Northern Shores Conference
The Northern Shores Conference is an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association. It began play during the 2024–2025 school year. It is located in Northern Michigan and contains eight teams that encompasses seven counties: Antrim County, Charlevoix County, Cheboygan County, Crawford County, Emmet County, Grand Traverse County, and Kalkaska County.
History
The Northern Shores Conference was announced in April 2023, comprising six teams from the Lake Michigan Conference and one each from the Northwest and Straits Area Conference. The conference formed following the dissolution of the old Lake Michigan Conference, the schools in the conference had concerns with Traverse City St. Francis, and their domination in most of the sports offered, they had almost 50 more conference champions than the next closest school. East Jordan was the first school announced to leave; they were joining the smaller Ski-Valley Conference for all sports. Kingsley, who had previously been denied entry into the Lake Michigan Conference in 2017, and Cheboygan were invited by the remaining six LMC teams, sans St. Francis, to form the new conference.Administrators at the schools feel the new conference will have better competitive balance, as well as maintaining some of the rivalries that have formed over the years. The new conference however does not affect its members schools association with the Northern Michigan Football League, the new conference will not sponsor football, all member schools except Kalkaska are current members of the NMFL.
In October 2025, it was announced that the Northern Shores Conference would sponsor football starting in the 2026 season, with the exception of Harbor Springs, who will stay in the Northern Michigan Football League. The seven other schools will play a 7-game schedule with non-league games to open and close the season, and one team playing a non-league game each week from weeks two through eight.
Members
Membership timeline
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bar:1 color:darkblue from:2024 till:2027 text: Boyne City Ramblers
bar:2 color:claret from:2024 till:2027 text: Charlevoix Red Rayders
bar:3 color:orange from:2024 till:2027 text: Cheboygan Chiefs
bar:4 color:redorange from:2024 till:2027 text: Elk Rapids Elks
bar:5 color:orange from:2024 till:2026 text: Harbor Springs Rams
bar:5 color:black from:2026 till:2027 text: Non-Football
bar:6 color:green from:2024 till:2027 text: Grayling Vikings
bar:7 color:brightblue from:2024 till:2027 text: Kalkaska Blue Blazers
bar:8 color:lightorange from:2024 till:2027 text: Kingsley Stags
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text:"NSC League Membership History"
Sports
Boy's sponsored sports by school
Notes:° Boyne City - Co-ops with Charlevoix in Skiing; Co-ops with Petoskey, Petoskey St. Michael and Harbor Springs in Hockey and Lacrosse.
° Charlevoix - Co-ops with Boyne City in Skiing; Co-ops with Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey.
° Cheboygan - Co-ops with Indian River-Inland Lakes, Onaway, Pellston and St. Ignace in Ice Hockey
° Elk Rapids - Co-ops with Charlevoix, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey; Co-ops with Central Lake and Traverse City St. Francis in Skiing.
° Harbor Springs - Co-ops with Petoskey, Petoskey St. Michael and Boyne City in Hockey and Lacrosse; Co-ops with Harbor Light Christian and Petoskey St. Michael in Football.
° Kalkaska - Co-ops with Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey.
° Kingsley - Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey.
Girl's sponsored sports by school
Notes:° Elk Rapids - Co-ops with Central Lake and Traverse City St. Francis in Skiing.
° Harbor Springs - Co-ops with Petoskey St. Michael in Tennis,
Boys Soccer
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference Record | Conference championship | District championships | Regional championships |
| Elk Rapids | 25-1-0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Grayling | 21-5-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Harbor Springs | 20-6-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Charlevoix | 12-14-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boyne City | 9-16-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kingsley | 8-17-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kalkaska | 1-12-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cheboygan | 0-25-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
State Championship Appearances
Boys Cross Country
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference championships | Final appearances | State championships | Best finish |
| Charlevoix | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1st |
| Harbor Springs | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4th |
| Kingsley | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cheboygan | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kalkaska | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Elk Rapids | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Boyne City | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grayling | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Individual Champions
Final Appearances
State Champions
Girls Cross Country
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference championships | Final appearances | State championships | Best finish |
| Harbor Springs | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4th |
| Boyne City | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26th |
| Elk Rapids | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Charlevoix | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kingsley | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cheboygan | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kalkaska | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grayling | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Individual Champions
Final Appearances
Girls Golf
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference championships | Final appearances | State championships | Best finish |
| Harbor Springs | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8th |
| Elk Rapids | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3rd |
| Charlevoix | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10th |
| Kingsley | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cheboygan | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kalkaska | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Boyne City | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grayling | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Individual Champions
State Finals Appearances
Girls Volleyball
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference Record | Conference championship | District championships | Regional championships |
| Kingsley | 14-0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Elk Rapids | 11-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boyne City | 9-5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cheboygan | 9-5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlevoix | 4-10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kalkaska | 3-11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harbor Springs | 3-11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grayling | 3-11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wrestling
Conference champions
| Team | Conference championship | District championships | Regional championships |
| Charlevoix | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Grayling | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kingsley | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boyne City | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Cheboygan | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kalkaska | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Elk Rapids | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harbor Springs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Individual Champions
Girls Skiing
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference championships | Final appearances | State championships | Best finish |
| Harbor Springs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1st |
| Charlevoix | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Elk Rapids | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8th |
| Boyne City | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grayling | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Individual Champions
Boys Skiing
Conference Champions
| Team | Conference championships | Final appearances | State championships | Best finish |
| Elk Rapids | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3rd |
| Harbor Springs | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Charlevoix | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Boyne City | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grayling | 0 | 0 | 0 |