Mississippi Valley Conference (Wisconsin, 1989–present)
The Mississippi Valley Conference is a high school athletic conference in southwest Wisconsin. Founded in 1989, the conference and its member schools belong to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and are located in the La Crosse-Onalaska-Sparta combined statistical area.
History
The Mississippi Valley Conference was formed in 1989 to accommodate for the growing attendance in schools in traditional rural-based conferences and shorten travel distances for its members. Holmen and Onalaska joined from the Coulee Conference, Sparta and Tomah from the South Central Conference, and La Crosse Central High School and Logan High School from the Big Rivers Conference. Shortly after, in 1997, Aquinas High School joined from the Central Wisconsin Catholic Conference of the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association, a private school athletic league, to become the conference's seventh member. It is the second high school athletic conference in Wisconsin to carry this name, the previous incarnation was based in west central Wisconsin and was in existence from 1933 to 1965.In 2014, West Salem began competition in the Mississippi Valley Conference for football only, remaining in the Coulee Conference for all other sports. Aquinas left the MVC's football roster in 2019 when they joined the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League as associate members for that sport. The next year, a comprehensive realignment of Wisconsin high school football conferences was implemented by the WIAA with input from the Football Coaches Association to run on a two-year cycle. All six of the MVC's public high schools remained in the conference with associate members River Falls and West Salem filling out the ranks. River Falls and West Salem returned to their respective conferences for the 2022-2023 realignment cycle with two schools from the Badger Conference replacing them. This alignment will stay in effect through at least the 2026-2027 competition cycle.
Sports sponsored
The MVC sponsors 19 varsity sports. They are:Fall: Football, boys' soccer, girls' tennis, volleyball, boys' cross country, girls' cross country and girls' golfWinter: Boys' basketball, girls' basketball, gymnastics, wrestling boys' hockey.Spring: Boys' track, girls' track, boys' golf, boys' tennis, girls' soccer, baseball and softball.Membership timeline
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1989 till:2030
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width:14 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Holmen
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:La Crosse Central
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:La Crosse Logan
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Onalaska
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Sparta
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Tomah
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1997 till:2030 text:Aquinas
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1989
Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1989 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1989 till:2030 text:Holmen
bar:2 color:lavender from:1989 till:2030 text:La Crosse Central
bar:3 color:lavender from:1989 till:2030 text:La Crosse Logan
bar:4 color:lavender from:1989 till:2030 text:Onalaska
bar:5 color:lavender from:1989 till:2030 text:Sparta
bar:6 color:lavender from:1989 till:2030 text:Tomah
bar:7 color:lavender from:1997 till:2019 text:Aquinas
bar:8 color:lavender from:2014 till:2022 text:West Salem
bar:9 color:lavender from:2020 till:2022 text:River Falls
bar:10 color:lavender from:2022 till:2030 text:Baraboo
bar:11 color:lavender from:2022 till:2030 text:Reedsburg
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1989
List of state champions
Fall sports
| School | Year | Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1989 | Division 1 |
| La Crosse Central | 1990 | Division 1 |
| School | Year | Division |
| Onalaska | 1989 | Single Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1990 | Single Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1991 | Single Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1992 | Single Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1993 | Single Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1998 | Single Division |
| Aquinas | 2017 | Division 2 |
Winter sports
| School | Year | Division |
| Holmen | 1995 | Division 2 |
| Aquinas | 2018 | Division 4 |
| Aquinas | 2019 | Division 4 |
| School | Year | Division |
| Aquinas | 1999 | WISAA |
Spring sports
| School | Year | Division |
| Aquinas | 2015 | Division 4 |
| School | Year | Division |
| Aquinas | 2011 | Division 2 |
| Aquinas | 2019 | Division 3 |
| Aquinas | 2021 | Division 3 |
Rivalries
The Mississippi Valley Conference has a number of intense rivalries, both based on proximity, and performance.City
Central Vs. Logan - The two La Crosse public schools' intense rivalry is well publicized by local media and is highlighted by football's Battle for the Ark of Victory.Central Vs. Aquinas - A heated battle for city supremacy and the overall city championship.Logan Vs. Aquinas - A heated battle for city supremacy and the overall city championship.Other main rivalries
Holmen Vs. Onalaska - Proximity spices up this rivalry, as the two school districts overlap city boundaries. Both schools also came over from the Coulee Conference together.Tomah Vs. Sparta - Both came over from the South Central Conference and are separated by 17 miles of Interstate 90. The closest conference foe for both teams.Reedsburg Vs. Baraboo - Both moved to the MVC as affiliated members and have one of the longest rivalries in the state.In addition to these main rivalries, many other rivalries have developed based on different sports and success. In the early 2000s, Holmen and Aquinas had fierce competitions in Boys' Basketball in which tickets were sold out days after going on sale. Additionally, in the early 1990s, Onalaska Vs. Central was a heated matchup in Boys' Basketball. That rivalry was rekindled in the 2010s as both teams regularly competed for state bids. In wrestling, Holmen Vs. Sparta and Holmen Vs. Tomah have come and gone. In Boys' Ice Hockey, Onalaska and Aquinas/Holmen/G-E-T/C-FC hold a battle for the Omni Center rivalry, as both teams play in the same venue.
Many non-conference rivalries are also in the MVC. Onalaska Vs. West Salem, Logan and Central Vs. Eau Claire Memorial and North, Tomah Vs. Black River Falls, and Holmen Vs. G-E-T are all annual football games. Aquinas maintains matchups with old conference members from their WISAA days.