Benedictine High School

Welcome to our new Head of Strength and Conditioning and Assistant Athletic Director, Samantha Wentz!

Samantha Wentz joins Benedictine as the Assistant Athletic Director and Head Strength & Conditioning. Wentz brings experience coaching at both the collegiate and high school levels, previously serving in strength and conditioning roles at Walsh University and as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Perkins High School (Sandusky High School).

A former collegiate volleyball player at Walsh University (North Canton, OH), Wentz earned her undergraduate degrees in Exercise Science and Psychology from Walsh before completing her Master’s degree in Sports Performance Coaching through Setanta College (Ireland). She is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and also holds USA Weightlifting-Level 1 and High School Strength and Conditioning Coach certifications. Wentz has a strong passion for athlete development, leadership, nutrition, recovery, and long-term performance training.

“I am incredibly grateful and excited for the opportunity to join the Benedictine community. What excites me most is the opportunity to lead, coach, and mentor young men during such an important four years of their lives. I look forward to helping our student-athletes grow not only as competitors, but also as leaders, teammates, and young men of character. I’m also passionate about teaching the importance of healthy lifestyle habits, nutrition, recovery, and overall wellness so they can build routines and values that positively impact them long after their time at Benedictine.”

“Samantha is an outstanding addition to the Benedictine family,” said John Carter, Athletic Director. “Her experience in strength and conditioning, combined with her commitment to mentorship and leadership development, makes her a perfect fit for our student-athletes. We are confident she will help elevate our programs while continuing to positively shape the Men of Benedictine both on and off the field.”

Art Bortnick made a name for himself long before he was head coach of the Benedictine Bengals. An impressive 3-sport athlete at Euclid High School, Art Bortnick went on to be a member of the 1976 National Champion Pittsburgh Panthers and started on the 1977 Pitt team that eventually went on to win the Gator Bowl.

Before his illustrious head coaching career, Coach Bortnick signed on as an assistant coach for the 1981 Benedictine Bengals, who were coming off of the DIII State Championship in 1980. He earned Coach Augie Bossu’s trust with the offense and helped guide the 1981 Bengals to a Back-to-Back State Championship, despite moving up to Division II.

Coach Bortnick taught math and helped coach football at Benedictine through the 1980s and got the chance to be Head Coach at Madison High School, where he amassed a 76-27 record through the 1990s. He returned to Benedictine as Head Football Coach in 2000 and quickly turned the Bengals back into a playoff team. In 2002, he took the Bengals to a runner-up finish in Division III. The Bengals returned in 2003 and won the DIII State Title. They went on to win the 2004 State Championship as well, sealing another back-to-back campaign.

Coach Bortnick has been an assistant coach elsewhere and returned to Benedictine as an assistant coach on last year’s 2025 team and is once again on the staff this season. He is a well deserving inductee into the Benedictine Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Halls of Excellence Induction Ceremony takes place on Saturday, June 13th at 1:00 PM. We invite all former players of Coach Art Bortnick to attend! Alumni can also join us for Stag Night on Friday, June 12th at 6:00 PM. All alumni from any year are welcome to attend Stag Night and all are welcome to the Halls of Excellence Induction.

Our registration deadline is Tuesday, June 2nd! Don’t wait!

You can register for both events or separately by visiting here: https://onecau.se/reunion26

The Men of Benedictine completed their Final Exams today. This past Tuesday, the Class of 2026 graduated from the stunning Rufus Courtyard with teachers, family, friends, and fellow Men of Benedictine in attendance.

Salutatorian Jeremy Ade, Valedictorian Cameron Huggins, and Mr. Benedictine Braylon Rose spoke beautifully about their friends, family, faculty, and Benedictine experiences.

Thanks to our BSBN crew for broadcasting this event-you can look back on the wonderful words spoken by our graduates here: https://cbhs.edu/bsbn-broadcasts/

Special thanks to junior Jonathan Queener ’27 for photographing our commencement activities.

Our Graduation Ceremony will take place from Benedictine High School tonight, set to begin at 6:30 PM. Watch the livestream on Boxcast or on our Youtube page.

Watch: https://boxcast.tv/view/benedictine-graduation-ceremony-2026-vdxri0woamf656r1bqt9

Benedictine celebrates Memorial Day and acknowledges the sacrifices of those who have served.

This past school year, we installed this mural, thanks to the generosity of The Gibson Family, to highlight those who have served in the various branches of the United States Military after their time at Benedictine High School and to educate our current students on the opportunities available.

Those depicted are only a small sample size of all of those have fought for the United States.

For those who serve, we thank you.

Surrounded by their families in the Abbey Chapel, our seniors gathered for the Baccalaureate Mass — their final Mass before graduation, in the very place where they first stood as freshmen four short years ago.

