Heard in the Halls - December 2019
December 11, 2019
We encourage you to read all the current blogs, or click below to quickly go to a section.
ATHLETICS | BAND | THEATER | CHOIR | JROTC
Athletics
Alpine Ski
By Wendy Loudas, Assistant Coach
The Alpine Ski Team is on the ski hills and working hard on skills! The team is led by veteran racers, Captain Isabella Korzilius '20, Serena Jacobson '21, and Jane Zirnhelt '22. They are joined by an additional sophomore, and an influx of six ninth-grade athletes. Both the girls and boys teams are in building mode this season and the opportunity to add to our roster remains open. Anyone who is interested in joining the team, or has questions about CDH Alpine Ski Team, should contact Mr. Phil Archer '99 or Coach Carrie Freitag as soon as possible. No racing experience required. Our coaching staff can get you up to speed and racing!"
Boys Basketball
By Tony Yazbeck, Assistant Coach
The Boys Basketball team defeated nationally ranked #12 Minnehaha Academy 75-66 in front of a capacity crowd of 5,000 people on December 7 at Hopkins High School. The Raiders were led by Curtis Jones ‘20 with a team-high 19 points as well as 17 points and 10 assists from Tre Holloman ‘22 and 16 points from J’Vonne Hadley ‘20. CDH is currently ranked #2 in Class 4A.
Girls Basketball
By Crystal Flint, Head Coach
Girls Basketball is off to a good start. The team is coming together nicely. With just three Varsity players from last year returning, a little inconsistency is expected. Going into the third game of Conference play, the team is 1-1 in conference play and 3-2 overall. The Raiders were invited this year to the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic which features some of the top teams in the state and beat a very good St. Louis Park team.
The next weekend, they split games at the traditional Twin Cities Thanksgiving tournament at the University of St. Thomas. They dropped their first game against state tournament participant and veteran-led Academy of Holy Angels and then rebounded the next day to beat Anoka handily. The following week they opened up conference play beating a talented Moundsview team and then lost to a much improved East Ridge team.
Often undersized, the Raiders are very scrappy and their uptempo style of play allows them to be competitive in every game. The young Raider team only returns three players with any significant varsity experience (just three seniors make up the roster). As Coach, I am most impressed with the balanced scoring thus far led by Takara Mason '21 (12.6 PPG), Audrey Martinez-Stewart '21 (12.4 PPG), Sydney Jackson '20 (10.2 PPG), and Nevaeh Moeschter '21 (7.5 PPG). Players are still adjusting to roles and expectations on both sides of the floor but are settling in to ways to impact the game when given the opportunity.
The staff is working tirelessly to get the team to be consistent for two halves and have strong starts. Make sure you plan to attend a Raider Girl's Basketball game! They are on the road for the remainder of December, ending the year at the St. Olaf Holiday Hoops Classic on December 30 & 31 playing against Beaver Dam, WI on Monday, December 30 at 2 pm (JV plays at 12 pm) and Tuesday, December 31 vs Grand Rapids at 2:45 pm (JV at 1:45 pm).
Boys Hockey
By Matt Funk, Head Coach
The Boys Hockey team has started the year off with a 2-2 record. The boys started the season with two marquee match-ups against #15 St. Thomas Academy and #1 Eden Prairie. These were be two tough tests for a team that had 14 of 20 players playing in their first Varsity games and were made tougher as they had to play without injured alternate captain Jack Nei '20, who was recovering from a broken wrist.
In the opener, the Raiders held a 3-0 lead in the 3rd period, but let the lead slip away to the veteran Cadets squad losing 4-3. The Raiders had goals from Zach Sondreal ’22, Preston Thelemann ’20, and Chuck Altier ’21. The next night the Raiders faced off against top-ranked Eden Prairie. Again the Raiders had it close in the 3rd, but the young squad let it slip away in the 3rd, losing 6-2. Senior Captain Matthew Gleason ’20 had both goals for the Raiders in the loss.
