Beyond the Books - January 2024

January 17, 2024

At Cretin-Derham Hall, students have important opportunities to grow, learn and thrive both in the classroom and 'beyond the books!' In fact 98% of students participate in one or more sports or activities. 

Formerly known as Heard in the Halls, the new Beyond the Books is our brag book on all of your favorite co-curriculars at CDH: athletics, activities, JROTC and fine arts. This can also be a place for occasional school-wide athletic department updates and current news on some of our activities.

ATHLETICS | ACTIVITIES | THEATER | JROTC | CHOIR | BAND

Athletics

Boys Basketball

By Tony Yazbeck, Assistant Coach

The boys basketball team is off to a great start currently sitting with a 10-2 overall record and 7-0 in conference play. Highlights thus far have been victories over #9AAAA East Ridge, #11AAAA Maple Grove and #2AA Holy Family 67-57. In addition, we defeated our rival St. Thomas Academy for the 20th consecutive time. The Raiders are currently #10 in the state rankings. On Wednesday, January 10, we hosted #15AAAA Woodbury in a battle of undefeated conference teams. Behind Jojo Mitchell ’26's game high 20 points we defeated the Royals 73-49. The Raiders traveled to Mounds View on January 16 to battle the #13AAAA Mustangs and defeated them 65-59 with a game high 25 points from Monteff Dixon ’25.

We have received outstanding leadership from our two captains, Miles Bollinger ’24 and Anthony Knight ’24. Bollinger is currently averaging 10.7 points per game. Other key players have been Jojo Mitchell ’26 who leads the team in scoring, averaging 16 points per game. Monteff Dixon ’25 is averaging a double/double with 14 points per game along with 11 rebounds per contest.

The game against Woodbury was also our faculty appreciation night as our players and managers were able to honor a teacher who has made a positive impact on their life. We thank our teachers for their passion and dedication to our student athletes.

Girls Basketball

By Tara Seifert, Head Coach

Cretin-Derham Hall Girls Basketball currently has a 6-8 overall record and are sitting in 4th place of the SEC conference with a 4-5 record. The CDH basketball programs hosted a Holiday Tourney over the break. The Girls Basketball team split their games, losing by 4 pts to Visitation and bounced back with a great win over section opponent Two Rivers. Lauren Bengtson ’24 had 22 pts and 10 rebounds and Suraya Hodges ’24 scored 12 pts. The Raiders game on January12 against White Bear Lake was Senior Night, featuring seniors Lauren Bengtson ’24, Lilly Hahs ’24, Suraya Hodges ’24 and Stella Bauer ’24. The Raiders look to keep battling in upcoming games against Stillwater and Forest Lake.

Competition Dance

By Angie Keske, Program Manager

The Raider Dance Team competed in the East Suburban Conference Championships and ended in 3rd place overall in both kick and jazz. Lucy Bartels ‘25 credits the bond the girls share for this amazing accomplishment, and says it is evident to the judges that they love dancing together. Penelope Deignan ‘25 and Cailin Ryan ‘25 cinched their stellar finish in the Conference with their powerful movements and facial expressions, bringing the story of their music, Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide, to life. At the beginning of the dance, Lucy Bartels ‘25 captured the audiences’ attention with her breathtaking double coupe turns and moments later Emily Boss ‘25 executed a flawless Firebird jump. Most impressive was Alayna Verdeja’s ’25 perfect execution of a solo set of a la seconde turns.  

The Junior Varsity team has shown marked improvement with hard work and the leadership of Hadley Beyerlein ‘25. The kick team placed 4th at the Conference Championship. Notable were the high energy and precise performances of Johanna Fitzel ‘25, a new dancer at CDH, and Lindsey Neumann ‘29, the youngest member of the JV Kick Team. 

The Dance Team is preparing for Sections in February. To improve their scores, the dancers work at perfecting their precision and technique. Over winter break the teams changed the choreography and some formations of their kick and jazz dances. Minnesota High School Dance is extremely competitive and ranked as some of the best in the nation. There is a lot of pressure on these athletes. With only 2 minutes to make an impact on the judges, the difficulty, creativity and visual effectiveness of the choreography is extremely important. And the execution of every count matters! 

