Heard in the Halls - February 2023
February 7, 2023
We encourage you to read all the current blogs, or click below to quickly go to a section.
ATHLETICS | COUNSELING | THEATER | CHOIR | JROTC
Athletics
Boys Swimming and Diving
By Mike Steineman '92, Head Coach
The Boys Swimming & Diving team is finishing up their dual meet season this Thursday, February 9 with a home dual meet against the Raptors of East Ridge. The meet is at St. Kate's and starts at 6 pm. With the conclusion of this meet we get ready for the post-season. Up first is the SEC JV Conference Meet. The Conference Meet is Saturday, February 18 at Oltman Middle School (East Ridge's home pool). Next up is the 6AA Section Meet. Sections is Feb. 23-25 at the Art Downey Aquatic Center in Valley View Middle School. Finally, the Class AA State Swimming & Diving Championships will be March 2-4 at the Jean Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota. Please see our calendar on our website for more information. Go Raiders!
Boys Basketball
By Tony Yazbeck, Assistant Coach
Congratulations to Head Coach Jerry Kline '93 who was selected by the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association to coach in the MBCA All-Star Game in April.
Alpine Ski
By Carrie Freitag, Head Coach
Everyone talks about the weather, but the Alpine Ski Team lives, trains, and races in the weather. We rejoice in the abundant snow and embrace the frigid temps! This team is made up of athletes that we like to say have an abundance of “GRRRR!,” and grit, fortitude, and love of their sport! Also, we need to shout out to the parents who support these athletes, fuel them, assist them in travel to and from various venues, and stand out in the elements to cheer them on!
Our Sections race is scheduled for February 8 at Wild Mountain Ski Area. While we cannot predict the outcome of any race, it can be said with confidence that each of them has trained hard and is prepared to meet their goals for the Sections Race! Experiencing a fun race day is guaranteed!! We are currently fielding small teams for both boys and girls, but their enthusiasm gains them a lot of ground. The teams have several individuals who are within striking distance of qualifying for the State Championship race that is scheduled for February 14 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.
These are dedicated racers, if you see them in the halls, ask them about ski team and watch their faces light up! Perhaps you’d like to join them next season?!
Boys Hockey
By Matt Funk, Head Coach
The Boys’ hockey team is 14-7-1 with three games to play in the regular season. The Raiders are looking to win the conference for the 4th straight season. The Raiders finish with two games against White Bear Lake and one against Stillwater.
Raiders celebrate three major milestones. Seniors Attila Lippai '23 and Simon Houge '23 both crossed the 100 career points mark in a win against the Blake School. Senior Jake Fisher '23 scored two goals against Lakeville South to pass the 150 career point mark. All 3 are closing in on 100 career games and should hit those impressive marks by the end of the year.
Wrestling
By Dan Willaert, Head Coach
The Raiders Wrestling team is heading into the last week of the regular season on a hot streak! The team posted a 6-3 record in dual meets over the last two weeks, including three wins over section opponents. The highlight was Senior Night on February 3 as the Raiders hosted St. Croix Lutheran Academy in the final home event of the season. All four seniors won their individual matches and the Raiders came out on top 52-21!
Individually, senior Justice Linton '23 has been included in the Star Tribune Metro Honor Roll the past two weeks for having a high enough overall win percentage. He also won a rematch with his opponent from North Branch who beat him in the Section 3rd-Place match last season. Ninth grader Jaziel Enriquez also has been outstanding. On January 28, he was the champion at the MNGWL Region 5 Tournament at 189 pounds. That meant he was able to represent CDH at the MNGWL State Tournament on February 4 at Champlin Park High School. Jaziel was the first Raider to qualify for this tournament since his brother Isaac Enriquez '20 qualified in 2017.
Girls Basketball
By Crystal Flint, Head Coach
Our team has persevered this season and battled through illness, injuries, and departures. Our young guards have grown up nicely, learning by trial and error. We had a very tough stretch of games playing five state tournament caliber teams. This includes two Top 10 AAAA opponents, #5 East Ridge, #7 Stillwater, who leads our conference as well and two of the top AA teams; #2 Minnehaha Academy and #3 Maranatha Christian Academy, who we defeated with a score of 60-53. With some of our most challenging conference games behind us, we are looking to finish strong before heading into sections in a few weeks.
