Cathedral High School (St. Cloud, Minnesota)

Cathedral High School
The Cathedral "Crusaders" logo
Address
312 7th Avenue North St. Cloud, Minnesota, (Stearns County) 56303 United States
Coordinates
Information
Funding type	= Private, Coeducational
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1902
President	Mike Mullin
Principal	Lynn Grewing
Grades	7–12
Enrollment	578 (2006)
Color(s)	Royal Blue and Gold
Fight song	Fight Fight Crusaders
Team name	Crusaders
Accreditation	North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Counselor	Mary Quick
International Admissions	Taffy Kroll
Activities Director	Emmett Keenan
Website	www.cathedralcrusaders.org

Cathedral High School is a Roman Catholic coeducational parochial high school located in St. Cloud, Minnesota. One of the four high schools in the St. Cloud area, as of April 2013, Cathedral High School enrolls approximately 650 students grades 7-12. Cathedral High School employs 53 faculty members, 100% of which hold bachelor's degrees. The faculty to student ratio is 1:14. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud.

History

Cathedral High School was established in 1902 when Sister Eleanor Irving, O.S.B. opened a 25-student coeducational school. In 1914, the administration began constructing a new building to house the school. As the school grew, in 1938 another new building (the present-day "Center Building") began construction. In 1947, the school made another addition to its campus by purchasing the "North Building" from adjacent Holy Angels church. This building later became the main Theatre for the school in 1967. Finally, the "South Building" was completed in 1958; shortly thereafter, Cathedral reached its peak enrollment of 1,621 students in 1964. The buildings have no air conditioning.

John XXIII Middle School, named after Pope John XXIII, was established in 1971 when area Catholic elementary schools, concerned about the education of their 7th and 8th grade students, suggested the upper two grades of their respective schools be consolidated. In 1982 Cathedral High School and John XXIII middle school were fused into one school with one administration. John XXIII middle school was absorbed into the high school starting in the fall of 2011. It no longer exists. There were 40 fewer incoming seventh grade students in 2013.

Campus

File:Cathedral High School.jpg

Cathedral High School from the south

The Cathedral High School/John XXIII Middle School campus consists of four buildings: the North Gymnasium, the Center Building, the South Building and the Holy Angels Performing Arts Center (HAPAC). Originally Holy Angels church, the HAPAC was converted into a performing arts center in 1995.

• North Gymnasium: houses the main athletic gymnasium for the schools and includes offices, a classroom, vending machines, locker rooms, and a weightlifting room.
• Center Building: a three-floor building housing lockers for 7th and 8th grade students; the building contains math, art, science, social studies, a computer lab, religion and English classrooms, a smaller gymnasium (primarily used by the middle school), and a science laboratory. Built in 1938, the building was designed by St. Cloud architect Nairne W. Fisher, who was also architect for St. Mary's Cathedral in St. Cloud, and at age 28, designed the Art Deco Mundelein College building in Chicago.
• South Building: a three-floor building primarily used by the high school; the building also contains 9th-12th grade student lockers, math, art, science, theology and English classrooms, another science laboratory, the cafeteria, the library, and a computer lab.
• Holy Angels Performing Arts Center: the first floor of this building contains the band, choir, and orchestra rehearsal rooms, while the second floor is a large theater for the school's dramatic productions, several school assemblies, and musical concerts.

Although the Center Building is the location for the Middle School lockers and the South Building the location for High School lockers, all students attend classes in both buildings.

The most interesting feature of the school's campus is its tunnel system. All of the buildings are connected by tunnels; in the cold Minnesota winter, the administration does not allow students to pass between classes outdoors. While the tunnels regularly become congested, they serve as the most efficient way to get to class on time during the winter. The tunnel system also serves as a secure way to keep the school safe from possible intruders. In the winter all entrances are closed and locked except the main entrance, which is equipped with a security camera.

Although the school grounds do not contain many athletic venues (no football field, soccer field, swimming pool, baseball/softball diamonds, tennis courts, or track), with the exception of Rau Field which is used primarily for phys. ed classes, Cathedral still has some of the best performing athletes in MN Class A (see Extracurricular Activities below). The school often uses other area high schools' venues or rents public facilities from the city.

In January 2009, Cathedral High School announced it would tear down the 119-year-old "Zardetti House", built for St. Cloud's first Bishop Otto Zardetti, and turn it into a parking lot. The building had been unused since it was declared unsafe the previous fall.

In January 2014, Anne Schlepper, a Cathedral graduate, represented Team USA in women's hockey at the Olympics.

Extra-curricular activities

Cathedral offers over 50 activities for its students, including all major sports and many extracurricular activities such as Knowledge Bowl, Jazz band, National Honor Society, and an annual musical theater production. There is also a CHS fishing club which does both summer and ice fishing events.

Students are also required to complete 72 hours of service within the community before graduation. Of these hours, ten of them must be through a student's parish. Other special programs that CHS offers include Campus Ministry, Link Crew, mission and language trips, and Student Ambassadors.

Sports teams at Cathedral that are regularly competitive include the baseball team (Minnesota state champions in 1977, 1980, 1988, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2014 and 2015, along with 16 total state tournament appearances), boys (State Appearances in 2006,2008, finishing 4th and 2009). girls soccer teams, boys hockey, and the boys and girls cross country running teams (both of which regularly qualify their teams for the state meet). The boys cross country team took 1st place at the MN Class A State Tournament in 2005 and 2011. In 2014, the JV bowling team advanced to the state tournament.

Cathedral's home baseball stadiums, Dick Putz Field and Joe Faber Field, located in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, are the sites of the Minnesota Class AA State High School Baseball Tournament, held in June.