The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Roger Gries, OSB ’54, with Fr. Thomas Sanders delivering a powerful homily reminding the Class of 2026 that before all the festivities of graduation, we purposefully begin with the Mass because “we first belong to God.”

Fr. Thomas reflected that a Benedictine education is not simply about achievements, but about who these young men have become. Referencing the day’s Gospel, he reminded students of Jesus’ question, “Do you love me?” followed by His command: “Follow me.” It is through our formation that we learn to love Jesus and follow Him. At Benedictine, formation happens slowly through the ordinary — by showing up each day, we become more genuine, grounded, prayerful, compassionate, and supportive of one another - we become a true brotherhood.

“The world needs good men, not just successful men,” Fr. Thomas shared, reminding seniors that men rooted in Christ are better prepared to withstand the challenges of the world.

As they prepare to graduate, our seniors were encouraged to remain rooted in the values that formed them over the last four years: reverence, discipline, friendship, compassion, and Christ.

After Mass, our 74th Mr. Benedictine, Braylon Rose and his family, took a photo with our 2nd Mr. Benedictine, Bishop Roger Gries ‘54 and Mrs. Jill Thein, a teacher Braylon cites as having pushed him in the classroom.

It was also special to have Jerry Joyce, father of senior Danny Joyce, celebrate and serve as Deacon for Baccalaureate Mass.

Congratulations, seniors. We are proud of the men you have become!

Earlier today, we held our Awards Ceremony to acknowledge and honor the students who have achieved great things at Benedictine this Year.

Cameron Huggins is this year's Valedictorian with a GPA of 4.706. Jeremy Ade was our Salutatorian with a GPA of 4.638. Congratulations to them on this outstanding academic achievement.

Acknowledging our Highest Accumulative GPAs, Nathan Weaver leads the Class of 2027 with a 4.561, Nathan Majors leads the sophomores with a 4.438 and Bryce Lang and Brennan O’Connell both lead the freshmen class with 4.4s, respectively. Congratulations to them on their hard work and best of luck maintaining their high academic averages moving forward.

Our Honor Role students were acknowledged and celebrated-well done to our scholars and we hope that others can find their way on this list and that everyone can keep improving their base of knowledge.

Based on their PSAT scores, Caleb Gianzero, John Paul Hatgas, Ryan Huggins, Nathan Majors, Graham Peck, Chinja Scott, Owen Slemc, Donald Stewart, Gabriel Tangen, and Joshua Vogley have been invited to participate in this year's BigFuture National Recognition Program. Well done, gentlemen.

Daniel Joyce, Ryan Winterich, Zachary Ade, and Santino Arrietta were presented with Kiwanis Service Scholarships by the Kiwanis Club of Cleveland.

Mr. Mark Francioli ‘71 presented the Sonny Powall Award to Lucas Dolan for his work with the Italian Heritage Club.

Mr. Matthew Falk was awarded with the Smith Family Faculty Grant, awarded by the David Smith family every year to a deserving faculty or staff member that has made an impact on Benedictine. Mr. Falk has been instrumental in our Engineering and Computer Science programs and will have a large role with our new Student Experience Center. Congratulations to him.

Cameron Huggins ’26 was the Fr. Donald Baydik award winner for his work as editor of The Bennet and Wonderment, this year’s literary magazine.

Ryan Winterich ’26 was awarded the Fr. James Award for his Senior Scholars project studying World War II and meeting with scholars in the field, weekly.

Jeremy Ade ’26 was awarded the Fr. Clement Award for excellence in Engineering.

Cameron Huggins was awarded the Jack T Hearns Award for excellence in Band.

Junior Lachlan Bobes won the Fr. Timothy Buyansky award in Drama, thanks to outstanding performances in Clue and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Rafael Koonce was awarded the Fr. Raphael award for outstanding freshman student in Science.

Nathan Weaver ’27 was awarded the Vincent Award for a rising senior interested in history or government, who best demonstrates the spirit of Vincent Francioli.

Devion Coffin won the Fr. Robert Award for outstanding business student.

Christian Witness awards were given to Brennan O’Connell, Rafael Koonce, Bryce Lang, Graham Peck, Ean Good, Dresden Washington, Caleb Gianzero, Ryan Taube, Donald Stewart, Jeremy Ade, Peter Dalton, and Elliot Traben.

Cameron Huggins was our Phi Beta Kappa honor award winner which recognizes a student for outstanding scholarship and academic initiative.

Braylon Rose ’26, once again, won the ServeOhio Community Impact award for his over 24 hours of community service this year with 9 service activities.

Donald Stewart was the Notre Dame Club of Cleveland Book Award winner.

Lucas Dolan, Daniel Joyce, and Ryan Winterich were all awarded American Red Cross Scholarships.

Ryan Huggins and Sincere Wilson were given Alpha Omega Awards for academic excellence by 10th graders.

