Northern Lakes Conference of Indiana

Indiana High School Athletic Association

The Indiana High School Athletic Association is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public and private high schools in the State of Indiana. It monitors a system that divides athletically-competing high schools in Indiana based on the school's enrollment. The divisions, known as...

-sanctioned conference located within Elkhart, Kosciusko, and Marshall Counties.

History

With schools across Northern Indiana reorganizing and consolidating in the 1960’s, the need to develop friendly interscholastic competition initiated early conversations concerning forming a new athletic conference. The organizational meeting for the formation of the Northern Lakes Conference was held on February 3, 1963. Charter members of the NLC were the high schools of Bremen, Manchester, Nappanee, Plymouth, Rochester and Warsaw. The conference began competition in 1964-65 in the sports of Boys’ Baseball, Football, Basketball and Track. In 1965, Boys’ Tennis and Golf were added; in 1966 Cross-Country; and Wrestling became a conference sport in 1968. The conference was “intended to provide good, clean competition and fellowship for the boys, the coaches, and the school bodies of the Northern Lakes region.”

The late 60’s saw new memberships in the NLC with Concord High School joining in 1967 and Wawasee High School in 1968. By 1970, all school participated in all eight boys’ sports. Nappanee became NorthWood High School in 1969.

The decade of the 1970’s saw girls’ sports come of age in the NLC. Conference competition began in 1976-77 in Basketball, Tennis, Track and Volleyball. In 1980 Swimming was added; 1986 Cross-Country; 1987 Softball; 1994 Golf; and 1997 Soccer.

Additional sports added to NLC Boys’ competition included Swimming in 1980 and Soccer in 1994.

Membership in the Northern Lakes Conference has fluctuated between six and eight schools throughout conference history. In 1976, Manchester changed conferences. 1987 and 1989, Rochester and Bremen withdrew memberships to begin competition with school of lesser size and less travel than those of the NLC membership. Additions to the Northern Lakes Conference were Goshen in 1976, and Northridge in 1987. Elkhart Memorial begins competition in winter sports in 2000 and all other sports in 2001-02.

Today, the Northern Lakes Conference is recognized as one of the athletic conferences in the state of Indiana. Competitions at the state level include NLC student athletes in most every sport. Leading the state by example, the NLC initiated offering a formal coaching education course in 1991. Today, NLC principals and athletic directors are regularly seated in governing bodies for athletic administration at the state level.

Membership

School	Location	Mascot	Size	IHSAA Indiana High School Athletic Association The Indiana High School Athletic Association is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public and private high schools in the State of Indiana. It monitors a system that divides athletically-competing high schools in Indiana based on the school's enrollment. The divisions, known as... Class	County	Year Joined
Concord	Elkhart, IN	Minutemen	1,473	AAAA	20 Elkhart	1967
Elkhart Memorial Elkhart Memorial High School Elkhart Memorial High School is a public high school located in Elkhart, Indiana.-Mission statement:The mission of the Elkhart Memorial High School is to promote and maintain a community of learners where all members strive for mutual respect, teamwork, self-discipline, and active engagement, in...	Elkhart, IN	Crimson Chargers	2,000	AAAA	20 Elkhart	2001
Goshen Goshen High School (Indiana) Goshen High School is a public high school in Goshen, Indiana, in the United States. As of 2009, total enrollment is at 1,700 students. Goshen High School has a large hispanic population, at 52%, and a student to teacher ratio of 17/1. The school's athletic teams compete in Class 5A...	Goshen, IN	Redskins	1,740	AAAAA	20 Elkhart	1976
Northridge	Middlebury, IN	Raiders	1,282	AAAA	20 Elkhart	1987
NorthWood	Nappanee, IN	Panthers	919	AAA	20 Elkhart	1969
Plymouth	Plymouth, IN	Rockies / Pilgrims	1,100	AAAA	50 Marshall	1963
Warsaw Community Warsaw Community High School Warsaw Community High School is a public high school located in Warsaw, Indiana, the county seat of Kosciusko County. It is under the Warsaw Community Schools Corporation, its current superintendent being Dr. Craig J Hintz of Minnesota. The school's principal is Mr...	Warsaw, IN	Tigers	2,100	AAAA	43 Kosciusko	1963
Wawasee	Syracuse, IN	Warriors	1,031	AAAA	43 Kosciusko	1968

Former Members

School	Mascot	Location	Years In Conference	Reason for Leaving
Bremen	Lions	Bremen, IN	1963 - 1989	Left to join Northern State Conference Northern State Conference (IHSAA) An eight-member IHSAA-Sanctioned Athletic Conference within the Northern Indiana counties of Elkhart, LaPorte, Marshall, St. Joseph, and Starke Some Schools draw students from Fulton, Kosciusko and Pulaski counties.-Membership:- Resources :* *...
Manchester	Spartans	North Manchester, IN	1963 - 1976	Left to Join Three Rivers Conference
Nappanee	Bulldogs	Nappanee, IN	1963 - 1968	Merged with Wakarusa High School to form NorthWood High School
Rochester	Zebras	Rochester, IN	1963 - 1987	Left to Join Three Rivers Conference

Resources

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