Western Indiana Conference

The Western Indiana Conference is the name of two IHSAA-sanctioned conferences based in West Central Indiana. The first formed as an eight-team league that formed as a basketball league in 1944 as the West Central Conference.[1] The league started expanding in 1945 and changed its name to the Western Indiana Conference. With consolidation forcing many membership changes in the 1970s (including all the Terre Haute public schools), the conference folded at four members in 1983.

Overview of all 11 schools in the Western Indiana Conference

A look at all member schools in the Western Indiana Conference

The second incarnation started in 1999, including four previous members (or their current incarnations) from the old conference, and three other schools from South Central Indiana. Its only change in membership in its first 16 years was in football, where South Vermilion played independently for the 2007 and 2008 seasons before rejoining the conference. March 2014 marked a sea change for the conference, as what originally was an invite for Greencastle turned into inviting the remaining five teams of the West Central Conference to join.[2] All seven WIC schools and all five WCC schools voted to expand the conference into 2015, making a 12 team, two division league.[3]

After the 2018-2019 school year, Cascade will depart from the Western Indiana Conference to join longtime rival and former West Central Conference member Monrovia in the Indiana Crossroads Conference. Cascade will fill a vacancy that Park Tudor is leaving. This will align Cascade with Indianapolis area schools such as Triton Central, Speedway, and Beech Grove. The move leaves the Western Indiana Conference will 11 schools.

Members

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Enrollment	IHSAA Class FB	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference
Brown County	Nashville	Eagles		619	AAA AAA	7 Brown	1999	Mid-Hoosier
Cloverdale	Cloverdale	Clovers		359	AA AA	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Edgewood	Ellettsville	Mustangs		756	AAA AAAA	53 Monroe	1999	West Central
Greencastle	Greencastle	Tiger Cubs		549	AAA AAA	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Indian Creek	Trafalgar	Braves		613	AAA AAA	41 Johnson	2016	Mid-Hoosier
North Putnam	Roachdale	Cougars		428	AA AA	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Northview	Brazil	Knights		1,016	AAA AAAA	11 Clay	1999	independent
Owen Valley	Spencer	Patriots		752	AAA AAAA	60 Owen	1999	West Central
South Putnam	Greencastle	Eagles		370	AA A	67 Putnam	2015	West Central
Sullivan	Sullivan	Golden Arrows		547	AAA AAA	77 Sullivan	1999	Tri-River
West Vigo	West Terre Haute	Vikings		590	AAA AAA	84 Vigo	1999	independent

Former Members (current conference)

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference	Year Departed	Conference Joined
South Vermillion	Clinton	Wildcats		83 Vermillion	1999	Wabash River	2016	Wabash River
Cascade	Clayton	Cadets		32 Hendricks	2015	West Central	2019	Indiana Crossroads

Team Sports Divisions (2015-2019)

2015-16		2016-19
East	West	East	West
Brown County	Greencastle	Brown County	Greencastle
Cascade	Northview	Cascade	North Putnam
Cloverdale	South Putnam	Cloverdale	Northview
Edgewood	South Vermilion	Edgewood	South Putnam
North Putnam	Sullivan	Indian Creek	Sullivan
Owen Valley	West Vigo	Owen Valley	West Vigo

With Cascade’s departure the Conference, the current Cross-Overs system will be eliminated and all conference schools will play each other in the regular season of boys’ and girls’ basketball, baseball, softball, football, volleyball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, and boys’ and girls’ tennis. Boys’ and girls’ swimming and diving, track and field, cross country, wrestling, and golf will still hold one-day conference tournaments.

Football Divisions (2019-)

2019-
Large	Small
Edgewood	Brown County
Indian Creek	Cloverdale
Northview	Greencastle
Owen Valley	North Putnam
Sullivan	South Putnam
	West Vigo