The captains of the Raider Dance Team are Emily Boss ‘25, Penelope Deignan ‘25, Cailin Ryan ‘25, and Alayna Verdeja ‘25. The Head Coach is Zohra Rouna ‘17 and the Assistant Coach is Anna Blake ‘10. The Raiders compete at the Anoka Invite on January 13 and the Mounds View Invitational January 27. GO Raiders!

Girls Hockey

By Tony Scheid, Head Coach

The Raider Girls Hockey Team was looking for their 3rd straight win in the Suburban East Conference, but fell to Roseville 3-0 on Saturday. Prior to that they earned a convincing 6-0 victory on the road at East Ridge on January 6. On Tuesday January 9, the Raiders dominated Forest Lake and won 4-2, outshooting the Rangers 34-15 and possessing the puck most of the game.

Goalie Grace Kemp ’26 is having another outstanding season with a .920 save percentage and 2.18 goals against average. Grace has 9 wins, including 3 shutouts. Defenseman Casey Coffey ’24 has 14 points on the season with 2 goals and 12 assists. Defenseman Stella Hadac ’25 has 11 points, including 3 goals.

The Raiders are currently led in scoring by forward Abby Broz ’25 with 12 goals and 7 assists for 19 points. Following close behind is center Hope Hadac ’25 with 2 goals and 13 assists for 15 points. Standout center Channing Haycraft ’27 has 9 goals and 5 assists for 14 points and winger Delaney Schwab ’25 is having another great season with 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points.

The team has been working on the mental side of the game with Greg Poss and his Be Higher Brained Program. This is a transformational program designed to help our student athletes in all areas of their life. In this 10-week program, we study one chapter per week individually and then meet together every Saturday for a one-hour interactive discussion. We are working on being in our higher brain, this is the area of your brain responsible for focus, awareness, stability, transcendence, and connectedness. Again, this program is designed to help us to have success in all areas of life.

As a team we are focused on having EAT fun. Engaged, Activated, and Thrilled fun with the process, and not the result. The joy and love in life is in the work, not the end result. We are working on being creatively fearless and falling in love with learning and improving. We are trying to build our family on selflessness and compassion, while having a service mentality in everything we do in our daily life.

The CDH Girls Hockey team is hosting Park for a Sophie’s Squad game on January 27. Sophie’s Squad was founded in 2021 to improve the mental health of athletes from youth to college by raising awareness of mental health issues and removing the stigma associated with seeking help. Your support helps Sophie’s Squad raise awareness of the importance of mental health for athletes from youth to college. Sophie’s Squad is working hard to ensure everyone knows it is ok to get help, there is always HOPE, there is always HELP.

On January 27, come watch the JV play at 1 pm and Varsity at 3 pm at the Highland Arena. Show up in teal to support your Raiders and this great cause.

Boys Hockey

By Matt Funk, Head Coach

The boys’ hockey team is experiencing a season full of ups and downs. We are 7-5 with 4 narrow losses to some of the state top teams (WBL, STA, Hermantown, and Edina) all by a goal. The team also lost captain, Veszi Lippai ’25 to a broken Fibula and Tibia in a game against Prior Lake over the holidays. Despite the adversity this team has faced, Coach Funk is optimistic about his team’s outlook. “We have good leadership in this group and they believe in each other. If we keep focused on the process and focus on us, we will accomplish our goals for the season.” 

The team beat Park on January 13 and tied section opponent Eastview 4-4 on January 16. The boys will travel to Woodbury on January 18. Check the Hockey Hub for all game scores.  

Alpine Ski

By Carrie Freitag, Head Coach

Despite the challenges created by the non-winter weather, the racers on the Alpine Ski Team have been training hard. The positive results of their efforts were evident at the first conference race on Tuesday, January 9. Highlights include Else Wermager ’24 finishing in 7th place out of 76 racers, and Finn Wermager ’25 finishing in 8th place in a field of 88 racers. Solid performances by all of the racers resulted in both the boys and girls teams securing 7th place in the conference of 10 teams. These results are despite the fact that both teams consist of 6 racers, while a full team consists of 10 racers.

The girls team is made up of veteran racers Elsa Wermager ’24, Marin Miroslavich ’24, Maeve Zilka ’26, and Lauren Fairbanks ’27. New racers to the team are Lydia Rosso ’26 and Abby Nesset ’27.

