Heard in the Halls - December 2021

December 8, 2021

We encourage you to read all the current blogs, or click below to quickly go to a section.


ATHLETICS | COUNSELING | CHOIR | THEATER | JROTC 

Athletics

Cross Country 

By Chris Babcock, Head Coach

The 2021 season brought a more normal experience back to the cross-country course. This year's team led by Andy Chestovich ’22, Izzy Lauer ’22, Jack Mountain ’22, Adam Sewich ’22, and Anna Zastrow ’22 continued a long tradition of growth and improvement. We had one of our largest ninth-grade boys groups this year, most of whom had never run competitively before this season. Ian Detwiler ’25 and Connor Sondag ’25 both were chosen as rookies of the year. Detwiler led the new runners in performance and Sondag showed great improvement throughout the season.

The girls' team, while small, did not fall short on talent. Abby Chestovich ’26 spent her second season on the Raider cross country team improving her abilities. Over the course of one race she moved up 110 places. By the end of the season, she had nearly broken 20 minutes for the 5K distance and earned a spot at the starting line at the State Meet. Chestovich is the fifteenth individual from CDH that has qualified for the State Cross Country Meet since 1998.

If you are interested in cross country and would like to know more please contact coach Chris Babcock at cbabcock@c-dh.org and have a look at this video. 

Boys Basketball

By Tony Yazbeck, Assistant Coach

The boys basketball team kicked off its season with a victory over rival St.Thomas Academy on December 3. That Raider victory was Head Coach Jerry Kline ’93's 400th career victory. Congratulations Coach Kline on this tremendous milestone!

In that game, Tre Holloman ’22 led all scorers with 18 points, Donavhan Cain ’22 added 15 and Brandon Melchior ’22 recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. With that victory, we also retained the Archbishop John Ireland Golden Basketball for the fifth consecutive year. The boys basketball team has won 17 straight games over St. Thomas Academy dating back to 2005.

Holloman has been selected Pre-Season Player of the Year by several media outlets including the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press and Breakdown USA Sports. 

Our alumni are also succeeding on the court. Sy Chatman ’18 was recently named to the All-Tournament Team at the Cancun Challenge playing for Illinois State University. Chatman is off to a great start averaging a double-double for the Redbirds. Ryan Larson ’18 is off to a fantastic start as the starting point guard for Wofford College. He recently scored 19 points in an upset victory over the University of Georgia. Ryan has been a three-year starter for the Terriers and has competed in one NCAA tournament. 

The Raiders will host Minnetonka (12/9), East Ridge (12/14) and Park (12/16) which is Teacher Appreciation Night. Follow us on social media: Twitter (@CDHRaiderBall), Instagram (@cdhboysbasketball).

Winter Dance

By Ali Pendergrass, Head Coach

Winter dance is off to a great start! JV and Varsity have been practicing Monday-Saturday where we focus on choreography for Kick and Jazz, conditioning, goal setting, and team bonding! The dancers competed in a non-conference competition on November 13 at Roseville High School! A few highlights:

• JV Jazz scored 50 points higher than where JV Jazz ended last season!

• JV Jazz highest scores were in Visual Effectiveness, Technique of Turns/Leaps & Routine Effectiveness.

• Varsity Jazz placed 5th (1 rank point from 4th).

• Varsity Jazz highest scores were in Difficulty of Routine Choreography, Difficulty of Formations/Transitions, and Routine Effectiveness.

• Varsity Kick High scores were in Routine Effectiveness, Creativity & Visual Effectiveness.

The jazz teams competed in our first conference competition on November 19 at CDH. Varsity and JV Jazz placed 3rd which is a very strong start to the season! Upcoming competitions and performances include: 

• December 9 -Basketball game Varsity Kick Performance @ 7:30 pm

• December 10 - Varsity Conference Competition @ Forest Lake HS 7 pm

• December 22 - Conference Finals @ Irondale 6:30 pm

• January 8 - Invitational @ Anoka High School

• January 12 - Basketball game Varsity Jazz Performance @ 7:30 pm

• January 13 - Basketball game Varsity Kick Performance @ 7:30 pm

• January 15 - Invitational @ Totino Grace HS

• January 26 - Basketball game Varsity Jazz Performance @ 7:30 pm

• January 29 - Invitational @ Mounds View HS

• February 12 -Sections @ north branch HS

Olivia Hunt ’22, Julianne Mason ’22, Annie Noyes ’22, Emily Florek ’22 and Olivia Davis ’22 are focused and committed to mentor younger dancers and make it the best season it can be! Jackie Rindahl and Zohura Ruona '17 have joined the coaching staff to lead the Varsity and JV kick team.

