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One of the many things that makes Marian great is the student body’s motivation to succeed. This competitive spirit intensifies when competing against rival schools. However, many students and staff believe Marian has no single, consistent rivalry with any specific high school in the Omaha area.
“These [rivalries] can happen with virtually any school,” junior Rachel Walet said. “We’re different. We’re the only Class A all-girls school, so everyone makes that distinction. A whole school has a common attitude that they need to beat us because of it,” Walet said.
As a member of the softball team, Walet experienced rivalries up close and personal during the 2015 season. “This year, our rival was [Papillion-La Vista], but last year our huge rival was Millard West. I think it depends on the sport and the season,” Walet said.
A rivalry between the Crusaders and the Papillion-La Vista Monarchs also arose during this year’s volleyball season. “I always had that feeling that we had to beat Papillion-La Vista,” sophomore and middle blocker Sarah Wing said. “Everyone, including fans, gets excited for games against them. The games are always higher level and more fun.”
Lincoln Southwest comes to the minds of many swimmers and divers regarding rivalries. “At State last year, we beat Lincoln Southwest by half a point,” junior swimmer Jenna Popp said. “Because of the depth on our team, other schools see us as a rival. They are expecting us to win every meet, every invitational, Metros, and State.”
Rivalries also exist in Marian’s other competitive activities such as Speech. “Our biggest rival going into Districts and State would be Skutt,” senior Speech Team member Sofia Hingorani said.
“In the past, things have been back- and-forth between us. We’re on the same playing field when it comes to skill level,” Hingorani said.
Rivalries can be healthy motivation to succeed. “When we practice, we think ‘Okay, we want to beat Skutt,’ and this fuels us and makes us work harder,” Hingorani said.
Although Marian does not compete against Duchesne Academy in a sport, Network survey results showed that many students considered the school to be a rival of Marian.
As Marian’s Recruitment Director, Mrs. Molly Woodman ’97 experiences this rivalry first-hand during the recruitment process for incoming freshmen. “The thing that’s so funny to me is that the eighth grade girls get almost mean to each other when they find out where their friends are going,” Woodman said.
Stereotypes between the two schools also fuel the competition between them. “You always hear, ‘Duchesne’s more academic’ and ‘Marian is more focused on sports,’ which is not true. Yeah, we are really good at sports, but our academics are really strong, too!” Woodman said.
Marian’s competitive nature leads to the development of rivalries with many other schools. Often, these rivalries vary from activity to activity and season to season. They make competition more fun and intense for both competitors and fans. “You should go into every game wanting to win, but when you go against rivals, it’s that much more of a push to beat them,” Wing said.
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