The boys team consists of veteran racers, Gabe Zilka ’24, Finn Wermager ’25, Alex Gagnon ’25, Jake Haider ’25, and David Spartz ’26. Stuart Murray ’27 is the new addition to the team. 

The high level of physical fitness that these athletes achieved with their consistent training in preparation for the racing season has resulted in huge strides in their overall skiing and race skills!  The new racers to the team have made amazing progress. None of them had previous race experience prior to this season. All of them are racing on the varsity team with impressive confidence and displaying smiles that light up the dark days of winter!

Come on out to the slopes to support and enjoy this team’s talent and enthusiasm at our next conference race on Tuesday, January 23, 5 pm at Wild Mountain or Thursday, January 25, 4:30 pm at Afton Alps!

Boys Swimming and Diving

By Mike Steineman ’92, Head Coach

The Boys' Swimming & Diving team is now at the halfway point of their season. On Saturday, January 13, the team swam in the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association True Team Section Meet. This meet is different from all of the other meets in that every swimmer and diver that competes scores points. CDH will compete against the other teams in Section 6AA including Highland/SPA, South, Southwest, Washburn, Hopkins, St. Louis Park, Richfield, and host Edina. Results from True Team Sections and all of our meets can be found on our website. You can watch the stream of the meet here.  

As the team heads into the second half of the season, we will continue to prepare for the end of the season. The Raiders will be ready to go for the post-season including the SEC JV Conference Meet at Oltman Middle School (2/17/24), the MSHSL Section 6AA Championships back at Edina (2/22/24-2/24/24), and the MSHSL Class AA State Swimming & Diving Meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center (2/29/24-3/2/24). GO RAIDERS!

Wrestling

By Joe Piazza, Head Coach

Cretin-Derham Hall wrestling honors two wrestlers with 50 plus varsity victories. Captain Mickey Piazza ‘25 and Jaziel Enrique ‘26. CDH wrestled in the New Richmond Invitational over the weekend. Three wrestlers placed in the top 6. Piazza placed 2nd, Issac Henry ‘26 placed 4th, and Bud Brondum ‘25 placed 6th. CDH heads to East Ridge High School for the East Ridge Ruckus on January 20 for an individual tournament. 

Activities 

AFAM

By Kenneth Udoibok ’16, Moderator

AFAM is a black alliance group that allows students to have positive representation at CDH. AFAM meets once a month and has guest speakers talk with our students.These guest speakers can range from professional athletes and business owners to alumni looking to give back to current students. AFAM is planning a cultural celebration for black history month. This event will give student members the opportunity to show off their African and African American culture by catering traditional food, clothing, and dancing. 

Intramural Basketball

by Mr. Teuber and Mr. Kline, Moderators

This is the last week to register for intramural basketball. Registration and fees are due Friday, January 19. Get your team together and register now. Contact Mr. Teuber or Mr. Kline with any questions.

Bleacher Club

By Tony Yazbeck, Moderator

The Bleacher Club is off and running. Our reporters are covering all athletics. You can find their hard work displayed on our athletics website. Any students who have a passion for writing, athletics and activities are welcome to come aboard. Please see Mr. Yazbeck in the AD office.

CDH Book Club

By Becca Strauss, Moderator

The chillest book club around is still going strong at CDH! We have about 6 to 10 members join discussions throughout the year. The book club has met twice with our third discussion coming up mid January. This fall we read and discussed A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. 

The Chronicle

By Becca Strauss, Moderator

It's a rebuilding year for The Chronicle as the editor and many section editors graduated in 2023.  Our crew for 2023-2024 is small but mighty! Students in the Chronicle have the opportunity to expand their writing skills and explore the topics that matter most to the CDH community. This year we're focused on getting three quality web based news editions out - fall, winter, and spring.

Dorothy Day

By Rob Peick, Moderator

Students looking for service hours can volunteer serving breakfast on selected weekends at Dorothy Day in downtown St. Paul. CDH serves on the first Saturday and third Sunday of every month (summer included). The time is 8:30-10am. Students need to get there on their own. If you are interested please see Mr. Cusick or Mr. Miley.

