Heard in the Halls - January 2021

January 13, 2021

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


ATHLETICS | COUNSELING | CHOIR | BAND | THEATER | JROTC 

Athletics

While spectators are limited for winter 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

We are excited to be back on the court! This years’ team has an exciting outlook. We are led by all-state guard Tre Holloman '22 who holds several D1 offers including Michigan State, Minnesota, Texas, Baylor, Marquette, Iowa and Wisconsin. Other key contributors include Jack Tauer '21, Peter Howard '21, Daniel Montalbano '21, Jack Plum '21, and Jordan Stewart '21. The Raiders are coming off a 25-4 record last season and Section 4AAAA Champions. The Raiders were one of the favorites to win the state championship last year before the state tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.

We open our season this Friday night when we travel to Mounds View. This year we will only be allowed to play conference games for a total of 18 contests.

Dance Competition

By Ali Pendergrass, Head Coach

As with all other sports, the dance team is delighted to begin the long-awaited in-person practices again! For the past four weeks, we have been preparing together by hosting practices and team bonding over Zoom. We were able to stay connected and focus on what our goals for the season would be once we were allowed to return.

Now that the time has come, we are working hard to gear up for our first competitions that are quickly approaching! Our first jazz competition will be a conference meet on January 21 (at Forest Lake High School) and our first kick competition (at Stillwater High School) will be on January 23. We are grateful for the chance to compete in these circumstances and are hoping for a successful season. We are wishing the other CDH sports teams good luck with their seasons as well!  

Boys Hockey

By Matt Funk, Head Coach

The 2020-21 Boys hockey team just completed their tryouts and are preparing to start our season on January 14 against Mounds View at 5 pm (JV) and 7:15 pm (Varsity) at the TCO Sports Garden. It has been a challenging year waiting to start and we are getting used to the new guidelines on and off the ice, but we are very excited for what the future holds. 

Go Raiders!

Boys Swimming and Diving

By Mike Steineman ‘92, Head Coach

The Boys Swimming & Diving season is underway! We started our season on Monday, January 4 and things are a little bit different from years past. First, practices and home meets will not be held at St. Catherine University this season due to the pandemic. The team practiced at the White Bear Lake YMCA during the first week of practice and has now transitioned to The Grove in Inver Grove Heights for practice. For our meets, we will be on the road all season.

Also, practices have been shortened to 1.5 hours with no dryland training. In a typical year, we practice two hours a day, six days a week, with dryland training occurring three times a week. Head Coach Mike Steineman '92 is back for his 25th year and is joined by Assistant Coaches Shannon van Oosterom, Adam Weis '05, and Hannah Zobitz '13. Assistant Coach Kate Steineman '94 is taking a one year leave of absence due to the pandemic.  

Led by Captains Nick Forrest '21 and Adam Sewich '22 the roster has 16 members. Sadly, we do not have any divers on the roster this season. If you are interested, or know of any current 6th-11th graders that are interested in diving for the team during the 2021-22 season, please have them contact Head Coach Mike Steineman at msteineman@c-dh.org. On the swimming side, Luke Leonidas '22 leads the charge for the Raiders. Last season, Luke finished in 11th place in the 100 Backstroke at the MSHSL Class AA State Swimming & Diving Meet.  

Our first meet is Thursday, January 14 as the Raiders travel to Chippewa Middle School to take on the Mustangs of Mounds View. Follow all the results on our webpage and Twitter page (@RaidersSwimDive).

Go Raiders!

Alpine Ski

By Carrie Freitag, Head Coach

The Alpine Ski Team has blasted out of the start gate on the ski hills this past week! 

The team is led this season by Serena Jacobson '21, Jane Zirnhelt '22, and Daniel Weber '23.  Returning veterans to the team are Laura Evenson '22, Hugh Burda '23, and Anders Engstrom '23.  New members to the team are Daniel Honsa '22, Luca Lombardi '22, Lolo Goddard '22, Alexander Simmons '23, Gabe Zilka '24, Marin Miroslavich '24, and Else Wermager '24. Several of the new team members have previous race experience, some are new to racing.  

At the rate these athletes are progressing in their skills after one week of practice on the ski hills, both the girl's and boy's teams prove highly motivated to make their mark at races this season!

