The decision to keep Benilde St. Margaret’s in the Metro-West Conference will have differing impacts on Park athletics.

Senior soccer captain Luke VonEschen said the strong history of competition against Benilde makes its team an exciting opponent.

“It’s a rivalry we’ve always had, so the passion is intensified because we’re playing for our city and our school,” VonEschen said. “It’s a tradition. It’s part of who we are.”

Earlier this year, the boys’ soccer team defeated Benilde 6-0 Oct. 31 at Benilde to clinch the conference championship.

However, not all students agree completely.

Freshman soccer player Lukas Garcia said although the rivalry can be healthy, Benilde may be too challenging of a competitor in some sports.

“I guess it’s good, because they’re our main competition. But they’re a good team, so we’ll probably lose, depending on the sport,” Garcia said.

Despite the decision, girls’ varsity soccer assistant coach Brad Brubaker said he believes it is necessary for teammates to maintain a positive attitude and keep the competition in perspective.

“As coaches, for the good of the program we have to put it behind us and do a really good job communicating to our teams that there’s nothing about Benilde-St. Margaret’s that’s overly dominant, nothing about them that’s unbeatable,” Brubaker said.

Senior swimmer Katrine Halstensen said while she enjoys swimming against the  Red Knights, she would prefer to have a more diverse field of competition.

“They’re good to compete against, but they’ve been in our conference for so long. It would be good to swim against new people,” Halstensen said.

Girls’ basketball head coach Tim Sension said he does not have a strong opinion on the recent addition of Benilde into the Metro-West conference.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me. I don’t have some of the anti-Benilde thoughts other people do,” Sension said.

Sension said he does not feel like games against Benilde are any more significant than regular games.

“There are other schools in our conference that are way better (at basketball),” Sension said. “We don’t go in thinking of it as a rivalry, we just treat it like another game.”

While students and coaches may have differing opinions, Benilde is here to stay.