Cornbelt Conference

Last updated

The Cornbelt Conference was one of the oldest high school athletic conferences in Iowa. Tracing its history to the 1930s, the Cornbelt has always been a conference filled by smaller schools. Beginning in the late 1970s, frequent membership changes happened because the league consisted of some of the smallest schools in the state. The conference had 6 teams, but four members left in 2014, and another explored options for whole grade sharing that would end its independent sports program. The conference disbanded in 2015.

Contents

Members

InstitutionLocationMascotColorsAffiliation9-11 Enrollment (2012-2013) [1] News
Clay Central-Everly Everly Mavericks  Public72Moved to the War Eagle Conference in 2015
Corwith-Wessley Corwith Panthers  Public47Began one-way sharing with Algona Community School District in 2014
Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Graettinger Titans  Public63/52Moved to the Twin Lakes Conference in 2014 [2]
Harris-Lake Park Lake Park Wolves  Public65Moved to the War Eagle Conference in 2014 [3]
North Union Armstrong Warriors  Public159Moved to the NIC in 2014 [2]
West Bend-Mallard West Bend Wolverines  Public86Moved to the Twin Lakes Conference in 2014 [2]

History

Founding

The eight original members of the conference were Ruthven, Titonka, Swea City, Sioux Rapids, Marathon, West Bend, Terril, and Graettinger. In 1955, Mallard joined the league. Thompson and Armstrong followed in 1956. In 1958, Titonka, Armstrong, Swea City, and Thompson left the league, to help form the State Line Conference. Sioux Valley was created in 1959 from the consolidation of Peterson and Linn Grove, along with tiny rural districts Brooke, Cornell, and Highview, to become the eighth member of the Cornbelt Conference. Everly also joined the conference during the 1970s.

Increasing Instability

In 1981 the league added all six remaining members of the Clay Conference to the fold. Due to Marathon's departure in 1977 to join with Laurens, this left the league at 14 schools: the eight existing league schools, as well as Ayrshire, South Clay, Clay Central, Ocheyedan, Harris-Lake Park, and Arnolds Park. Still, many of the schools were quite small, and were weighing their options for further consolidation. After Sioux Rapids merged with Rembrandt in 1980, the Clay Conference began to look at other options. Throughout the 1980s, a series of mergers further changed the conference.

In 1984, the Ayrshire district began sending students elsewhere, then joined Ruthven to form Ruthven-Ayrshire Community School. Albert City-Truesdale joined the league from the Twin Lakes to keep membership at 14. The next season Ocheyedan left the league to merge with a larger school, Sibley. In 1987, Arnolds Park merged with Milford to form Okoboji High School. Clay Central and Everly began whole-grade sharing in 1989, leaving the conference with 11 members. In 1991, membership was boosted back to 14 despite Sioux Rapids-Rembrandt and Sioux Valley merging to become Sioux Central. The State Line Conference disbanded, leaving the Cornbelt to pickup league members Lincoln Central of Gruver, Armstrong-Ringsted, Sentral-Burt of Fenton, and North Kossuth of Swea City. Membership decreased back to 12 the next season as West Bend merged with Mallard and Lincoln Central left the conference after one season to merge with the much larger Estherville Community Schools. South Clay closed its high school in 1994, allowing its students to choose the school they wished to attend; most chose to attend Sioux Central. Membership dipped to eight in 1996–97. Albert City-Truesdale and Sioux Central left the league to help found the Northwest Conference. Meanwhile, Terril began sharing sports with Ruthven-Ayrshire under the name Lakeland.

Demise

The eight team league persisted until 2005, although there were some changes in sharing agreements. The Burt Community School ended its partnership with Sentral, and merged with Algona, leaving Sentral by itself. Ruthven-Ayrshire began competing once again without Terril. Terril, still hurting for numbers, entered into sports sharing agreement with Graettinger. In 2005, the conference expanded from 8 to 12 schools, as for the third time, it picked up members of a disbanding conference; namely, the North Star Conference and exiting members Vemtura, Twin River Valley (a merger of Twin Rivers of Bode and Gilmore City-Bradgate until 2010, when each went its separate way,) Corwith-Wesley/LuVerne (a long-term partnership, the two districts never formally merged,) and Woden-Crystal Lake/Titonka (another partnership, and absorbed by Forest City and Algona, respectively, in 2011.)

Despite this additional boost in membership, the league continued to dwindle as a result of successive consolidations. Sentral and North Kossuth merged in 2007, becoming North Sentral Kossuth. Twin River Valley left in 2010, and W-CL/T in 2011. In 2012, Ventura merged with Garner-Hayfield of the North Iowa Conference. Meanwhile, North Sentral Kossuth's merger agreement to share sports with Armstrong-Ringsted under the name North Union, and a similar agreement between Greattinger-Terril and Ruthven-Ayrshire, left the conference with just six members for the 2012–13 school year.

