Heard in the Halls - March 2021

March 10, 2021

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


ATHLETICS | COUNSELING | 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

The Boys' Basketball team is currently riding a seven game win streak and has a record of 11-4. Playoffs begin on March 18 when we are expected to be a Top 2 seed in Section 4AAAA. 

Congratulations to Tre Holloman ’22 on scoring his 1,000th career point on February 12 in a game at Roseville. Holloman becomes the 15th player in Raider basketball history to achieve this milestone.

CDH Dance Competition

By Ali Pendergrass, Head Coach

Competitive Dance finished their conference season stronger than ever before. Making history, they placed first in both jazz and kick at the last competition, and overall were awarded first place in kick and tied for first (2nd place final) in jazz! Coaches believe the strong senior leadership played a huge part in this success: Abby Blake ’21, Carly Sullivan ’21, Amaya Williams ’21, Astrid Busse ’21, Nat Scott ’21, Maddie Zoost ’21, and Mollie Taft ’21. 

The team is also grateful to be given the opportunity to perform at two of the recent varsity basketball games to showcase their routines to a CDH crowd. Thanks to Girls and Boys Basketball for giving us this opportunity!

The team will compete at the state tournament on March 13.

Looking ahead, dance will take a well deserved break and will resume for summer dance on Monday, June 7. All students (7th - 12th grade) are welcome to participate. Email cdhdt@c-dh.org with questions/interest!

CDH Boys’ Hockey

By Matt Funk, Head Coach

The Boys’ Hockey team has used a balance attack to continue its winning ways with two weeks left in the regular season. With five games remaining, we are 12-1 and riding a 6 game winning streak where we have outscored our opponents 42-8 led by an extremely balanced attack. We are a team that plays 3 lines and 6 D consistently and that has allowed us to wear down our opponents.

This depth is absolutely critical in AA hockey and especially in the section in which we play with some of the deepest hockey communities in the state. Our Purple line leads the team with 32 goals, followed by our Gold line with 17 goals, and our Grey line with 16 goals. As of late, our White line has chipped in with 3 goals of our own.

The key to any good team though is playing sound defensively and that starts with our goaltending with Marko Belak ’22 and Knowledge Gant ’21. Belak leads the state in wins and he is towards the top of the state in GAA 1.5 and Save % with a .935. Our defensive core has limited our opponents to a conference-leading 1.46 goals per game and added 9 goals of their own. One highlight was Nick Freeman ’24 scoring his first varsity goal against Stillwater on Saturday.

When asked about his thoughts for the remainder of the season, our senior captain, Chuck Altier ’21, is clear on his goals for his teammates. “The time is now and we need to keep playing our game and focus on us! It’s going to be a fun challenge to lead this team into the playoffs and settle our unfinished business.” So far Altier and the Raider Hockey Family are doing just that.

Remaining Schedule:

3/11 Park 7:15 PM

3/13 @ East Ridge 7:30 PM

3/18 Section Quarterfinal TBD

3/20 Section Semifinal TBD

3/24 Section Final TBD

Boys’ Swimming and Diving

By Mike Steineman ‘92, Head Coach

The Boys Swimming & Diving team has continued its excellence in the classroom by achieving Silver Team Status with a Team GPA of 3.51!  MSHSL Swimming & Diving teams that have a GPA of 3.50 - 3.74 earn Silver Status Awards. Teams with a GPA of 3.75 and higher earn Gold Status. This is the 16th year in a row that our team has earned either Silver or Gold Status! It is the 10th Silver Status for our team since the 2005-2006 school year when the award was created. Our team has won six Gold Status awards during that period with the most recent one coming during the 2017-18 season!  Excellent job gentlemen! Keep up the good work!

In the pool, the team concluded their dual meet season on Thursday, March 4 with a loss to the Raptors of East Ridge. Our overall dual meet record was 2-7 for an 8th place finish in the Suburban East Conference.  

Up next for the Raiders is the Section 4AA Championship Meet on Saturday, March 13 at Stillwater Middle School. This year's meet will be a little different compared to years past.  First, there will be no prelims and finals. The meet will only be timed finals. Second, the eight teams in our section have been divided into two sessions.  The first session will include teams from White Bear Lake, North St. Paul, Tartan, & Central. CDH will be in the second session with Stillwater, Mounds View, & Roseville.  Once the two sessions are completed, the results from both sessions will be merged, and the top two finishers in every event will advance to the MSHSL Class AA State Swimming & Diving Meet.  Swimmers can also qualify for State by making the qualifying times at Sections.  

The MSHSL Class AA State Meet will be held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. In a similar fashion to Sections, teams from sections 1, 3, 5, & 7 will swim in the first session on Friday, March 19. Teams from sections 2, 4, 6, & 8 will swim in the second session that day. The first session will begin at noon and the second session will start at 6 PM. Again, there will not be a prelims/finals format, only timed finals. Once both sessions of State are completed, the results will be combined to determine the State Champions and All-State swimmers and divers. 