Some player highlights include three juniors who have been leading the way as of late: Lilly Hahs '24 averaging 11 points and 8 rebounds, Lauren Bengtson '24 averaging 10 points and 3 steals, Suraya Hodges '24 averages almost a double double with 9 points and 10 rebounds. Suraya and Lily lead the team with season double doubles with 8 and 5 respectively.
Our team is continuing to learn new things about themselves and growing each game. We want the girls to show their FACE for the remainder of the season. This means: Focus, Accountability, Confidence and Execution.
College Counseling
By Joan O'Connell, College Counselor
Junior College Planning Meetings
If you have not already done so, please schedule a family appointment for post-high planning with your student and his or her college counselor. An email message was sent to parents with a link to your college counselor’s appointment schedule on Calendly. Gather your questions and we will look forward to seeing you soon!
Ms. O’Connell, Last names A-K: Meeting Sign Up
Mrs. Nelson, Last names L-Z: Meeting Sign Up
April ACT for Juniors
Juniors will be taking the ACT (no writing) on Tuesday, March 28. Students do not need to sign up for the test, as all juniors will be registered by CDH. Please check your emails for additional information from Katie Shead, CDH School Counselor.
CDH Education Fair
Our annual CDH Education Fair is scheduled for Tuesday, April 18 and we will be hosting college admissions representatives in the Joe Mauer Field House. Sophomore and junior students and families are invited to come explore college options, meet college representatives and get your questions answered. This open house event will be held from 6:30-8 pm and a list of attending colleges will be available prior to the event.
Theater
By Penelope Parsons-Lord, Theater Director
Choir
By Tyler Berg, Choir Director
This week, the choir and band performed at our annual Suburban East Conference Music Festival! The Choir had a successful clinic in the afternoon, and got high remarks from our clinician, Dr. Frank Watkins from University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire. The choir also got to hear many of the other choirs of our conference throughout the day. In the evening, we had 10 choir members participate as part of the SEC Honor choir. They put on a great performance. I'm very proud of our students!
JROTC
By SGM David Berrisford '91, MSG Ken Peloski, COL Scrocca, and SFC Thingvold,
On February 3, the Cretin-Derham Hall Raider Brigade hosted the 31st Annual Upper Midwest JROTC Challenge (UMJC). The event was cancelled for the last two years due to COVID, but this year the Raider Brigade was excited to once again host about 300 Army, Air Force and Marine Corps cadets from 11 other local and regional JROTC programs, some from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Chicago. The CDH Raider Brigade represented itself with distinction and the following teams and cadets took home honors: The Air Rifle Team placed first and Ella Keating ’23 was the top shooter in the competition. The Archery Team placed second, the Fitness Team placed third, the Knowledge Bowl team placed third, the Regulation Drill team placed fourth and the Color Guard placed fifth. Approximately 250 cadets competed in the indiv
idual “knockout” drill competition with Josie Thomas ’24 placing first overall and Brooklyn Johnson ’25 placing second.
On February 4, CDH cadets volunteered their time cleaning up holiday wreaths at the Fort Snelling National Veterans Cemetery and in the evening, another group of cadets volunteered at NOREX 50. The Norwegian Reciprocal Exchange is the longest-running exchange partnership between two countries. The volunteers did an exceptional job representing CDH and the Raider Brigade and it did not go unnoticed by Governor Tim Walz, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Representative Betty McCollum, Lieutenant General Jon Jensen, Director of the Army National Guard, MN Adjutant General Shawn Manke, Marc Nathanson, the U.S. Ambassador to Norway, Anniken Krutnes, the Norwegian Ambassador to the U.S., and hundreds of Soldiers from both countries.
Invitations for the annual Raider Brigade Military Ball were provided to cadets last week. The Ball will be held on February 25 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 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.
Congratulations to our newly promoted Diamond Officers, Cadet Majors Alex Atkinson ’23, Anders Egnstrom ’23, and Danny Weber ‘23. They earned their promotions through excellent service to the Raider Brigade during the first half of the school year as junior officers and we are confident they will continue to excel as senior leaders.
Special thanks to the more than 100 cadets who helped run UMJC this year and a special congratulations to our cadets of the Month for January; Finn Dougherty ’24, Cruz Mason ’23, and Danika Rubbelke ’24. Job well done! Keep up the great work!
Finally, the JROTC Department has been 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 30-June 3. 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 including rock wall climbing, rappelling, a high ropes course, archery, kayaking, and orienteering.