Jeremy Ade, Cameron Huggins, and Sean O’Connell were all awarded $5000 Governor’s Merit Scholarships for being in the top 5% of their class and attending in-state universities. A new initiative, Ohio Guaranteed Admission, was started by Governor Dewine, which guarantees admission to all Ohio Public universities and participating private Ohio Universities to members of the top 10% of their class in Ohio. Michael Grobelny, Daniel Joyce, and Ryan Winterich were recognized for OGA.

Jeremy Ade was the OHSAA Scholar Athlete this year. Matthew Furst and Micah Smith were both awarded Archie Griffin Sportsmanship awards. The NFHS Award of Excellence was given to Michael Grobelny and Sean O'Connell.

Mr. Anthony Backowski was presented with the 2025 yearbook dedication by the yearbook staff.

Mr. Mark Hall was recognized, before his retirement, for 30 years of Outstanding service to Benedictine and got a well deserved Standing Ovation. Thank you to Mark for all that you have done for Benedictine.

Finally, Mr. Braylon Rose was recognized as the 74th Mr. Benedictine and gave an acceptance speech to the gathered audience. We look forward to hearing him speak at graduation, along with Valedictorian Cameron Huggins and Salutatorian, Jeremy Ade.

Congratulations to all of our award winners!

This morning, The Bennet made the official announcement: Braylon Rose has been elected the 74th Mr. Benedictine!

Mr. Benedictine is considered the highest award a student can receive during his career at Benedictine. To be a Mr. Benedictine finalist, a senior must meet certain criteria, involving academics, extracurriculars and good behavior.

The student body then votes for one of the five finalists whom they believe best exemplifies the values of a man of Benedictine.

Braylon will address the student body tomorrow at our Awards Ceremony and again at our Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday, May 26th. Congratulations to Braylon Rose as he enters into this esteemed group of those elected to Mr. Benedictine!

Congratulations are due as well to our other finalists, Jeremy Ade, Luca Bucci, Lucas Dolan, and Michael Grobelny.

To read the Bennet Article written by Cameron Huggins on all of our finalists, you can look through the info graphics or visit here: https://cbhs.edu/braylon-rose-elected-74th-mr-benedictine/

This past Sunday, members of the Senior Class of 2026 gathered together with their moms for the Senior Mother Son Dinner. They participated in a prayer service before dinner and gathered together to celebrate their upcoming graduation with the ones who got them there: Mom.

We talk about the Men of Benedictine quite a bit, but the Moms of Benedictine are often the unsung heroes of their stories. They have worked so hard for their families and have helped make it possible for these men to achieve all of their impressive accomplishments. They work in and outside the home, they help get us to those games and extracurriculars, make sure we are eating and healthy, and are that sympathetic ear when we need their empathy and invaluable counsel and advice.

This past Sunday was a great opportunity to acknowledge that work and to share the love we have for our Moms. Thank you to our Moms of Benedictine and to those moms of the Class of 2026-congratulations and well done!

Dr. Greg Mack graduated from Benedictine in 1963 and after graduating magna cm laude in 1967 from Notre Dame and attending Georgetown University Medical School, he had a decision to make. Dr. Mack chose to serve his country and after embarking on an orthopedic career, he entered the Navy as a civilian volunteer.

At Bethesda Naval Hospital, now the National Naval Medical Center, he quickly found mentors, role models and like-minded colleagues for surgery, teaching, and clinical research.

In 1976 Dr Mack transitioned to the teaching staff at Bethesda, followed by transfer to San Diego for a fellowship in hand surgery in 1978. After fellowship Dr. Mack took charge of the exceptionally busy hand surgery service at Naval Medical Center San Diego, and in 1986 he was appointed chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. At that time, it was the largest orthopedic program in the U.S. military. In 1995 he added the role of chief of the medical staff, continuing all three positions until his retirement with the meritorious service medal in 1997.

During his years as a Navy surgeon, from 1976 to 1997, Dr. Mack trained or helped train 116 surgical residents. When he became Orthopedic Department Chairman, it was ranked in the 38th percentile of all 168 orthopedic programs, military and civilian, in North America. Within 8 years it had attained the #1 rank—higher that year than prestigious programs such as Harvard, Yale, Mayo Clinic, and others.

Following his Navy career, from which he retired with the rank of Captain, Dr. Mack began work in the private sector, including a weekly clinic in an underserved community 100 miles east of San Diego.

The Halls of Excellence Induction Ceremony takes place on Saturday, June 13th at 1:00 PM. Alumni can also join us for Stag Night on Friday, June 12th at 6:00 PM. All alumni from any year are welcome to attend Stag Night and all are welcome to the Halls of Excellence Induction.

You can register for both events or separately by visiting here: https://onecau.se/reunion26