War Eagle Conference
| Conference | IHSAA / IGHSAU |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Region | Northwest Iowa |
| Official website | www |
| Locations | |
  30km 19miles         | |
The War Eagle Conference is a 12-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)
List of member schools
| School | Location | Affiliation | Mascot | Colors | 2025-2026 BEDS[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akron–Westfield | Akron | Public | Westerners | 132 | |
| Gehlen Catholic | Le Mars | Private (Catholic) | Jays | 109 | |
| George–Little Rock | George | Public | Mustangs | 77 | |
| Harris–Lake Park | Lake Park | Public | Wolves | 75 | |
| Hartley–Melvin–Sanborn | Hartley | Public | Hawks | 163 | |
| Hinton | Hinton | Public | Blackhawks | 175 | |
| MMCRU | Marcus | Public | Royals | 160 | |
| Sibley-Ocheyedan | Sibley | Public | Generals | 155 | |
| South O'Brien | Paullina | Public | Wolverines | 122 | |
| St. Mary's Catholic | Remsen | Private (Catholic) | Hawks | 32 | |
| Trinity Christian | Hull | Private (Calvinist) | Tigers | 43 | |
| West Sioux | Hawarden | Public | Falcons | 177 |
History
The War Eagle Conference began in the 1979-1980 school year, when Akron, Hinton, Marcus, and Sergeant Bluff-Luton of the Little Sioux Conference partnered with Gehlen Catholic of the Quad County Conference and independent Floyd Valley. Two years later, Westfield consolidates with Akron to form Akron-Westfield High School. In 1988, Meriden-Cleghorn consolidated with Marcus to form Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn School District. Up until this point, membership had remained at 6.
In 1989, Paullina-Primghar joined the conference from the Sioux Valley Conference, brining the membership up to 7. A year later, Sutherland consolidated with Paullina-Primghar to form South O'Brien Community School District. West Sioux joined in 1990 from the Siouxland Conference, but Floyd Valley left when they consolidated with Maurice-Orange City to form MOC-Floyd Valley Community School District which kept membership at 7.
St. Mary's Catholic and Spalding Catholic joined in 1993 from the disbanding Big West Conference, as did an independent Unity Christian to bring membership up to 10 schools.[2]
After years of stability as a ten-team league, 2009 saw the league add Remsen-Union from the Western Valley Activities Conference and Hartley–Melvin–Sanborn from the Siouxland Conference.[3] A year later, Sergeant Bluff-Luton left to join the Missouri River Activities Conference, which contained four large schools in nearby Sioux City and two Council Bluffs schools.[4] Enrollment at SBL had outgrown the rest of the conference, and they were the only school too big to compete in 1A or 2A classifications.
Spalding Catholic was absorbed by Gehlen Catholic before the 2013–14 school year.[5] Formerly independent Trinity Christian, located in Hull took Spalding Catholic's spot in the schedule.[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 entered a whole-grade sharing agreement 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,[10] effectively ceasing all athletics.
On September 20, 2022, 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]
On February 21, 2025, the Sibley–Ocheyedan school board applied for membership in the War Eagle Conference. On March 31, 2025, it was announced that the application was approved and that the school would leave the Siouxland Conference for the War Eagle Conference effective for the 2025-26 academic year. Sibley–Ocheyedan superintendent Stan De Zeeuw explained that that the school, which already has the second lowest enrollment in the Siouxland Conference, wanted to align with schools of a similar size, especially in light of the upcoming addition of the six former Lakes Conference schools.
Sports
The conference offers the following sports:
- Fall — Volleyball, boys' cross-country, and girls' cross-country.6-7
- Winter — Boys' basketball, girls' basketball, and wrestling.
- Spring — Boys' track and field, girls' track and field, boys' golf, and girls' golf.
- Summer — Baseball and softball.
External links
References
- ^ "IHSAA: Classifications".
- ^ https://iagenweb.org/iahss/conferences/current-conferences/war-eagle-conference.html
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Sergeant Bluff Luton To Join MRAC In 2010". KQEN News radio 1240. March 31, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Cowley, Jason (June 19, 2013). "Trinity Christian finds conference home in War Eagle". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
- ^ Christoffel, Ryan (March 11, 2013). "War Eagle Conference accepts Harris-Lake Park". Dickinson County News. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
- ^ "More 2014 Highlights - Area high school and Iowa Lakes athletes shine". Estherville Daily News. January 2, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Hayworth, Bret. "Clay County, Iowa school will end grades 7-12 instruction". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^ "Byers: George-Little Rock officially applies to War Eagle". October 3, 2022.
- ^ "George-Little Rock is officially accepted into War Eagle Conference". November 2022.
- ^ "Byers: Siouxland Conference accepts Unity Christian on fifth attempt". October 24, 2022.