North Union, by far the largest school in the conference, immediately sought to find a new home for its athletic teams, and in 2014, it opted to join the North Iowa Conference. This move left the other schools in the undesirable position of operating a five-team conference. As a result, that same year, each of the five began applying to other leagues. G-T/R-A and West Bend-Mallard were accepted into the Twin Lakes (North Division) in 2014. Harris-Lake Park joined the War Eagle Conference, along with independent Trinity Christian of Hull; the next year, Clay Central-Everly followed suit. This left Corwith-Wesley/LuVerne which, despite the whole-grade arrangement, remained one of Iowa's smallest high schools. In 2015, the partnership formally ended; Corwith-Wesley dissolved and was absorved by Algona, and LuVerne, though opting to remain a separate district, also joined Algona. [4] The conference disbanded thereafter.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kossuth County, Iowa</span> County in Iowa, United States

Kossuth County is a county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,828. The county seat is Algona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lu Verne, Iowa</span> City in Iowa, United States

Lu Verne is a city in Humboldt and Kossuth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 258 at the time of the 2020 census.

The Northwest Conference was a high school athletic conference in Iowa. Over the years membership ranged anywhere from five to nine schools. The conference was known over the years as one of the best 1A basketball conferences in Iowa. Traditional powers Newell-Fonda and Pomeroy-Palmer combined for 14 state appearances and six state titles between 1990 and 2004. The conference also sponsored volleyball, women's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's track, baseball, softball, and cross country.

The Siouxland Conference is a ten team high school athletic conference in the northwest corner of Iowa, consisting of schools ranging from the smallest class (1A) to the third largest class (3A), and known for its prominence in small school basketball.

The War Eagle Conference is a 11-team high school athletic conference in Northwest Iowa. The schools are classified as 1A and 2A, the two smallest classes in Iowa. The conference is widely recognized as one of the best small school baseball conferences in the state, often sending multiple teams to the state tournament. The WEC has also been successful in boys basketball housing multiple state champions, the most recent being South O’Brien boys in 2015–16 as Class 1A state champions at a record of 25–3. Remsen St. Mary’s has been the most recent qualifiers the past two seasons


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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Central Conference (Iowa)</span>

The North Central Conference (NCC) is an eight-team high school athletic conference based in North Central Iowa. The conference's membership is 3A (Iowa's second largest classification of schools), 2A, and sometimes even 1A (Iowa's smallest classification of schools). The conference dates to 1930 and has a long tradition together and many intense rivalries.

The Corn Bowl Conference was a high school athletic conference based in north central Iowa. The conference is made up of 1A and 2A schools, the two smallest classification of schools in Iowa.

Algona High School is a rural public high school located in the Algona Community School District in Algona, Iowa, United States. The Algona district serves Algona, Burt, Titonka, and Whittemore. In addition, since 2015 the Lu Verne Community School District sends its secondary students to Algona secondary schools, and the Lu Verne district serves Lu Verne, Corwith, and Wesley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Union Community School District</span> Public school district in Armstrong, Iowa, United States

North Union Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in Armstrong, Iowa. It covers portions of Emmet, Kossuth and Palo Alto counties, and serves Armstrong, Fenton, Lone Rock and Ringsted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Kossuth Community School District</span> School district in Iowa, United States

North Kossuth Community School District is a public school district based in Swea City, Iowa. Located in northern Kossuth County, it serves Swea City, Bancroft and Ledyard.

Sentral Community School District was a school district headquartered in Fenton, Iowa. It served the communities of Fenton, Lone Rock and Seneca. The spelling "Sentral" was deliberately adopted to be a reference to "Seneca" and to differentiate itself from various other school systems using the word "Central". As of 2004 the district had around 300 students. Their mascot was known as the "Spartans" and before that the "Satellites".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruthven-Ayrshire Community School District</span> Public school district in Ruthven, Iowa, United States

Ruthven-Ayrshire Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in Ruthven, Iowa. Also serving Ayrshire, the district is located in Palo Alto and Clay counties.

Corwith–Wesley Community School District was a school district based in Corwith, Iowa, serving Corwith and Wesley. The district occupied sections of Hancock and Kossuth counties as well as a small portion of Wright County.

Lu Verne Community School District is a school district headquartered in Lu Verne, Iowa.

Dows Community School District was a school district headquartered in Dows, Iowa. It covered 101 square miles (260 km2) of area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graettinger–Terril Community School District</span> Public school district in Graettinger, Iowa, United States

Graettinger–Terril Community School District (G-T) is a rural public school district in Iowa, with campuses in Graettinger and Terril. The district lies within four counties: Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, and Palo Alto.

Lakota Consolidated School District was a school district serving Lakota, Iowa.

References

  1. ↑ "Iowa High School Athletic Association BEDS Document" (PDF). Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Christoffel, Ryan (24 April 2013). "Titans accepted into Twin Lakes". Dickinson County News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Christoffel, Ryan (March 11, 2013). "War Eagle Conference accepts Harris-Lake Park". Dickinson County News. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ Countryman, Nathan (March 7, 2014). "Corwith-Wesley dissolution board formed". Algona Upper Des Moines. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.