Northern Lights Conference

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The Northern Lights Conference is a high school athletic conference located in northwestern Wisconsin. Originally founded as the Bayfield County Athletic League in 1936, the conference's name was changed to its current moniker in 2023, and its members are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

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1936-1970

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Lua error in Module:OSM_Location_map at line 456: bad argument #1 to 'abs' (number expected, got nil). The Bayfield County Athletic League was founded in 1936[1] by six small high schools in far northwestern Wisconsin: Bayfield, Drummond, Iron River, Ondossagon Port Wing (later South Shore) and Washburn.[2] Cable were also announced as members but did not participate in the conference's first basketball season. Saxon was admitted to the conference 1937, which along with Cable's entry into competition increased membership to eight schools.[3] Along with Saxon's entry into the conference came a new name: the Indianhead Conference.[4] The Indianhead moniker refers to a group of counties in northwestern Wisconsin that resemble the side profile of a Native American.[5] Drummond and Port Wing dropped out of the conference for the 1938 season, and membership stood at six with Cable's addition.[6] In 1940, Mellen joined the conference and Drummond made their return, offsetting the loss of Cable as members.[7] The return of Port Wing in 1943[8] and Cable in 1948 brought membership up to nine schools by the end of the decade.[9] The Indianhead Conference's roster remained stable at nine schools for sixteen years before rural school district consolidation whittled away at the group. Saxon was the first to leave the conference, consolidating with Hurley of the Michigan-Wisconsin Conference in 1964.[10] Three years later, Iron River was folded into another M-W Conference school (Northwestern High School in Maple).[11] Former independent Solon Springs entered the Indianhead Conference in 1968, offsetting some of the losses suffered in previous seasons.[12] In 1969, Cable was merged into Drummond, bringing membership back down to seven schools.[11] The Indianhead Conference gained four new members in 1970, two from the disbanded Flambeau League (Butternut and Glidden), one from the Michigan-based Porcupine Mountain Conference (Mercer) and a former independent (Northwood).[13]

1970-2023

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The Indianhead Conference operated as an eleven-member circuit for ten years before Northwood left to become members of the Lakeland Conference in 1980.[14][15] Hurley joined the conference in 1986 after competing in the Michigan-based Gogebic Range Conference for the past six years.[16] In 1990, Ondossagon closed its doors and its district was split up among other area districts, decreasing the ledger to ten members.[17] The Indianhead Conference operated at ten schools for nineteen years, including two years where Butternut and Glidden ran a cooperative athletic program from 2007 to 2009.[18] This arrangement ended in 2009 when Glidden was merged with Park Falls of the Marawood Conference to form the new Chequamegon High School, and the new school inherited Park Falls' conference affiliation.[19] Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood crossed the Michigan-Wisconsin border to join the Indianhead Conference from the Michigan-based Western Peninsula Conference in 2010.[20] Three years later, the Indianhead Conference acquired another cross-border member from Michigan: the Gogebic Miners (a cooperative between Bessemer Johnston and Wakefield-Marenisco).[21] A twelfth school was added to the Indianhead Conference when Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School in Hayward became members in 2021.[22] After the exit of Gogebic and Ironwood Wright in 2022, the Indianhead Conference assumed its current lineup of ten schools.

2023-present

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Citing the pejorative nature of the Indianhead name, the conference changed its name to the Northern Lights Conference in 2023. The new name was suggested by students at Butternut and Washburn and beat out four other options considered (Great Divide, Great Lakes, Northland and Snowbelt).[23]

List of conference members

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Current full members

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School Location Affiliation Enrollment Mascot Colors Joined
Bayfield Bayfield, WI Public 116 Trollers     1936[1][2]
Butternut Butternut, WI Public 57 Midgets     1970[13]
Drummond Drummond, WI Public 108 Lumberjacks     1936,[1][2] 1940[7]
Hurley Hurley, WI Public 192 Northstars     1986[16]
Lac Courte Oreilles Hayward, WI Tribal (Ojibwe) 105 Eagles     2021[22]
Mellen Mellen, WI Public 81 Granite Diggers     1940[7]
Mercer Mercer, WI Public 41 Tigers     1970[13]
Solon Springs Solon Springs, WI Public 81 Eagles     1968[12]
South Shore Port Wing, WI Public 63 Cardinals     1936,[1][2] 1943[8]
Washburn Washburn, WI Public 198 Castle Guards     1936[1][2]