Girls Hockey

By Tony Scheid, Head Coach

​​The Girls Hockey Team is off to a fast start this season with a 5-1 record. They are coming off a massive 3-1 victory at the Victoria Recreation Center against a highly rated Holy Family team that features 6 D1 commits. 

Our Raiders were led by an incredible effort from goalie Hannah Fritz ’22. She made 43 saves on 44 shots for a game save percentage of .977. Fritz controlled the game with her calming presence and command in the net.

The duo of Alida Ahern ’25 and Abby Broz ’25 connected on the Raider first goal at 6:51 of the first period. Ahern has now scored in 5 of her first 6 games as a Raider. Lily Geist ’22 leads the team in scoring and notched the go-ahead goal at 11:26 of the second period on an assist from Meridith Anfang ’23. Geist jumped in transition out of the defensive zone as McKinley Haycraft ’25 turned Holy Family over and then sent a penetrating laser stretch pass to Anfang who hit Geist in full flight. Geist sailed in on a clean breakaway and beat the goalie high with a bar-down snipe over her blocker.

Sammy Muetzel ’22 scored 2 minutes later at 13:46 of the second period on a sharp power-play quarterbacked by Geist and also assisted by standout Ryan Sherry '22.

There was no scoring in a wild third period as senior defenseman Maggie Dolan ’22, Ari Evans ’22, and Lindsey Crain ’22 continually made key defensive plays to preserve the Raider win.

Boys Swimming and Diving

By Mike Steineman '92, Head Coach

The Boys Swimming and Diving season is underway! Our first practice was November 29 as we went back into the Fitness Center for the first time in two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We welcome all of our new swimmers and their families to our program! We also welcome back Assistant Coaches Kate Steineman '94, and Adam Weis '05 as they were taking a leave of absence last season. In addition, we welcome back Assistant Coach Luke Schuster '00 as he rejoins the coaching staff after a six-year absence. Finally, we welcome new CDH Strength Coach Ryan Bonikowske as he joins Adam in assisting with our dryland training sessions. Rounding out the Coaching Staff are Assistant Coaches Shannon van Oosterom, Hannah Zobtiz '13, and back for his 26th year as Head Coach is Mike Steineman '92. 

Led by Captains Luke Leonidas ' 22, Adam Sewich '22, and Jacob Wahlstrom '22, the Raiders look to continue right where they left off at the end of last season!  Specifically, the team wants to win Academic Gold or Silver status for academic excellence for a seventeenth consecutive season.  Next, we want to improve on last season's dual meet record, have a strong showing at Sections (6AA at Edina), and continue to send swimmers to State. CDH has been represented at the MSHSL Class AA State Swimming and Diving Meet in 24 out of the last 25 years.   

Our first meet will be Thursday, December 9 as the team travels to East Ridge or Stillwater for the Suburban East Conference (SEC) Relay Meet. This meet will start at 5:30 pm. Please watch our Twitter account (@RaidersSwimDive) and our website for meet information. Our first triangular meet is Tuesday, December 14 as the Raiders travel to Oak Grove Middle School to take on the Eagles of Kennedy and the Lakers of Southwest. The meet will start at 6 pm. Our first home dual meet is Thursday, December 16 as the Raiders host the Knights of Irondale. This meet will also begin at 6 pm.  

We are so excited and grateful to be back "home" for practices and hosting meets at the Butler Center Pool on the campus of St. Kate's! Special shout out to the Athletic Department and the Swimming and Diving Team at St. Kate's for rearranging their schedules to accommodate us for both practice and home meets! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 

Alpine Ski

By Carrie Freitag, Head Coach

The Alpine Ski Team is in full-on physical training mode in preparation for on-the-snow training when true winter arrives. The team is small in size, but mighty in commitment and enthusiasm!  

The Athlete Leadership Team is: Jane Zirnhelt ’22, Lolo Goddard ’22, Daniel Weber ’23, and Daniel Honsa ’22. Other returning athletes to the team are: Luca Lombardi ’22, Hugh Burda ’23, Anders Engstrom ’23, Marin Miroslavich ’24, Gabe Zilka ’24, and Elsa Wermager ’24. New additions to the team are: Alex Simmons ’23, Alex Gagnon ’25, Jake Haider ’25, and Finn Wermager ’25.

There are high hopes for State Championship qualifiers again this season. Leading that pack will be Goddard who qualified as an individual last season! Several of our team members made huge strides in their racing abilities last season. With the additional, structured and awesome, strength training coaching that they are getting through the CDH Fitness Center this season, further success in the race course is inevitable.

Conference races begin the first week in January. Please come out and support the team as a spectator. There is nothing as refreshing and exhilarating as watching a winter sport in its outdoor element!

