Midwest Prep Conference


The Midwest Prep Conference is a former high school athletic conference in competition from 1940 to 1983. Consisting entirely of private schools, most were located in Wisconsin and had membership in the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association.

History

1940–1952

The Midwest Prep Conference began play in 1940 as the Wisconsin Prep Conference with five private high schools in southeastern Wisconsin. Three were located in the Milwaukee area, one in Watertown and one in Beaver Dam. Northwestern Military & Naval Academy in Lake Geneva had a brief stint in the conference from 1945 to 1949, and their entry coincided with the addition of football as a sponsored sport. They were replaced by Racine Lutheran High School in 1950.

1952–1964

In 1952, the Wisconsin Prep Conference added two schools to bring the membership roster to eight. Both schools were located in Illinois. With the addition of Illinois-based schools to the loop came a new name: the Midwest Prep Conference. North Shore Country Day School's tenure in the conference would be brief, as they left in 1954. The next year, Lutheran High School in Milwaukee was split up by the two ecclesiastical organizations running the school. Milwaukee Lutheran High School was opened by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Lutheran High School was established by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, both in 1955.

1964-1970

The year 1964 saw numerous changes to Midwest Prep Conference membership with a net loss of two members. Milwaukee Country Day School and Milwaukee University School merged to form the University School of Milwaukee. The new school took over both MCDS’'s campus in Whitefish Bay and MUS's River Hills campus, along with both predecessor schools' conference membership. The Midwest Prep also lost Lake Forest Academy and Wayland Academy, becoming a Wisconsin-only conference in the process. The entry of Concordia College Prep in Milwaukee to the conference brought its membership roster to six members. St. John's Military Academy in Delafield applied for membership along with Concordia but was rejected because of scheduling issues. Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton joined the Midwest Prep Conference in 1965 accompanied with Wayland Academy's return to the circuit, bringing the total number of members back up to eight schools. In 1968, seven of the eight member schools of the Midwest Prep Conference joined the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association, an organization for interscholastic athletics composed entirely of parochial and private schools. Northwestern Prep was the only holdout, not joining WISAA until 1974.

1970–1983

In 1970, Martin Luther High School in Greendale joined the Midwest Prep Conference, replacing Concordia Prep, which had left the conference to compete as an independent before closing its doors the next year. Fox Valley Lutheran left the Midwest Prep Conference in 1971 to join the Fox Valley Christian Conference, looking to cut down on long travel distances. St. Mary's High School in Burlington, which had been left without conference affiliation when the Southeastern Badger Conference disbanded, replaced Fox Valley Lutheran. The last changes to conference membership occurred in 1974, when Milwaukee Lutheran joined the Metro Conference and Wisconsin Lutheran left for the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference. St. John's Military Academy in Delafield came over from the Classic Conference to replace the two exiting schools, ten years after its initial attempt to gain conference membership. The conference featured the same seven members for the remainder of its existence, with the exception of St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary joining as an associate member for football in 1981. In 1983 the Midwest Prep Conference joined with nine out of the eleven schools from the Classic Conference to form the Midwest Classic Conference.

Conference membership history

Final members

Previous members

Football-only members

Membership timeline

Full members


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bar:1 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1955 text:Lutheran High
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1964 text:Milwaukee Country Day
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1964 text:Milwaukee University
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1983 text:Northwestern Prep
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1964 text:Wayland Academy
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1965 till:1983 text:
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1945 till:1949 text:Northwestern Military & Naval Academy
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1950 till:1983 text:Racine Lutheran
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1964 text:Lake Forest Academy
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1954 text:North Shore Country Day
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1955 till:1974 text:Milwaukee Lutheran
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1955 till:1974 text:Wisconsin Lutheran
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1964 till:1970 text:Concordia Prep
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1964 till:1983 text:University School of Milwaukee
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1965 till:1971 text:Fox Valley Lutheran
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1983 text:Martin Luther
bar:16 color:tan1 from:1971 till:1983 text:St. Mary's
bar:17 color:tan1 from:1974 till:1983 text:St. John's Military Academy
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Football members


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bar:1 color:lavender from:1945 till:1955 text:Lutheran High
bar:2 color:lavender from:1945 till:1964 text:Milwaukee Country Day
bar:3 color:lavender from:1945 till:1964 text:Milwaukee University
bar:4 color:lavender from:1945 till:1949 text:Northwestern Military & Naval Academy
bar:5 color:lavender from:1945 till:1983 text:Northwestern Prep
bar:6 color:lavender from:1945 till:1964 text:Wayland Academy
bar:6 color:lavender from:1965 till:1979 text:
bar:6 color:lavender from:1980 till:1983 text:
bar:7 color:lavender from:1952 till:1964 text:Lake Forest Academy
bar:8 color:lavender from:1952 till:1954 text:North Shore Country Day
bar:9 color:lavender from:1953 till:1983 text:Racine Lutheran
bar:10 color:lavender from:1955 till:1974 text:Milwaukee Lutheran
bar:11 color:lavender from:1955 till:1974 text:Wisconsin Lutheran
bar:12 color:lavender from:1964 till:1970 text:Concordia Prep
bar:13 color:lavender from:1964 till:1983 text:University School of Milwaukee
bar:14 color:lavender from:1966 till:1971 text:Fox Valley Lutheran
bar:15 color:lavender from:1970 till:1983 text:Martin Luther
bar:16 color:lavender from:1971 till:1983 text:St. Mary's
bar:17 color:lavender from:1974 till:1983 text:St. John's Military Academy
bar:18 color:lavender from:1981 till:1983 text:St. Lawrence Seminary
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List of state champions

Fall sports

SchoolYearOrganizationDivision
St. Mary’s1976WISAAClass B
St. Mary’s1977WISAAClass B
St. Mary’s1978WISAAClass B
Northwestern Prep1980WISAAClass B
St. Mary’s1981WISAAClass B

SchoolYearOrganization
University School1975WISAA

SchoolYearOrganization
University School1976WISAA
University School1977WISAA
University School1978WISAA
University School1982WISAA

Winter sports

SchoolYearOrganizationDivision
Northwestern Prep1979WISAAClass B

Spring sports

SchoolYearOrganization
University School1969WISAA
University School1971WISAA
University School1972WISAA
University School1973WISAA
University School1974WISAA
University School1975WISAA
University School1976WISAA
University School1978WISAA
University School1979WISAA
University School1980WISAA

SchoolYearOrganizationDivision
Wayland Academy1969WISAAClass C
University School1970WISAAClass C
University School1971WISAAClass C
University School1972WISAAClass C
University School1975WISAAClass C
University School1976WISAAClass C
St. John’s Military Academy1977WISAAClass C
University School1978WISAAClass C
University School1979WISAAClass C
Racine Lutheran1980WISAAClass C
Racine Lutheran1981WISAAClass C
Racine Lutheran1982WISAAClass C
Wayland Academy1983WISAAClass C

SchoolYearOrganization
Wisconsin Lutheran1972WISAA
Wisconsin Lutheran1973WISAA