our Annual Formal Inspection assisted by the University of Minnesota’s senior ROTC unit as well as members of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command; Twin Cities company. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our headquarters, 3rd Brigade of Cadet Command, canceled this inspection for our school and all JROTC schools in the region. Although the inspection was canceled, we are happy to announce that this cancelation will not affect our continuing to hold our Honor Unit with Distinction rating. We have a very solid corps of cadets and with the upcoming senior leadership and underclass cadets' motivation, we will now start to prepare for next year’s inspection and are confident we will again earn our Honor Unit with Distinction rating.
Just prior to the Easter break, we were able to conduct our first full leadership labs! What a wonderful day. The cadets were able to start applying what they have learned in regards to leadership and drill and ceremonies out on Wingerd Field. During our labs, we are taking all possible precautions to ensure cadets are safe. They wear masks and are distanced at least six feet away from each other in formation. Although our formation skills were rusty, the cadets did a great job getting back in the swing of it. At our most recent leadership lab, we were able to make one final diamond officer promotion. We are honored to have promoted Cadet David Ek '21 to Cadet Major. David is very deserving and he will uphold the standard of excellence of a diamond officer.
As has been mentioned in earlier articles, the co-curricular programs we are so proud of are still not meeting due to COVID-19. We will start to reenergize these endeavors this spring through planning and recruiting and will be able to start all of them in earnest in the fall of 2021.
Our seniors are beginning to receive their appointments to the service academies and ROTC scholarships. So far, Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Martha Enestvedt '21 has been accepted to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Also, Cadet Second Lieutenant Henry Votel '21 has been awarded a four-year Army ROTC Scholarship to St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN. Juniors should be taking time to review the steps and begin their application process. If someone is considering enlisting in the military, please have them consult with us so we can make sure they have ALL the information. We are always willing to answer any questions that students or parents have about military service.
Finally, it’s important to note the resilience of the cadets. So many things are out of the norm this year, but they have persevered and maintained a wonderful can-do attitude. We are proud of them and I’m sure you are too.
Subscribe to our e-Newsletters
You might also like:
Celebrating the Vibrant Culture of Native Americans
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, CDH held a cultural celebration with reflection, music, humor, and storytelling.
Ninth Graders Attend 'Respect Retreat'
The class of 2028 had a great time at their annual retreat.
Beyond the Books - October 2024
The latest news from Athletics, Band, Choir, JROTC and Theater.