Twin Lakes Conference

Twin Lakes Conference
ConferenceIHSAA / IGHSAU
Founded1932
Sports fielded
  • 13
No. of teams12
RegionNorthwest Iowa
Official websitehttps://www.twinlakesconference.org/
Locations
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50km
31miles
WBM
SMCSL
SEV
SCC
SiouxCentral
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NF
MNW
GT
Eburg
ESC
AA
   

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.

Members

Institution Location Mascot Colors Affiliation 2025-2026 BEDS[1]
Alta–Aurelia Alta Warriors       Public 171
East Sac County Lake View Raiders       Public 176
Emmetsburg Emmetsburg E-Hawks     Public 178
Graettinger–Terril Graettinger Knights       Public 87
Manson–Northwest Webster Manson Cougars       Public 171
Newell-Fonda Newell Mustangs     Public 105
Pocahontas Area Pocahontas Indians     Public 200
Ruthven-Ayrshire Ruthven Raiders       Public 29
Sioux Central Sioux Rapids Rebels     Public 171
South Central Calhoun Lake City Titans       Public 179
Southeast Valley Gowrie Jaguars       Public 246
St. Mary Catholic Storm Lake Panthers     Private 42
West Bend–Mallard West Bend Wolverines     Public 89

Common cooperatives

Name Schools participating Mascot Colors Sports shared
GTRA Graettinger-Terill, Ruthven-Ayrshire Titans       Baseball, basketball, football, golf, softball, track and field, volleyball, wrestling

History

The Twin Lakes conference was founded in 1932. The league's original members were the following:[2]

  • Lake City, Rockwell City, Pocahontas, Rolfe, Manson, and Lohrville

By the early 1960's the lineup was:

  • Laurens
  • Pocahontas
  • Rolfe
  • Gilmore City-Bradgate
  • Twin Rivers of Bode
  • Rockwell City
  • Manson
  • Albert City-Truesdale

Over time, all of the members merged with other nearby schools. The league also added Sac City, as smaller schools like Twin Rivers and Gilmore City-Bradgate left the conference. Albert City-Truesdale left the conference in the mid-80s, and the league added Prairie of Gowrie (later merged with Cedar Valley to become Prairie Valley) and Lake City (which later merged with Lohrville and became Southern Cal). In the early 90s, Rockwell City merged with Lytton. In 1991, the league added Alta–Aurelia and WLVA. In 1996, Alta–Aurelia and Sac City left the conference to help found the Northwest Conference.

In 2004, Southeast Webster-Grand was added to the conference from the recently disbanded North Star Conference. Laurens-Marathon left in 2007 for the Northwest Conference, the same year WLVA and Sac City merged to become East Sac County High School. In 2010, RC-L and Southern Cal began sharing all sports, after previously sharing baseball. Sioux Central, formerly of the Northwest Conference, became the first school from the Northwest to actively seek membership into the conference in the summer of 2009. The Northwest had seen many of their schools join with others schools and were bound to see more mergers in the near future.

After years of talk, in February 2011, the Twin Lakes agreed to merge with the Northwest Conference effective the 2011–12 school year. The new league maintained the Twin Lakes moniker. Alta–Aurelia, Newell-Fonda, Laurens-Marathon, Sioux Central and Storm Lake St. Mary's joined the conference, which split into two divisions, one maintaining the traditional Northwest conference schools and the other keeping the 6 current Twin Lakes members.[3]

In 2014–15, the expanded again. GTRA and West Bend–Mallard became members of the league, leaving their homes in the now-defunct Cornbelt Conference. Prairie Valley and Southeast Webster-Grand agreed to a joint operation as Southeast Valley.[4]

References

  1. ^ "IHSAA: Classifications".
  2. ^ "Twin Lakes Conference". Iowa High School Sports. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  3. ^ "New Twin Lakes Conference alignment" Chronicle Times. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  4. ^ Summers, Brandon L. (March 20, 2014). "PV, SWG Jaguars show their colors". The Messenger. Retrieved May 7, 2014.