Cathedral's competitive speech team is considered a strong program, routinely placing students in the annual state competition. In 2006, junior students Scott Lenner and Timothy J. Meyer won the state title in Duo Interpretation, receiving perfect marks in the finals round, also in 2006, when junior Chelsea Olson became state champion in Extemporaneous Speaking, and in 2008, when eighth grader Jeff Rueter, then from John XXIII Middle School, won the High School competition in the category of Creative Expression. Rueter, as a senior, also claimed the Storytelling championship in 2012. In 2013 senior Cole Wintheiser followed up with another Storytelling championship.

The Crusaderette's have won four state championships in the High Kick/Precision MSHSL AA Dance Team Tournament. The first title coming in 2005, in addition to a rare "three-peat" from 2008-2010. The team not only was able to successfully defended their title in 2010, but also won the AA Jazz/ Funk competition.

Additionally, the Crusaders had a strong showing in Boy's Tennis behind long-time coach Ellis Scheevel in 2014 as seniors Phil Ruegemer and Matthew Bowe advanced and competed in the state tournament at Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

The strength of the football program has also been rising. In the fall of 2014, the Crusaders advanced to the section final behind the leadership and dominance of all-conference captain, the mauling/pass-blocking hybrid offensive lineman Mathew Zniewski. Besides Zniewski, the main contributors to the Crusader's success were wide-body gap-stuffing junior nosetackle John Peschel and the high-motored edge rusher in senior defensive end Matt Bowe.

Cathedral has won the MSHSL-awarded Challenge Cup, an award given to the best-performing school overall in arts and athletics competitions, in 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 for Class A Minnesota high schools.

Besides the MSHSL, Cathedral students also dominate in other local athletic competition. Perhaps comparable to the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, Cathedral's Whitney Center Intramural Basketball team, the Hood$tarz, has won 4 straight league championships. The most recent team was spearheaded by senior three point specialist Matthew Bowe, senior glass-eating center Mat Zniewski, senior defensive specialist Phil Ruegemer, senior spark off the bench Alex Hansen, and junior lane-slasher Tommy "Jordan" Auger. The team was coached by future Whitney League hall of famer, Steven Neutzling. The teams success was attributed to a tenacious full-court press defense and a knack for smacking wet tre-bombs in transition.

Name	Number	Points Per Game	Assists Per Game	Rebounds Per Game	Specialty/Role
Mat "Abdul-Jabbar" Zniewski	1	4.2	2.7	27.2	A monster on the glass, Zniewski could always be relied upon to come up with the big rebounds and was arguably the better half of the powerful front-court tandem "The Glass Brothers" with power forward Nick Manthey.
Thomas "Stockton" Imholte	3	8.9	18.2	3.0	A scrappy point guard with incredible court vision, ridiculous handles, and a knack for knocking down mid-range jumpers.
Jeff "Laettner" Fasching	4	1.2	0.7	0.1	Fasching had great team spirit.
Dominic "Drexler" Austing	5	8.0	6.8	1.7	Austing could always be counted on at shooting guard to knock down the clutch shots. Fortunately Austing's services in clutch situations were rarely necessary due to the sheer dominance of the hoodstarz.
Jake "Mutombo" Gross	9	3.0	3.0	5.3	Gross provided valuable back-up minutes to relieve dominant center Mat Zniewski.
Elliott "Mbah-a-Moute" Jaye	10	9	0.0	0.0	A 3-Point specialist, Jaye could literally only hit three pointers, often missing easy breakaway lay-ups.
Matthew "Quick-Ankles" Bowe	11	13.0	0.0	1.3	Matthew "Sticks" Bowe was a small forward with a powerful upper-body and quick ankles that allowed him to create his own shot off the dribble.
Tommy "Jordan" Auger	15	15.0	2.0	4.9	Auger could always be counted on to make Jordan-esque plays to help pile onto the Hoodstarz usual double-digit lead.
Alex "Ridnour" Hansen	20	3.9	3.9	-1.0	Despite his liability in the rebounding department, Hansen was full of charisma and brought out the best in opposing players, establishing a great atmosphere of sportmanship and respect.
Phil "Bolton" Ruegemer	26	10.0	11.1	9.2	A defensive specialist with a knack of getting to the basket in transition, Ruegemer nearly averaged a triple double and laid down monster jams that got the crowd going.
Brady "Kobe" Yoerg	32	29.1	5.2	3.9	Yoerg had special talent and seemingly could knock down any shot imaginable. Legend has it that he once scored 5 points in one play.
Nick "Bynum" Manthey	77	4.7	0.0	19.9	Manthey was the starting power forward with an astronomical vertical and was one half of the dominate front-court tandem "The Glass-Brothers" along with center Mat Zniewski.

School statistics

General

Statistic	Cathedral High School	State (MN) Average
Percentage of students of color:	1%	10%
School days in calendar year:	172	175
Hours in school day:	6	6
Number of teachers:	60	NA
Teacher to student ratio:	1:14	1:16

Scholastic achievement

Statistic	Cathedral High School	United States Average
Average ACT composite score	24.05	20.09
Average SAT verbal score	627 (9% of senior class)	507
Average SAT math score	608	520
Average SAT writing score	587	516

National Merit

From 2004 to 2014, 62 seniors were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program, including 44 commended scholars and 21 finalists.

Trivia

• Film director Stephen Sommers, in his debut film, 1989's Catch Me If You Can, used Cathedral High School's campus as the setting for many scenes.

• In 8th grade Ted Bechtold successfully wheeled 38 women in one semester including the elusive "hat trick" on October 15 2008 after homecoming dance

External links

• Cathedral High School/John XXIII Middle School official website

Resources

1. ^ Privateschool.com information
2. Historic website for Cathedral High School