CDH Alpine's roster remains open to additions until December 14. No racing experience is needed.  Most athletes' recreational ski equipment will work fine while they learn racing. Our coaching team has the ability to get novice, skiers up to speed quickly in the race course. Come out and join us on the ski slopes! Contact head coach Carrie Freitag for more information.

Please offer prayers for beautiful snowfalls and seasonable temperatures!

Gymnastics

By Nicole Cleeton, Head Coach

The gymnastics team recently competed against Woodbury High School and finished with a score of 111.0. Mary Kae Kuenster ’22 placed first in the All-Around competition. Congratulations Mary Kae!

Boys Hockey

By Matt Funk, Head Coach

The 2021-22 Raider Boys Hockey team has high expectations this year and they have been showered with praise from many local media members ranking them as high as Pre-Season #1 in a couple of polls. It looked like those polls got to the Raiders' head early in their opening game against St. Thomas Academy resulting in a 4-3 loss to the rival Cadets. We came out flat against a hungry team in a rivalry game. You can’t do that against a well-coached team that plays disciplined hockey. We can’t just expect to show up and have good things happen to us. We need to earn those bounces. We are old and experienced enough to know that now.

This is the oldest and most experienced group I've had. We have 14 seniors and 6 juniors on the team (and many more talented juniors and sophomores waiting in the wings on JV). They are led by their 3 senior captains Drew Fisher ’22, Zach Sondreal ’22, and Jake Sondreal ’22. They each have 50 varsity games played and finished their fall playing in the Elite League with 7 of their teammates. CDH was tied for the most in the state with 10 players selected to play in the High School Elite League which is composed of the state’s best high school hockey players.

Following the team’s loss to STA they had to quickly rebound and get ready for two huge games against ranked opponents Mahtomedi and Blake. The Raiders stormed back in convincing fashion with a 3-1 victory over Mahtomedi where senior goalie Marko Belak ’22 outdueled another one of the state’s best goalies Ben Dardis and a 5-1 victory over Blake where the high flying offense got back on track with almost 60 shots on goal.

The Raiders have plenty of big games coming up this year with non-conference games against Benilde-St Margaret’s, Hermantown, STA again, Andover, Rosemount, Edina, and Eden Prairie to name a few as well as a great conference slate. We plan to be battle-tested as we head into Section 3AA play at the end of February.

It’s going to be a great year with a strong group of returners. It’s going to be a fun challenge to lead this team with heightened expectations and to settle our unfinished business. We are committed to the journey and building each day to be better than our previous day.

Counseling

By Joan O'Connell, College Counselor

Attention Seniors

College Application Deadlines

A reminder to seniors that if you have not already done so and if you have any January 1 college deadlines, you must submit your CDH College Application Contract to us as soon as possible. The Counseling staff will also be on Christmas break so we must have your requests for your supporting materials soon in order for us to meet a January 1 deadline. Here is the form: Class of 2022 College Application Contract.

“Mid-Year” Reports

Colleges often require you to send a “mid-year” report of senior year grades. For CDH, our mid-year report is your first-trimester senior year grades. If your colleges require this, you must reply to the email Mrs. Reding from the Counseling Office has sent to you stating which colleges require your first tri grades. In general, if you have already been admitted to the college you do not need to send a mid-year report. Also, in general, if you used the Common Application to apply to a school and do not yet have an admissions decision, they will require the mid-year report. We will process mid-year reports in the order they are received. Remember that your admissions to a college is subject to the successful completion of your senior year and any college you plan to attend will require an official final transcript from CDH, so keep up your good work!

PLEASE NOTE!  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities requires you, the student, to update your senior grades in your application tracker as follows:

If you want or need to report your first trimester grades to them the ONLY way to do it is to go into your UMNTC application tracker and follow the directions below:

1. Log in to your Application Tracker

2. Click on Self Reported Academic Record (SRAR) - This will take you to a new page

3. Click on Update SRAR

4. You should see your 9th-11th grades, and will just need to add senior year information 

It does not matter if you have used the Gopher application or the Common Application. The University of Minnesota will not take first tri grades sent from Cretin-Derham Hall ... you have to "self report" them.  

Private Scholarships for College

Many private organizations offer scholarships to students intending to go to college. CDH seniors can find private scholarship information on their Naviance accounts. Just log in, click on “colleges”, then “scholarships & money”, then “scholarship list” to find the most updated list. All of the private scholarships that we have been made aware of will appear here and students can get all the information they need to apply in one spot. You can also do a search of a national scholarship database by clicking on “national scholarship search”. Please remember to check these resources throughout the winter and spring as they are continually updated.

