Lake Superior Conference


The Lake Superior Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership centered around the Twin Ports region at the mouth of the Saint Louis River in Lake Superior. It was founded in 1939 and its member schools belong to the Minnesota State High School League and Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1939-1974

The Lake Superior Conference was formed in 1939, and it was originally known as the Big Six Conference to reflect the number of its original member schools. At the time of the Big Six Conference's formation, all of its members also belonged to the Head of the Lakes Conference, which included Duluth Cathedral and three high schools across the Saint Louis River in Wisconsin. After a short hiatus from 1946 to 1948, the Big Six resumed competition and changed its name as the conference grew; becoming the Big Seven in 1951, the Big Eight in 1954, the Big Nine in 1958 and finally, the Big Ten in 1962. The Big Ten Conference maintained its member roster until 1974, when Duluth Cathedral joined the conference, and the conference changed its name to the Lake Superior Conference due to there being more than ten member schools.

1974-present

After the conference's name change, the Lake Superior Conference stayed at eleven schools until 1982, when Morgan Park closed its doors and merged into Denfeld. The school became known as Denfeld-Morgan Park for one school year before reverting to the original Denfeld name in 1983. The next year, the Lake Superior Conference accepted its first ever Wisconsin-based member in Superior High School. Membership in the Lake Superior Conference remained stable for sixteen years until in 1999, four schools left the conference; Silver Bay joined the Polar League and the other three schools became independents. Prior to the exit of these four schools, the members of the conference voted to disband following the 1999-2000 season, citing disparities in enrollment and competition levels. In 2000, the members of the Lake Superior Conference decided not to disband and two schools made their return: Duluth Central and Superior. Their entry into the Lake Superior Conference offset the loss of Cook County to independent status. In 2006, Two Harbors left to join the Polar League and were replaced by Ashland, who had just left the WIAA's Lumberjack Conference. In preparation for the closing of Duluth Central High School, the athletic programs at Central and Denfeld merged in 2010, initially competing under the Central banner before reverting to Denfield after the two schools merged in 2011. Ashland left the Lake Superior Conference to compete as an independent for the 2020-21 school year prior to joining the WIAA's Heart O'North Conference. They were replaced by Grand Rapids, who previously competed as an independent after leaving the Iron Range Conference in 2019. They were followed by Hibbing in 2021, who left the Iron Range in 2020 and brought the Lake Superior Conference to its current tally of eight member schools.

Football (1958-1977)

Football was sponsored for the first time with Silver Bay's entry into the Big Nine in 1958, and all nine schools participated with the conference's first season. Membership was split into two divisions: the four Duluth schools were placed in the City Division and the other five became the Seaway Division. Hermantown joined the Seaway Division for football when it entered the conference for all other sports in 1962. For the 1966 season, Cloquet was shifted over to join with the Duluth schools, and the City Division was renamed the Zenith Division. Duluth Cathedral joined the football roster in 1974, competing in the Zenith Division for the final four seasons of football sponsorship. The Lake Superior Conference discontinued sponsorship of football after the 1977 season as part of a larger realignment of football schools in the Iron Range. All six Zenith Division schools joined with Grand Rapids and Hibbing to form the Northern Lakes Conference, four schools in the Seaway Division partnered with five former Iron Range Conference schools in the new Sea-Range Conference, and Grand Marais became members of the Arrowhead Conference.

List of conference members

Current members

Former members

Membership timeline

Full members


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ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1939 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:120 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1939 till:2030 text:Cloquet
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1939 till:2010 text:Denfeld
bar:2 color:tan1 from:2011 till:2030 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1939 till:1999 text:Duluth Central
bar:3 color:tan1 from:2000 till:2011 text:
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1939 till:1982 text:Morgan Park
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1939 till:2030 text:Proctor
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1939 till:2006 text:Two Harbors
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1951 till:1999 text:Duluth East
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1954 till:1989 text:Grand Marais
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2000 text:Cook County
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1958 till:1999 text:Silver Bay
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1962 till:2030 text:Hermantown
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1974 till:2030 text:Duluth Cathedral, Marshall School
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1983 till:1999 text:Superior
bar:12 color:tan1 from:2000 till:2030 text:
bar:13 color:tan1 from:2006 till:2020 text:Ashland
bar:14 color:tan1 from:2020 till:2030 text:Grand Rapids
bar:15 color:tan1 from:2021 till:2030 text:Hibbing
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1939

Football members


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1958 till:1978
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:120 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1958 till:1965 text:Cloquet
bar:1 color:lightpurple from:1965 till:1978 text:
bar:2 color:lightpurple from:1958 till:1978 text:Denfeld
bar:3 color:lightpurple from:1958 till:1978 text:Duluth Central
bar:4 color:lightpurple from:1958 till:1978 text:Duluth East
bar:5 color:lavender from:1958 till:1978 text:Grand Marais
bar:6 color:lightpurple from:1958 till:1978 text:Morgan Park
bar:7 color:lavender from:1958 till:1978 text:Proctor
bar:8 color:lavender from:1958 till:1978 text:Silver Bay
bar:9 color:lavender from:1958 till:1978 text:Two Harbors
bar:10 color:lavender from:1962 till:1978 text:Hermantown
bar:11 color:lightpurple from:1974 till:1978 text:Duluth Cathedral
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1958

Membership map

List of state champions

Fall sports

SchoolYearOrganizationDivision
Hermantown1984MSHSLClass A
Hermantown1985MSHSLClass A
Duluth East1992MSHSLClass AA
Duluth East1993MSHSLClass AA
Duluth East1994MSHSLClass AA
Duluth East1995MSHSLClass AA
Duluth East1996MSHSLClass AA
Duluth East1997MSHSLClass AA
Duluth East1998MSHSLClass AA

SchoolYearOrganizationDivision
Hermantown1976MSHSLClass A

Winter sports

SchoolYearOrganization
Cloquet1977MSHSL
Duluth East1983MSHSL
Duluth East1994MSHSL
Duluth East1995MSHSL
Hermantown2012MSHSL

SchoolYearOrganizationDivision
Duluth East1960MSHSL
Superior1990WIAA
Superior1992WIAA
Superior1994WIAA
Duluth East1995MSHSLClass AA
Superior1995WIAA
Superior1996WIAA
Duluth East1998MSHSLClass AA
Superior2003WIAA
Superior2005WIAA
Hermantown2007MSHSLClass A
Superior2015WIAA
Hermantown2016MSHSLClass A
Hermantown2017MSHSLClass A
Hermantown2022MSHSLClass A

SchoolYearOrganization
Duluth Central1940MSHSL
Duluth Central1941MSHSL
Duluth Central1942MSHSL
Duluth Central1943MSHSL
Duluth Central1944MSHSL
Duluth Central1945MSHSL
Duluth Central1946MSHSL
Duluth Central1947MSHSL
Cloquet1948MSHSL
Duluth Central1949MSHSL
Duluth Central1950MSHSL
Cloquet1951MSHSL
Cloquet1952MSHSL
Duluth Central1953MSHSL
Duluth Central1954MSHSL
Cloquet1956MSHSL
Denfeld1957MSHSL
Duluth Central1958MSHSL
Cloquet1959MSHSL
Cloquet1960MSHSL
Duluth Central1961MSHSL
Duluth Central1962MSHSL
Cloquet1963MSHSL
Cloquet1966MSHSL
Duluth East1998MSHSL
Duluth East1999MSHSL