If anyone is interested in joining the team, please contact head coach Carrie Freitag for more information. No racing experience needed. The CDH Alpine Ski Team coaches, captains, and team members would love to see if alpine ski racing is a great fit for you!

Girls’ Basketball

By Crystal Flint, Head Coach

The 2020-2021 Girls Basketball Teams are set.  There will be three teams this year.

Thirty-six girls tried out this year for the Raider Girls basketball team including a whopping 19 ninth graders, three of whom made the Varsity team. This year's team is going to be a lot of fun to watch as there is a nice balance of athleticism, size and many of the girls played competitively in the summer and come with some knowledge of the game. For the first time in Coach Crystal Flint's three year tenure, she has on paper what may be considered a veteran team with eight upperclassmen with playing experience.  

Leading the way are two guards, Takara Mason '21 and Audrey Martinez-Stewart '21. Mason was a 2019-20 All-Conference Guard. She led the team in points scored and was second in rebounds last season, and is on point to reach a milestone this season of scoring 1,000 points. Martinez-Stewart was an SEC Honorable Mention guard and led our team or was top 3 in all statistical categories the previous two seasons. She is one of the quickest guards in the conference and is a nightmare on both ends of the floor. The pair of guards will be playing together on an athletic scholarship to North Iowa Community College in Mason City, Iowa next year. Rounding out the seniors are Olivia Allen and first-year varsity player Kalina Fitzgerald who will be looked to for leadership.  

The Raiders have a very talented returning core of juniors in Anna Caruso and Tyler Mader and two transfer students in Anisah Wolf and Ray'ven Robinson. A pair of talented sophomores that received some playing experience last season are Abby Kline and Mary Markoe. Rounding out the team are three talented ninth graders that are looking to make an immediate impact in Lauren Bengston, Lilly Hahs, and Danika Rubbelke.  

Along with the Varsity, we will have a Junior Varsity and C squad team this season in spite of a pandemic. Lastly, the coaching staff received an upgrade in hiring 2016 Miss Basketball recipient and 3-Time MSHSL Girls Basketball State Tournament Champion with Hopkins High School, Nia Hollie. Hollie is a 2020 Michigan State Graduate with a degree in Psychology. She will be a Varsity Assistant Coach this season. 

The Girls Basketball team opens up their season this Friday, at home vs. Moundsview.  

Girls’ Hockey

By Tony Scheid, Head Coach

The Girls Hockey team hit the ice flying last week with our goal of winning the Suburban East Conference title and a trip to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Practicing with a relentless work ethic and an optimistic approach, we have committed to focusing on the process of improving every day and being in the moment. Our team culture is built on selflessness, compassion, and giving our best effort in everything we do. We have set the priority of our school work coming first and playing Minnesota high school hockey for Cretin-Derham Hall as an honor and a privilege.

Our team is led by seniors Erin Anfang, Lexi Bonfe, Ella Klein, Frances Staples, and Lily Barrett.  This core group of seniors has the talent and leadership skills that champions are made of and the persistence and determination to get it done! They lead by example in the classroom and on ice.  Our team is very fast and strong. We will play a puck possession game with explosive transition and pace. Bonfe is a D1 commit to St. Michaels College in Vermont and is a quick and tenacious center with a scoring touch. Barrett and Lily Geist '22 are top D1 prospects in the country and are set to have breakout seasons. We open our season on the road this Saturday, January 16 against Irondale. Our home opener is Tuesday, January 19 against White Bear Lake. 

CDH Wrestling

By Dan Willaert, Head Coach

The  Wrestling team had a terrific first week of practice! In addition to our three senior captains (Ryan Gainer, Zach Steigauf, and Carey Vanier, Jr.) who were named last spring, Ben Tallman '22 was named as a captain due to his outstanding work ethic and leadership throughout the off-season and first week of the regular season. Vanier starts off the pre-season rankings as #4 in the State at 170 pounds! This is the highest any Raider has been ranked in at least a decade! 

The team is very excited to begin competitions on Thursday, January 14t We currently have all triangulars scheduled on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings for most weeks of the regular season. There will certainly be plenty of updates and adjustments to the schedule, but one positive out of all of this is that most schools are working to create online live-streaming options. You can view the latest CDH streaming schedule here: www.cdhraiders.org/streaming.

