In terms of rivalries, Menlo focuses most of its energy towards Sacred Heart. Are their other viable rivals in the area? Photo courtesy of Pam Tso McKenney.

By Nolan Peterson

The rivalry that makes up the Valpo Bowl often consumes the school come late October. The week leading up to the big game is often the most spirited of the year, and tension builds until Menlo wins the half-time dance-off.
Here’s the problem with Menlo sports: everything is compared to that neighbor two blocks west of us. What makes a successful sports team at Menlo? The first two things that come to my mind is whether they beat Sacred Heart or whether they were higher in their respective standings than Sacred Heart.
Maybe that’s a good thing. As much as any Menlo student hates to admit it, the Gators have bested us the last 4 seasons in football. Not only that, they made it to a state final this year down in San Diego. Whether they lost in that final or not, it’s still better than anything Menlo’s managed to do the past couple of years. They also won CCS championships in boys and girls water polo as well as baseball in the past year.
I’m not saying we’re out of Sacred Heart’s league, because we’re certainly not, We manage to hang with them, sometimes even beating them in sports like tennis and lacrosse.
Now might be a good time to have an open mindset and scout out the potential new rivalries Menlo could have. Certainly no new rivalry will ever compare to the likes of the Valpo Bowl, but there are other schools out there that make for good match-ups, no matter the sport.
The first school that comes to mind when looking for a new “rival” is Menlo-Atherton. They’re a little more than a mile away from us, some sports have them as a league opponent, and lots of students from both schools are familiar with one another. Also, if you’ve ever seen the Menlo 6th and 12th man and woman accounts on Instagram (@ma12thman, @ma6thman, and @ma6thwoman), they post some photos targeting both Menlo and Sacred Heart while amassing 1,300 followers over all three accounts. They’ve got good teams and passionate fans, what else could a rivalry ask for?
Maybe a little more fairness. On M-A’s cross country team last season, there were 80 runners compared to Menlo’s 25 or so. When there’s 55 more people on one team compared to another, it’s almost an automatic win for the larger team, no matter the talent level. How does a school of 560 students like Menlo compete athletically with a school of 2,150 students like M-A?
So the criteria has been simplified: relatively close, approximately the same amount of students, a school some sports are in the same league as, and maybe, most importantly, some history. This leaves one school out there.
Before laughing, snickering, or blowing this article off about how “dumb,” or “stupid” it may be, please take into consideration about why Harker could be our next biggest rival.
It may not be the closest of schools, with a 25 minute drive in store if a team had an away game. However, it has a relatively comparable size in enrollment in 720 students (upper school only). Plus, they’re in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) also, where seven boys teams and nine girls teams compete. To put it simply, we appear pretty similar to them on paper, whether we like it or not.
What may take the most convincing to a lot of Menlo students is to say that Harker is good enough to “keep up” with the likes of M-A and SHP. When it comes to sports like baseball, Harker has enough talent to compete in the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) against schools like us and Menlo-Atherton. Even in sports like volleyball, Harker managed to pull off a 9-1 league record, with the only loss coming to our Lady Knights. According to MaxPreps they are 64th in the state, compared to Menlo’s 49th ranking. Still behind, but not by that far.
In the end, no rivalry will ever compare to the likes of Sacred Heart and Menlo. Not only will students never embrace another rivalry as well as the Valpo Bowl, some may argue that there’s really no need for another one. MaxPreps labels the MA-Menlo rivalry as “the Battle of the Border.” It’s up to us whether we accept the challenge. I say why not.