War Eagle Conference

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War Eagle Conference school locations in Iowa

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 (2016 and 2017)

Contents

War Eagle Conference
Conference IHSAA / IGHSAU
Sports fielded
  • 13
    • men's: 7
    • women's: 6
Division1A and 2A
No. of teams11
RegionNorthwest Iowa
Official website www.wareagleconference.org

List of member schools

SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColors2024-2025 BEDS [1]
Akron–Westfield Akron PublicWesterners  142
Gehlen Catholic Le Mars PrivateJays  102
George–Little Rock George PublicMustangs  81
Harris–Lake Park Lake Park PublicWolves  75
Hartley–Melvin–Sanborn Hartley PublicHawks  154
Hinton Hinton PublicBlackhawks  184
MMCRU Marcus PublicRoyals  160
South O'Brien Paullina PublicWolverines  124
St. Mary's Catholic Remsen PrivateHawks  36
Trinity Christian Hull PrivateTigers  52
West Sioux Hawarden PublicFalcons   181

History

After years of stability as a ten-team league, 2009 saw the league add Remsen-Union (formerly of the Western Valley Activities Conference) and Hartley–Melvin–Sanborn (formerly a Siouxland Conference member). [2] In 2010, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, the lone 3A school in the conference, left the conference to join the Missouri River Activities Conference, which contains four large schools in nearby Sioux City and two Council Bluffs schools. [3] Spalding Catholic merged with Gehlen Catholic before the 2013–14 school year. [4] Trinity Christian of Hull took Spalding Catholic's spot in the schedule. [5] [6] The War Eagle Conference accepted Harris–Lake Park and Clay Central–Everly at the beginning of the 2014–15 and 2015–16 school years, respectively, after the dissolution of the Cornbelt Conference. [7] [8] Starting with the 2016–17 school year, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn merged with Remsen-Union to form the MMCRU Royals. [9]

On March 11, 2019, Clay Central–Everly announced it would be closing its high school at the end of that school year, effectively ceasing all athletics. Students are now sent to Spencer. [10]

On 20 September 2022, current Siouxland Conference member George-Little Rock applied for membership to the War Eagle Conference. [11] The War Eagle Conference accepted the Mustangs on October 20, 2022. [12]

In October 2022, Unity Christian announced that their membership application to the Siouxland Conference had been accepted for the 2023-2024 school year, and therefore would no longer be members of the War Eagle Conference. [13]

Sports

The conference offers the following sports:

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Gehlen Catholic School is a PreK-12 Roman Catholic school located in LeMars, Iowa. Gehlen's athletic teams are known as the Jays. They compete in the War Eagle Conference with eight other teams from northwest Iowa. Their main rival is the other Roman Catholic school in the War Eagle, Remsen St. Mary's High School. Gehlen is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. Their current high school principal is Bryan Paulson and current elementary principal is Andrea Loutsch.

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References

  1. ↑ "IHSAA: Classifications".
  2. ↑ Kroeze, Bethany (October 16, 2008). "Remsen-Union to join War Eagle Conference next fall". Le Mars Daily Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Sergeant Bluff Luton To Join MRAC In 2010". KQEN News radio 1240. March 31, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  4. ↑ Gausman, Kayah (August 22, 2013). "First bell rings for merged Gehlen, Spalding school". Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ Christoffel, Ryan (March 11, 2013). "War Eagle Conference accepts Harris-Lake Park". Dickinson County News. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  6. ↑ Cowley, Jason (June 19, 2013). "Trinity Christian finds conference home in War Eagle". Sioux City Journal . Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  7. ↑ Christoffel, Ryan (March 11, 2013). "War Eagle Conference accepts Harris-Lake Park". Dickinson County News. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  8. ↑ "More 2014 Highlights - Area high school and Iowa Lakes athletes shine". Estherville Daily News. January 2, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ Forbes, Greg (March 19, 2016). "Open enrollment losses loom as two Northwest Iowa school districts prepare to combine". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Unknown".[ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Byers: George-Little Rock officially applies to War Eagle". 3 October 2022.
  12. ↑ "George-Little Rock is officially accepted into War Eagle Conference". November 2022.
  13. ↑ "Byers: Siouxland Conference accepts Unity Christian on fifth attempt". 24 October 2022.
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