Last week the Raiders kicked off SEC conference play with two victories against Mounds View and Woodbury at home. Against Mounds View, the Raiders got their offense going, led by Drew Fisher ’22 with the hat trick and Gleason with 2 goals and 4 assists. Kevin Odlaug '22 and Jake Fisher ’23 added the other two tallies their first time in Raider uniforms. Mark Belak ’22 got his first Varsity win and shutout in the nets. The Raiders kept the offense coming against Woodbury with many more firsts coming off the board. Luke McCarthy ’22 scored his first two varsity goals and Gabe Rasmussen ’22 got on the board with his first as well. Other goals were scored by D. Fisher, Odlaug, and Gleason. Belak got his second win in the nets stopping 23 of 24 shots in net
Girls Hockey
By Stella Dolan ‘20 and Cece Ziegler ‘20, Team Captains
The Girls Hockey team has a record of 3-5 with two tough losses against top-ranked Edina and Blake. We play a tough regular-season schedule that will prepare us to make a deep run in the playoffs. We will be very competitive in the conference this year and had an exciting 3-2 victory over conference opponent Stillwater. Kiera Ryan '20, who leads the team with 8 goals, scored the game-winning goal with 59 seconds left.
Dance Team
By Ali Pendergrass, Coach
The Cretin Derham Hall Dance Team hosted the Kick Conference Competition on December 5. It has been three years since CDH has hosted a conference competition, and it was a huge success! Our JV Kick team placed 2nd in the competition and Varsity Kick placed 3rd! This puts us in a strong position to hold a top-three spot in our overall conference placement! Our next competition is this Thursday, December 12 at Park Cottage Grove High School, followed by conference finals on Friday, December 20 at Roseville High School.
Boys Swimming & Diving
By Mike Steineman '92, Head Coach
The Boys Swimming and Diving season is already into the third week of their fourteen week season. The Raiders had their first meet on December 5 when they traveled to Stillwater Junior High for the Suburban East Conference (SEC) Relay Meet. No score is kept at that meet but the Raiders did have some outstanding swims from Luke Leonidas '22 and Isaac Jeffrey '23. In the 400 Medley Relay, Leonidas lead off swimming backstroke, finished his leg of the relay with the Raiders in the lead, and a split of 56.98. He then joined with Jeffrey, Travis Teeter '20, and Adam Sewich '22 on the 400 Freestyle Relay. Jeffrey split a 51.30 and Leonidas was a 50.97 respectively.
Up next for the Raiders is our first home dual meet on Thursday, December 12 as we host the Raptors of East Ridge with a 6 pm start at St. Catherine University's pool. Then, the Raiders return to St. Kate's on Saturday, December 14 for the Minneapolis Southwest Laker Invite. That meet begins at 12:15 pm. Be sure to follow all the action on the MeetMobile app for iOS and Android devices. Search for CDH or Cretin-Derham Hall and you will get the results as they happen. Finally, don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @RaidersSwimDive. Go Raiders!!
Wrestling
By Dan Willaert, Head Coach
The Wrestling team started off the 2019-20 campaign last Friday and Saturday with a triangular meet at Park and a 5-team dual event at St. Agnes. The team is led by captains Rhys Engelmeier '20, Isaac Enriquez '20, Cage Linton '21, and Carey Vanier, Jr. '21. So far, Maxwell Fronda '20 has earned the most pins on the season with 4 victories by fall in 6 matches.
We have home matches on Wednesday, December 11 (Teacher Appreciation Night) and Thursday, December 12 (Youth Night). We are also looking forward to hosting the 5th Annual Sgt. Michael Carlson Memorial Duals tournament on Saturday, February 1. This event brings several ranked teams from around the state to CDH in a dual meet format. We are also planning to have our Alumni Social in conjunction with the tournament. We need volunteers to help us set up, run matches, and clean up. Please contact Coach Willaert if you are interested in helping out.
