ROCORI High School is a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

that serves three

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

towns, whose names form the acronym "ROCORI": Rockville, Cold Spring, and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. The school is located in Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States about twenty miles southwest of St. Cloud. The school received media attention for a shooting in 2003 that left two students dead. It is also noted for having the first winter drumline/indoor percussion ensemble in history.

2003 shooting

A school shooting occurred at Rocori High School on September 24, 2003. The shooting was perpetrated by 15-year-old John Jason McLaughlin who murdered students Seth Bartell and Aaron Rollins.Teen convicted of murder in Rocori High School shootings
July 18, 2005

Athletics

Basketball

The Spartan boys basketball team has made it to the state tournament 13 times in the school's existence, winning a state championship in 1988, placing second in 1999, and placing third in 1979, 1992 & 2007. Former head coach Bob Brink is the second coach in Minnesota State High School League history to win 900 games in any sport, second only to Bob McDonald of Chisholm. A notable player for the Spartans was Justin Stommes (Eastern Kentucky).

Baseball

The Spartans baseball team has also made the state tournament 9 times, winning state championships in 1992 and 2010, finishing as runner-ups in 1991, 2013 and 2017, and taking the consolation championship in 2007. A notable baseball player,

Eric Decker Eric Thomas Decker (born March 15, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football and college baseball for the Minnesota Gold ...

, was drafted by the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

in 2008 and the Minnesota Twins in 2009.

Football

The Spartan football team won their first state championship in 2011, beating Bemidji 17-10 to take Class AAAA. They won their second championship in 2019 beating SMB 22-21 in overtime. Notable football players for the Spartans include NFL players Rick Bell '79 - MN Vikings (St.Johns) and

'05 - Denver Broncos, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, and New England Patriots (MN Gophers)

Dance

The ROCORI dance team has also made it to state in 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 after being created in 2008 with their top performances being fourth place in both High Kick and Jazz in 2017.

Alumni

* Rick Bell, former

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

running back *

, former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

wide receiver for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

, and

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, former baseball outfielder and football wide receiver for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

, and Reality TV star, he had been drafted in the

Major League Baseball Draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

twice. * Justin Stommes, Played professional basketball in Europe for 5 seasons. *

Ron Backes Ron Backes (born 19 February 1963 in St. Cloud, Minnesota) is an American retired shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, ...

, Olympic Shot Putter.

Notes

{{authority control Public high schools in Minnesota Schools in Stearns County, Minnesota Educational institutions established in 1969 1969 establishments in Minnesota