Counseling

By Joan O'Connell, College Counselor

Parents/Guardians Class of 2022:

Please check your email for an email message from your junior’s CDH College Counselor (Joan O’Connell, Last Names A-L or Leslie Connelly, Last Names M-Z) inviting you to schedule a family Zoom meeting for post-high planning with your junior student. Included in the email will be a link to your college counselor’s appointment schedule on Calendly. Gather your questions and we will look forward to meeting with you.  

Seniors – Class of 2021

Please be sure to let Mrs. Reding in the counseling office know if you would like your first trimester grades (mid-year report) sent to colleges where you have applied. You must request this action. To report first trimester grades to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, you must go into your UMNTC application tracker and self-report the grades.

Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation College Scholarship – Seniors Class of 2021

The application for this $5,000 per year, renewable scholarship is now available at schulzefamilyfoundation.org. To qualify you must have a minimum, unweighted cumulative GPA of 3.0, have attended a Catholic grade school, and be graduating from a Catholic high school. This award is designed to help middle-income families who do not qualify for a Federal Pell Grant, but still show unmet financial need on the FAFSA. Awards can be used at any accredited college.  Applications must be completed online by midnight on March 1.

Choir

By Tyler Berg, Choir Director

Greetings from Mr. Berg and the CDH Choir! We are so excited to be back in the classroom after a great break, and we hope that you had a happy holiday season as well. We are excited to announce that we finally have a date for our digital Christmas concert, which will be posted this Friday, January 15th. Thank you for your patience as we navigated some hiccups and delays to get this completed. This week, we are finishing some recordings for the video, and have begun working on our repertoire for Mid-Winter and Spring concerts! We are still working on programming and scheduling for these concerts in order to maximize the potential for in-person spring performance. We should know our dates by the next Heard in the Halls, so stay tuned! Thank you so much for your time, and here's to a great 2021!

Band

By Nick Zahler, Band Director

Happy New Year, all! I hope everyone's winter break was peaceful and reenergizing. The CDH Band released recordings of its Fall and Winter virtual performances in the first few days of the break. The students have done a great job so far this year, preparing music in different and unusual band setups, and with quite a bit less rehearsal time! The efforts of the students have certainly not gone unnoticed. Congratulations to the band students for two well-done performances! 

Theater

By Katie Kreitzer, Theater Director, and Chris Hill, Theater Assistant

It is taking the theater twice as long as a typical play to produce the winter play, "She Kills Monsters." Actors have been participating in zoom rehearsals where students receive their staging and acting notes. At the end of zoom rehearsals, Assistant Director Alice Spong '21 records each actor's track via a zoom recording. The zoom film allows the actors to review their staging prior to their day to film. Costumes are pulled from the costume head, Molly Stanley '22, and actors are asked to individually try on their costumes and send a  photo of their costume to Molly and get feedback on adjustments. Liam Clift '24 finds all the props necessary for the scenes and puts them in a taped off area backstage. Makeup and Hair tutorials are done primarily over zoom with Makeup head, Addison Keske '22. Once the actor has their costume, props makeup, and hair finished, they are scheduled to film in front of the green screen by themself.

Green screen filming and editing is done by alumni Jake Hermann '09. Each actor films individually in front of the green screen completing approximately three to four scenes in each film session. Then, sound head, Madigan Rios '22, finds royalty free music to match each scene. Seamus Dougherty '22 and B Kelly '22 find the various locations for each of the scenes. The film, sound, and locations are all sent to alum John TeErick '12 who is putting the film together. Talk about COVID-19 collaboration at its finest! Yes, It's a very slow process, but we are so excited for the final result. The film is scheduled to premier the first weekend in February. Get ready CDH, this is going to be exciting. 

JROTC

January is finally here and Happy New Year! We look forward to what 2021 has in store for us and accomplishing great things. The JROTC Raider Brigade continues with conducting the Cadet Challenge and building Esprit De Corps.

We are also continuing the future planning in upcoming events and helping develop our young leaders in the JROTC program. We continue to collect applications for the 2021 Schaller Raider Brigade Scholarship and will be reviewing them in the near future.

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!

Finally, as we move forward in a positive direction during these trying times, the JROTC Raider Brigade continuously works hard to instill in our students the values of citizenship, service to the community and the United States, personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment.

Thank you for the continued support, stay healthy, and stay positive!