Empty Bowls

By Peter Gleich, Moderator

Wednesday, February 7, 2024, will mark the 22nd year of CDH Empty Bowls, supporting the vital work of Heifer International.

Empty Bowls has been an opportunity to enjoy some amazing soup and delicious bread, survey the silent auction table (and bid on the latest Joe Mauer memorabilia,) and select a beautiful hand-made ceramic bowl. 

A very special and new addition to this year’s evening Empty Bowls will be the performance of the Nativity of our Lord School Band at 5:30 pm under the direction of Mr. Christian Woeltge.   

An outstanding team of students are planning for our Feb. 7 lunch and dinner. Empty Bowls is lead by seniors, Lucy Cornett '24, Annabel Fulton '24, Michael Loeffler '24, Katie O’Donnell '24, Olivia Reeder '24, Josie Thomas '24,  juniors, Hadley Beyerlein '25, Mickey Coenen '25, MJ Dougherty '25, Mark Loeffler '25, and Grace McSherry '25, and sophomores Nico Cortez-Orme, Mary Jensen, Ellen Kovats, Olivia Laughlin, and Alexa Wahlberg.

If you wish to become a “Team Empty Bowls” partner, and join us supporting the work of Heifer International, any donation, large or small would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be sent to CDH, Empty Bowls c/o Peter Gleich. Contact Peter Gleich with questions. 

Golf Club - New

moderated by Kate Schulz 

The Girls Golf Club was formerly known as the “Development Team.” The club will continue to follow a similar schedule and format as previous years, but will no longer be affiliated with the Athletics department. The CDH Girls Golf Club will be separate from the competitive Varsity and JV teams and managed by club moderator, Kate Schulz. 

The CDH Girls Golf Club will provide opportunities for girls to develop their golf skills in a fun and casual club format. There will be no tryout process and all are welcome to join: no previous golf experience is necessary! The club will meet in April and May at the Highland National golf course practice area and focus on developing skills and the fundamentals for recreational and competitive golf: drive, chip, putt. 

Contact Assistant Athletic and Activities Director Tony Yazbeck or golf club moderator Kate Schulz for more information about the Girls Golf Club.

NOTE: The CDH Girls Golf Team will consist of Varsity and JV teams for the 2024 season. Golfers will participate in a tryout format to determine rosters for the Varsity and JV teams.

Lasallian Youth

By Peter Gleich, Moderator

Once again, over 50 CDH Lasallian Youth members spent a December morning celebrating the Christmas season with the preschool and kindergarten children at Community of Saints school in West St. Paul. Our CDH ``big kids” were partnered with 70, four and five year olds. Together, many gingerbread houses were made (and eaten), games were played, books were read, songs were sung, Christmas decorations were created, and gifts were given after a visit with Santa. 

This annual event, which dates back to the days of Derham Hall and Cretin High School, continues to be a special day for both our CDH community, and those at Community of Saints as well. Several graduates of COS proudly returned to see former teachers, their younger brothers and sisters, and remember their time as preschoolers and kindergarteners who themselves participated in this same Christmas tradition. A particularly special moment was watching Yessica Gomez '25, who was acting as one of Santa’s helpers, serve as interpreter with a kindergartener whose first language is Spanish. Like a scene from “Miracle on 34th Street,” Yessica stepped in and relayed to Santa what a shy, soft spoken 5 year old was hoping to receive. 

Math Team

By Maureen Modl, Moderator

Math team has competed in 3 competitions to date with 2 more meets before the end of the season. We have 23 mathletes, including 8 competing in the team event.

Our mathletes are doing well amidst stiff competition. We are currently placed 3rd in our division and 5th in our section 4AA. Go mathlete Raiders!

Ping Pong Club

by Mr. Cusick and Mr. Muetzel, Moderators

Ping Pong Club begins on Tuesday, January 23 from 3:15-4:15 pm on the Mondo. Please contact the Mr. Cusick or Mr. Muetzel with any questions.

Robotics

By Jeff Winsor ’09, Coach

The CDH Robotics season is underway! Kickoff was Saturday, January 6, and we have seven weeks before our first competition. We need to design and build the robot, program it, make merch, and plan how to market our team at the competition. 