Please follow us on Twitter (@RaidersSwimDive), go to our website or use the Meet Mobile app to catch all the action as we head into our championship season!

Go Raiders!

Alpine Ski

By Carrie Freitag, Head Coach

Congratulations to Lolo Goddard ’22 who became the first alpine skier since 2017 to qualify for the state championship meet. The last skier to achieve this was Camille Gannon ’17. The state championship meet is March 10 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, MN. Good luck, Lolo!

Girls’ Hockey

By Jim Joseph, Assistant Coach

Your Raiders Girls Hockey team is having a very good season and remains on track to achieve their goals! With an overall record of 10-3-1 we are in the hunt for a Suburban East Conference championship and securing a higher seed in Section 6AA; arguably the most difficult section in Minnesota Girls Hockey.

During a recent six-game winning streak, we have seen many players elevate their performance.  With two shutouts and one of the best save percentages (.956) in the state Hannah Fritz ’22 is quickly becoming known as one of the strongest goalies in girl’s hockey!  The defensive core in front of her are a huge help, of course. The group of Ryan Sherry ’22, Maggie Dolan ’22, Ari Evans ’22, and Lily Barrett ’22 are all strong skaters with a team-first attitude and a terrific work ethic. 

Up front, the Raiders are led in goal scoring by Lexi Bonfe ’21 (12 goals - 6 assists - 18 points) and Lily Geist ’21 (11 goals - 9 assists - 20 points).  After that, we boast some team depth in scoring (Lily Anderson ’23, 7-6-13; Sammy Mutzel ’22, 6-5-11; Erin Anfang ’21, 4-6-10; and Ella Klein ’21, 6-1-7).  On the back end, our defense has pitched in 6 goals and a whopping 34 assists! In addition, Frances Staples ’21, Meredith Anfang ’23, and Shannon Murphy ’22 lead the way in the defensive zone, playing great positional hockey, consistently winning face-offs, and blocking shots – some of the most important aspects of successful teams that don’t show up on the scoreboard.

We close out the regular season next week with three road games: at Mounds View, Park, and Forest Lake. With our effort, energy, and a team-first attitude from all our players we have a great chance to achieve our goals this season!

Wrestling

By Dan Willaert, Head Coach

The Raiders Wrestling team is heading into the postseason this week! There is a slightly different format this season to reduce the overall number of contacts and potential exposures between competitors, coaches, and spectators through the State Tournament. In between the Section Tournament and the State Championship is a new round, called State Preliminaries. Teams and individuals that advance out of Sections go on to State Preliminaries to crossover with another geographically nearby section prior to the State Championships. 

On Thursday, March 11 the Raiders will host their half of the 4AA Team Section Tournament. The Raiders are seeded #3 out of 11 teams and will face #6 seeded Chisago Lakes in the quarterfinals. A win there would put the Raiders in a semifinal match against #2 St. Paul Humboldt or #7 St. Croix Lutheran. The winner of that match advances to the State Preliminary round hosted by CDH on Saturday, March 13. In that event, it would be the 4AA Section Championship match, the 1AA Section Championship match, and the winners will face off in the State Quarterfinal round. The winner of that match goes on to the State Semifinals and Championship at St. Michael-Albertville on Friday, March 26. 

The 4AA Individual Section Tournament will be held on Thursday, March 18. The top four placers at each weight class will advance to the State Preliminary event along with the top four placers from 1AA. That 8-wrestler bracket will be wrestled on Saturday, March 20 with the top two placers advancing to the State Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Championship matches held at St. Michael-Albertville on Friday, March 26. 

Counseling

By Joan O'Connell, College Counselor

Attention Juniors:

Education Fair

As with most events this year, our annual CDH Education Fair has had to take on a new format for this spring.  In cooperation with the other Catholic high schools in the Twin Cities, we will be offering a series of college-related programming in the evenings the week of April 19. More information for these “Signature Events” will be coming soon, including how to register and connect.  Please watch for updates!

April ACT for Juniors

Juniors will be taking the ACT (no writing) on Tuesday, April 13 at CDH. Students do not need to sign up for the test, as all juniors will be signed up by CDH. The cost of the test is $46 and will be billed to the student's tuition account. Juniors need to create a MyACT account (if you don’t already have one) and complete the non-test information. Ms. Kurmis sent students an email entitled “April ACT Non-Test Instructions” that outlines how to do this. If you have any questions, please contact Emily Kurmis at ekurmis@c-dh.org  

Attention Seniors:

Colleges will be sending you important information on admission, financial aid, housing, registration and orientation. Be sure to read and respond to your email. An enrollment deposit to the college of your choice is due by May 1.

A reminder to keep information on all your admissions decisions and financial aid awards. CDH will be surveying seniors in late April to collect this data.

Thank your teachers for your letters of recommendation. Remember that CDH teachers write hundreds of letters of recommendation for students as they apply to colleges and universities - over and above all the other responsibilities they have as classroom teachers and coaches. Please take a minute to thank them for this very important work that they do on your behalf.

Choir

By Tyler Berg, Choir Director

Band