Attention Juniors

Post High Planning Information for the Class of 2023

If you missed the December 7 presentation or just need a refresher, please check out the CDH website for important information from your CDH College Counselors. You will find information and instructions on how to begin your post-high planning. Here is the link: Post-High Planning Information

Junior College Planning Meetings

An email has been sent to parents/guardians of juniors in the Class of 2023 inviting you to schedule a family meeting for post-high planning with your CDH College Counselor. Included in the email is a link to your college counselor’s appointment schedule on Calendly. Please check your email (spam folder too) for this message and schedule your appointment if you have not already done so. Gather your questions and we will look forward to seeing you! Please contact your College Counselor if you have any questions. Joan O’Connell (joconnell@c-dh.org) Last Names A – L or Leslie Connelly (lconnelly@c-dh.org), Last Names M-Z.

Choir

By Tyler Berg, Choir Director

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that the 2021 Christmas Dinners are being postponed, due to health and safety reasons.

Please help spread the word to anyone you know who may have purchased tickets or for whom you purchased tickets.

Refunds have been issued electronically and will be reflected in your account shortly.

Currently, the plan is to have an annual "Dinners" event in the spring, in conjunction with the Spring Pops concert. This will affect the date and time of the pops concert. But I look forward to trying something new while maintaining our core choir fundraiser. Details to come.

I'm so very proud of the work the students had put into this event so far, and we look forward to going all-out in the spring for a dinners event.

This, however, does NOT affect the Band and Choir Christmas Concert, which is on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 7 pm in the Joe Mauer Fieldhouse. We look forward to seeing many of you there!

As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Theater

By Chris Hill '01, Theater Director

The CDH Theater department has started Trimester 2 off with great energy and excitement! The Acting 1 class has started learning improv comedy scenes and games. They are building confidence in character creation and performance. The Musical Theater class has begun rehearsal on their showcase that will feature songs and dances from the classic Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls. Using the Black Box theater, the class will perform an intimate cabaret-style version of the musical for a weekend at the end of February. The Creativity class has been writing I Am From poems, exploring the idea of what home means and how it can be a springboard for creativity. Together the class is designing and building a wood-cut gingerbread village based on their homes and surrounding community. Look for the display in the Fine Arts hallway starting the week of Dec 13. 

Tickets are on sale now for CDH Theater’s production of The Velveteen Rabbit. It is a Christmas tale full of toy magic, loyal friends, and the holiday spirit!  Come and share the experience of live theater with your loved ones. Showtimes are Dec. 10 (7 pm), Dec. 11 (2 pm, 7 pm) and Dec. 12 (2 pm). It will be a special way to celebrate the season and fill your hearts with the gift of theater and connection. Get your tickets now.

JROTC

Here we are, already in December. Our Corps of Cadets has completed their first trimester studies and now we turn our focus to upcoming events and the JROTC Formal Inspection.

Throughout December and January, we will be working on preparing for the Annual Formal Inspection from our 3rd Brigade headquarters, which is on February 1. This inspection involves looking at both the cadet and cadet’s classroom records and performance. Further, the cadets will have to stand for a formal in-ranks inspection. Our color guard and unarmed drill team will have to execute a program that will be judged on the precision with which they execute their movements. Our brigade staff will present a briefing to the inspectors on our upcoming service-learning project and also a continuous improvement briefing on particular projects we have deemed essential to improving the brigade. We are confident that the corps will do extremely well and should continue to retain our designation as an honor unit with distinction.

Our co-curriculars have been and are continuing to be very busy. Our color guard and armed and unarmed drill teams are practicing on a regular basis for upcoming inspections and performances.  Our honor guard continues to perform school and community service through ushering and being present at wakes and funerals. Our air rifle team started in earnest on November 1. We have between 50-60 regular participants and they are practicing for seven scheduled competitions. Orienteering will start right after the first of the year. We have many interested in participating and we believe it should be a great season for them. Lastly, the flight club went to the Minnesota Army National Guard’s hangar in early February to see the maintenance operation and activities of a utility helicopter flight battalion. They were able to watch maintenance occur on a Blackhawk helicopter and were allowed to use the night vision goggles that aviators and crew chiefs use while flying at night.

Mark your calendars! On January 21 we will hold the annual Military Ball. It will be held again 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 (white dress shirt and black bow tie) and their dates and young women in the program can wear a formal dress. Students arrive at 5 pm, have their pictures taken, eat a wonderful meal, and then dance the night away. The event ends at 10:30 pm. All cadre attend as chaperones as well.

Although we continue to face many challenges in our community with the COVID-19 illness, we continue to be hopeful that all of our activities will continue to occur. We take every precaution recommended for the classroom and activities to provide a safe environment for the cadets.

Students that are interested in attending any of the academies, ROTC, or military service should be completing the necessary applications and forms to move forward for the future. Let any of the instructors know if you need additional help!