Students may join at any time! Competitions are March 7-9 in Grand Forks at the Alerus Center, and April 4-6 at the University of Minnesota in Williams Arena. The competitions are free and open to the public, come cheer us on and see what the students have accomplished! Watch the game animation. 

Meetings are Wednesdays during Flex in the STEM Center year round. During the season, practices are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays starting at 4:30 pm, and Saturdays starting at 9 am.

To join the team, talk to Mr. Winsor or our captains Michael Loeffler ’24, Mary Musolf ’24, MJ Dougherty ’25, or Owen Graeve ’25.

Science Olympiad Club

By Jessie Botello, Moderator

The Science Olympiad team will have a regional competition at Mounds View High School on February 3.  We will have a small group competing in different categories.

Sign Language Club

By Frances Sorenson, Moderator

Students have been working hard to learn the history of ASL and general grammar order for speaking using ASL. Students have now taken it upon themselves to learn new words or phrases and teach them to other members of our club. 

Speech Team

By Nick Niewinski, Coach

The Speech Team is actively utilizing our cross-marketing efforts within the school to prepare the team in advance of our upcoming tournaments with other schools that will be occurring this spring.

Student Council

By Ellen Schafer, Moderator

The Student Council is busy planning Chill Out Week. Details to come on our instagram page.

Ultimate Frisbee

By Charlie Enders, Coach

We just started winter practices and have two scheduled on Thursday, January 18 and Thursday, January 25, both 7-9 pm in the Aux Gym. Come meet new friends, get active, and give the awesome game of ultimate frisbee a try. You don’t need any special gear or experience to join. All are welcome.. and we might even have pizza!

Theater

The cast and crew for A Midsummer Night's Dream are working hard in the Lillian theatre - we are excited to share our production with you all. Performing this show during a Minnesotan winter seems a little crazy given the climate outside, but it's a good reminder that summer will come again!

Performance dates/times have not been finalized. Check back on our main school calendar or our Theater page for updates.

JROTC

By SGM David Berrisford'91, MSG Ken Peloski, COL Joe Scrocca, and SFC Brittany Thingvold 

Happy New Year and congratulations to our newest Diamond Officers. The following cadets were promoted at the end of the year based on their leadership, hard work, and continuous effort over the first half of the school year. We are immensely proud of them and look forward to what they will accomplish as they sprint to the finish line. Kelley Hannon '24 was promoted from Major to Lieutenant Colonel, and Claire Baumberger '24, Matthew Baumberger '24, Katie Chestovich '24, Sarah McKeown '24, Samantha Wells '24, and Siobhan Wheaton '24 were promoted from Captain to Major.  

The Raider Brigade Robotics Team will participate in its first competition on January 20 in St. Paul.  The team was started last year and has been preparing their robots for competition for some time.  We wish them luck in their inaugural competition! 

On February 2, the CDH Raider Brigade will host the Upper Midwest JROTC Challenge (UMJC). The Raider Brigade is excited to host about 350 cadets,12 local and regional JROTC programs, some from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Chicago. Cadets will compete in a variety of activities to include: Regulation Drill, Color Guard, Rifle Marksmanship, Archery, Physical Fitness, Knowledge Bowl, and always a crowd favorite – the Tug-O-War. Everyone is welcome to attend to cheer on the cadets between 10 am - 3 pm in the CDH Joe Mauer Field House.  

Finally, mark your calendars! On February 9 we will hold the annual Raider Brigade Military Ball. It will be held at TST Catering in St. Paul. We encourage all of 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.

Choir

By Delilah Schuster, Choir Director

Band

By Nick Zahler, Band Director

The band wrapped up its calendar year with an amazing Christmas Concert! The band played a variety of musical genres, and also did collaborative performances with the choir and with a special narrative guest (Santa!).

At the concert, we said goodbye to our student teacher, Ms. Ingalls, who finished her term by conducting the vast majority of the concert. Ms. Ingalls was adored by students and staff alike. We’re sad to see her go, but excited for her to start her career, teaching K-8 Music in New Brighton.

January

We’re glad to be back as we launch into 2024! The band is actively preparing for its busiest time of late winter and early spring. We’ve got the Suburban East Music Conference in early February, a midwinter concert on February 26, and a trip to San Diego in early March! And the band will be supporting plenty of athletic events and activities!