Old Conference Membership

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference	Year Left	Conference Joined
Brazil	Brazil	Red Devils		11 Clay	1944	Clay County	1982	Independents (consolidated into Northview 1984)
James A. Garfield	Terre Haute	Purple Eagles		84 Vigo	1944	Vigo County	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute North)
Gerstmeyer Tech	Terre Haute	Black Cats		84 Vigo	1944	Vigo County	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute North)
Linton-Stockton^1	Linton	Miners		28 Greene	1944	Southern Indiana	1974	SW Indiana
State Lab^2	Terre Haute	Little Sycamores		84 Vigo	1944	Vigo County	1978	none (school closed)
South Vermillion^3	Clinton	Wildcats		83 Vermillion	1944	Vermillion County	1982	Wabash River
Sullivan^4	Sullivan	Golden Arrows		77 Sullivan	1944	Southern Indiana	1982	Independents (TRC 1986)
William H. Wiley	Terre Haute	Red Streaks		84 Vigo	1944	Vigo County	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute South)
Honey Creek	Allendale	Honey Bees		84 Vigo	1945	Vigo County	1971	none (consolidated into Terre Haute South)
Greencastle	Greencastle	Tiger Cubs		67 Putnam	1949	South Central	1977	West Central
Jasonville	Jasonville	Yellow Jackets		28 Greene	1949		1963	none (consolidated into Shakamak)
Dugger	Dugger	Bulldogs		77 Sullivan	1950	Sullivan County	1958	Sullivan County
Lebanon	Lebanon	Tigers		06 Boone	<1951		1967	Sagamore
Bishop Schulte^5	Terre Haute	Golden Bears		84 Vigo	1953	none (new school)	1977	none (school closed)
West Vigo	West Terre Haute	Vikings		84 Vigo	1960	none (new school)	1982	Independent (WIC 1999)
Shakamak	Jasonville	Lakers		28 Greene	1963	none (new school)	1964	Tri-River
North Knox	Bicknell	Warriors		42 Knox	1977	Blue Chip	1981	Independents (BCC 1986)

1. Linton-Stockton played concurrently in the WIC and the SIAC from 1944 to 1951.
2. State played concurrently in the WIC and the Tri-River Conference from 1964 to 1978.
3. South Vermillion was known as Clinton until 1977. The smaller schools in southern Vermillion County had consolidated into Clinton by 1963, but the school did not change its name right away (and kept Clinton's school colors and nickname), so this is considered a name change rather than an actual consolidation of schools.
4. Sullivan played concurrently in the WIC and the SIAC from 1944 to 1962.
5. Schulte played concurrently in the WIC and the Tri-River from 1964 to 1977.

Football Champions

This list includes champions for both the old[4] and new[5] versions of the conference. Spit championships are denoted by an asterisk, East and West Division champions are annotated by an E and W, respectively, while the conference championship game winner is denoted by a C.

#	Team	Seasons
11	Northview	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 (W, C), 2018 (W, C)
8	Brazil	1949, 1950, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981
8	Wiley	1947, 1948, 1953*, 1955*, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965
6	Sullivan	1953*, 1955*, 2003*, 2012*, 2016 (W, C), 2017 (W, C)
4	Bishop Schulte	1964, 1970, 1971, 1976
4	Owen Valley	1999, 2000, 2001, 2015 (E)
4	South Vermillion/Clinton	1952, 1974, 1979, 1980
3	Garfield	1946, 1954, 1957
3	Gerstmeyer Tech	1963, 1967, 1968
3	West Vigo	2002, 2003*, 2012*
2	Greencastle	1966, 1973
3	Indian Creek	2016 (E), 2017 (E), 2018 (E)
1	Edgewood	2008
1	Linton-Stockton	1951
0	Cascade
0	Cloverdale
0	Dugger
0	Honey Creek
0	Jasonville
0	Lebanon
0	North Knox
0	North Putnam
0	Shakamak
0	South Putnam
0	State Lab

• Conference began football competition in 1946, and did not compete from 1982 to 1999. Champions for 1956 and 1958-9 are unknown.

Conference Championship Games

• 2015 Northview 28, Owen Valley 14
• 2016 Sullivan 63, Indian Creek 42
• 2017 Sullivan 48, Indian Creek 38
• 2018 Northview 32, Indian Creek 22

References

1. "8 Schools Join Wabash League". Hammond Times, Hammond, IN. 1944-11-19. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
2. "Future May Include Expansion Of Western Indiana Conference Field". Hoosier Topics. 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
3. "Western Indiana Conference to Expand to 12 Schools". Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, IN. 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
4. http://www.almanacsports.com/football/conference.php?conf_id=westernindiana-original
5. http://www.almanacsports.com/football/conference.php?conf_id=westernindiana&season=2017

http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/2071979.html

Resources

• IHSAA Conferences
• IHSAA Directory