Band
By Jeffrey P. Ruhnke, Band Director
Theater
By Katie Kreitzer, Theater Director
This year’s Children’s Play “Miss Nelson is Missing” is the PERFECT present to give to young people in your life. Buy those tickets and share the joy of theater. Catch one of the five public performances Dec. 12-15, Thursday – Saturday at 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm.
The twenty four-member cast and their incredible crew have been working extremely hard to prepare for opening night. Based on the beloved book with the same title, this show tells the story of the teacher, Miss Nelson, and her unruly students. Unfortunately, Miss Nelson is just too nice to handle her crazy classroom. But, when she disappears, her replacement is the tough, detention loving substitute teacher, Viola Swamp! Soon the kids realize how much they miss Miss Nelson. So, the kids hire private investigators to help solve the mystery of her disappearance.
We hope to see you at the show! Buy your tickets now. Merry Christmas.
Choir
JROTC
By LTC Jamie Fischer, SGM David Berrisford, and MSG Ken Peloski
We continue to be busy in JROTC. Our new Diamond Officers have been active in leading the Brigade. Weekly labs have focused on Cadet Challenge, our annual physical fitness evaluation and team building. Every Cadet has participated in Cadet Challenge to their full ability. We have conducted the Squad Drill Competition. The Squad Competition gives our sophomores the chance to really start plying their leadership skills on a small scale. All elements of the brigade did a great job and the squads that were selected as best, were outstanding.
Diamond officers have selected projects for improving the corps of cadets; each volunteers to lead a more complex activity that either improves the Brigade or completes a key task for our program.
Our Color Guard just completed another round of boot camp and will do this again at the start of Tri 3. We are performing for select basketball and hockey home games and will start to prepare for competitions soon.
The Armed Precision Drill Team, led by team captain Jon Anderson '20, continues to hone its skills to carry on the one hundred- and one-year tradition of this team. Membership for the team has increased significantly as well.
The Unarmed Regulation Drill Team under the leadership of Margaret Musolf '20 is busy preparing the team for the Upper Midwest JROTC Challenge hosted by CDH on February 6 this year. After Christmas break, we will be starting to prepare for a competition in Sioux Falls, SD in the early spring.
Flight Club will be taking a C-130 aircraft flight this month.
On December 6 we held our annual Dining In event in the commons. 61 cadets attended as well as our two faculty guests, Suzanne Zobitz and Chris Kaus. It was a wonderful evening with good food and great fun.
Our all JROTC service project; Junior Achievement in a Day, will take place on December 13. We will travel to three schools and our cadets will present the Kindergarten through 5th-grade curriculum to the students. Our students grow from this service project and always do a great job. This service project will accumulate approximately 1,500 service hours for our community.
The rifle team has continued its strong performance in multiple air rifle meets and will be competing against teams during the Upper Midwest JROTC Challenge in early February as well as additional meets throughout January, February, March, and April.
We have conducted our best squad competition and here are the winners!!!!
1st BN
Bravo Company, 2nd Platoon, 2nd Squad – Cadets - Daniel Umland, Maxx Grovum, Joseph Peterson, and Holden Saumweber.
2nd BN
Echo Company, 2np Platoon, 1st Squad – Cadets - Natasha Krieger, Matteo Veglia, Stephen Flashing, Patrick Domler, and Anders Engstrom.
3rd BN
India Company, 2nd Platoon, 1st Squad, Cadets – Connor Howe, Stephen Xiong, and John Schnitzer-Barry.
Finally, our Honor Guard, as always, continues to support CDH at alumni funerals, school events, and other ceremonies. We were honored to perform honor guard duties for Paige Bullis’ funeral.
Seniors should be finishing up their applications for ROTC Scholarships. Juniors should consider signing up for one of the Service Academy's Summer Seminars or STEM camps; the applications open in January.
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