Twin Lakes Conference

The Twin Lakes Conference is an athletic conference in Iowa, made up of 2A and 1A schools, the two smallest classes of schools in Iowa.

Members
Institution Location Mascot Colors Affiliation 2018-2019
9-11 Enrollment[1]
Alta-Aurelia Alta Warriors                Public 165
East Sac County Lake View Raiders                Public 196
Emmetsburg Emmetsburg E-Hawks                Public 201
Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire* Graettinger Titans                Public 122**
Manson-Northwest Webster Manson Cougars                Public 160
Newell-Fonda Newell Mustangs                Public 94
Pocahontas Area Pocahontas Indians                Public 211
Sioux Central Sioux Rapids Rebels                Public 160
South Central Calhoun Lake City Titans                Public 195
Southeast Valley Gowrie Jaguars                Public 255
St. Mary's Catholic Storm Lake Panthers                Private 39
West Bend-Mallard West Bend Wolverines                Public 88
*Although Graettinger-Terril and Ruthven-Ayrshire are separate schools, they co-op for athletics, and therefore share a mascot and color scheme.
**Combined enrollment. Separate, G-T is 76 and R-A is 46.

History

The Twin Lakes conference was founded in 1932. The league's original members were the following:[2]

  • Lake City, Rockwell City, Pocahontas, Rolfe, Manson, and Lohrville

By the early 1960's the lineup was:

  • Laurens
  • Pocahontas
  • Rolfe
  • Gilmore City-Bradgate
  • Twin Rivers of Bode
  • Rockwell City
  • Manson
  • Albert City-Truesdale

Over time, all of the members merged with other nearby schools. The league also added Sac City, as smaller schools like Twin Rivers and Gilmore City-Bradgate left the conference. Albert City-Truesdale left the conference in the mid-80s, and the league added Prairie of Gowrie (later merged with Cedar Valley to become Prairie Valley) and Lake City (which later merged with Lohrville and became Southern Cal). In the early 90s, Rockwell City merged with Lytton. In 1991, the league added Alta-Aurelia and WLVA. In 1995, Alta-Aurelia and Sac City left the conference to help found the Northwest Conference.

In 2004, Southeast Webster-Grand was added to the conference from the recently disbanded North Star Conference. Laurens-Marathon left in 2007 for the Northwest Conference, the same year WLVA and Sac City merged to become East Sac County High School. In 2010, RC-L and Southern Cal began sharing all sports, after previously sharing baseball. Sioux Central, formerly of the Northwest Conference, became the first school from the Northwest to actively seek membership into the conference in the summer of 2009. The Northwest had seen many of their schools join with others schools and were bound to see more mergers in the near future.

After years of talk, in February 2011, the Twin Lakes agreed to merge with the Northwest Conference effective the 2011-12 school year. The new league maintain the Twin Lakes moniker. Alta-Aurelia, Newell-Fonda, Laurens-Marathon, Sioux Central and Storm Lake St. Mary's will join the conference, which will be split into two divisions, one maintaining the traditional Northwest conference schools and the other keeping the 6 current Twin Lakes members.[3]

In 2014-15, the conference will expand again. GTRA and West Bend-Mallard will become members of the league, leaving their homes in the soon-to-be-defunct Cornbelt Conference. The two new members are expected to be added to the northwest division, but the additions may spark some change in division alignment. Prairie Valley and Southeast Webster-Grand will merge to become Southeast Valley.[4]

References
  1. "Iowa High School Athletic Association BEDS Document" (PDF). Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  2. {{cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/iahsaasports/conferences/current-conferences/twin-lakes-conference%7CTwin Lakes Conference|publisher=Iowa High School Sports|access-date=2020-08-17}
  3. "New Twin Lakes Conference alignment" Chronicle Times. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  4. Summers, Brandon L. (20 March 2014). "PV, SWG Jaguars show their colors". The Messenger. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.