Former full members

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School Location Affiliation Enrollment Mascot Colors Joined Left Conference Joined Current Conference
Butternut/Glidden Butternut, WI Public N/A Midgets     2007[18] 2009[19] Cooperative ended (Glidden merged into Chequamegon)
Cable Cable, WI Public N/A Eskimos     1937,[4] 1948[9] 1940,[7] 1969[11] Closed (consolidated into Drummond)
Glidden Glidden, WI Public N/A Black Bears     1970[13] 2007[18] Entered into cooperative with Butternut
Gogebic Bessemer, MI Public 221[24] Miners     2013[21] 2022[21] Independent
Iron River Iron River, WI Public N/A Wolverines     1936[1][25] 1967[11] Closed (consolidated into Northwestern)
Ironwood Ironwood, MI Public 194[24] Red Devils     2010[20] 2022[20] Independent
Northwood Minong, WI Public 87 Evergreens     1970[13] 1980[14][15] Lakeland
Ondossagon Ashland, WI Public N/A Aggies     1936[1][25] 1990[17] Closed (district split between Ashland, Drummond and Washburn)
Saxon Saxon, WI Public N/A Knights     1937[3] 1964[10] Closed (consolidated into Hurley)

Membership timeline

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<timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1936 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:140 left:0 bottom:50 top:5

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) 

        id:line     value:black
        id:bg       value:white

PlotData= 

 width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m

 bar:1  color:tan1 from:1936 till:2030 text:Bayfield (1936-present)
 bar:2  color:tan1 from:1936 till:1938 text:Drummond (1936-1938, 1940-present)
 bar:2  color:tan1 from:1940 till:2030 text:
 bar:3  color:tan1 from:1936 till:1967 text:Iron River (1936-1967)
 bar:4  color:tan1 from:1936 till:1990 text:Ondossagon (1936-1990)
 bar:5  color:tan1 from:1936 till:1938 text:Port Wing (1936-1938, 1943-1949), South Shore (1949-present)
 bar:5  color:tan1 from:1943 till:2030 text:
 bar:6  color:tan1 from:1936 till:2030 text:Washburn (1936-present)
 bar:7  color:tan1 from:1937 till:1940 text:Cable (1937-1940, 1948-1969)
 bar:7  color:tan1 from:1948 till:1969 text:
 bar:8  color:tan1 from:1937 till:1964 text:Saxon (1937-1964)
 bar:9  color:tan1 from:1940 till:2030 text:Mellen (1940-present)
 bar:10  color:tan1 from:1968 till:2030 text:Solon Springs (1968-present)
 bar:11  color:tan1 from:1970 till:2007 text:Butternut (1970-2007)
 bar:11  color:tan1 from:2009 till:2030 text:(2009-present)
 bar:12  color:tan1 from:1970 till:2007 text:Glidden (1970-2007)
 bar:13  color:tan1 from:1970 till:2030 text:Mercer (1970-present)
 bar:14  color:tan1 from:1970 till:1980 text:Northwood (1970-1980)
 bar:15  color:tan1 from:1986 till:2030 text:Hurley (1986-present)
 bar:16  color:tan1 from:2007 till:2009 text:Butternut/Glidden (2007-2009)
 bar:17  color:tan1 from:2010 till:2022 text:Ironwood (2010-2022)
 bar:18  color:tan1 from:2013 till:2022 text:Gogebic (2013-2022)
 bar:19  color:tan1 from:2021 till:2030 text:Lac Courte Oreilles (2021-present)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1936

</timeline>

Membership map

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Lua error in Module:OSM_Location_map at line 456: bad argument #1 to 'abs' (number expected, got nil).

Sanctioned sports

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Baseball
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Boys Cross Country
Girls Cross Country
Boys Golf
Softball
Boys Track & Field
Girls Track & Field
Girls Volleyball
Bayfield X X X X X X X X
Butternut X[a] X X X X X X[a] X X X
Drummond X X X X X X X X X X
Hurley X X X X X X X X X X
Lac Courte Oreilles X X X
Mellen X X X X X X X X X X
Mercer X X X X X X X
Solon Springs X[b] X X X[b] X[b] X[b] X[b] X
South Shore X X X X X X X X X
Washburn X X X X X X X X X X

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Co-operative with Mercer
  2. ^ a b c d e Co-operative with [[Northwood High School (Minong, Wisconsin}|Northwood]]

List of state champions

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Fall sports

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Boys Cross Country
School Year Division
Drummond 1976 Class C
Drummond 1997 Division 3
Girls Volleyball
School Year Division
Bayfield 1977 Class C
Mercer 1988 Class C
Mercer 1992 Division 4
Washburn 2000 Division 3
Washburn 2021 Alternate Season

Winter sports

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None

Spring sports

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Softball
School Year Division
Bayfield 1981 Class C
Bayfield 1982 Class C

References

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