Wisconsin Valley Conference


The Wisconsin Valley Conference is a high school athletic conference composed of the largest public schools in north central Wisconsin. Founded in 1920, it is one of Wisconsin's oldest athletic conferences, and all members belong to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1921-1946

The Wisconsin Valley Conference was founded in 1920 by seven medium- to large-enrollment high schools in north central Wisconsin: Antigo, Marshfield, Merrill, Rhinelander, Stevens Point, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln. After sponsoring a full football schedule for the first two seasons, basketball played their first full schedule for the 1921-1922 school year. The early years of the Wisconsin Valley Cofnerence saw many smaller schools join for short periods of time, especially for basketball. In 1922, Edgar, Medford and Nekoosa joined and Tomahawk joined the conference for that sport, with Tomahawk also joining the conference's football roster. Edgar left the following year, and in 1924, Shawano and Wautoma joined the WVC. Shawano also became members in football, along with basketball members Medford, for the 1924 season. Nekoosa became the WVC's eleventh football playing member when it joined the group for the 1925 season. In 1926, Shawano and Wautoma left the Wisconsin Valley Conference, and after Medford's exit in 1928, membership stayed stable at nine schools for just over two decades.

1946-1956

Over time, tensions grew between the larger and smaller schools in the conference, with the smaller schools seeking other options outside the WVC. Tomahawk was the first of these schools to take action: first becoming charter members of the football-only Lumberjack Conference in 1946, then joining as full members in 1954 after the league began to sponsor other sports the year prior. Nekoosa followed Tomahawk out of the WVC, joining the Lumberjack for football in 1948, then becoming full members of the newly reformed South Central Conference in 1952. After the loss of Tomahawk as full members in 1954, the Wisconsin Valley Conference faced an even greater challenge the next year. Citing competitive imbalance in football, the four smallest schools in the conference left the Wisconsin Valley to start a new conference called the Northern Wisconsin Conference. These four schools continued to schedule WVC members Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids as non-conference opponents, but not Wausau, who had been the dominant force in football for decades. Wausau claimed one last Wisconsin Valley Conference title for football before they joined the new Big Rivers Conference and the four schools who left the WVC rejoined in 1956.

1956-2008

The revamped Wisconsin Valley Conference began play in 1956 with six schools. A seventh school was added to the Wisconsin Valley in 1957 when former Lumberjack Conference members D.C. Everest High School in Schofield joined the conference. In 1970, Shawano became the eighth school to join the conference after leaving the disbanded Mid-Eastern Conference. Wausau East was invited to rejoin the Wisconsin Valley Conference from the Big Rivers in 1973, along with newcomer Wausau West to bring conference membership to ten schools. Shawano left the Wisconsin Valley Conference to join the Bay Conference in 1979, and the membership group would remain at nine schools for nearly thirty years.

2008-present

In 2008, two of the smaller schools in the conference left to become member of the new Great Northern Conference: Antigo and Merrill. Rhinelander left to compete as an independent in football for the 2009 season before leaving to join the Great Northern Conference as full members in 2010. Merrill, who left the WVC two years earlier to become GNC members, rejoined the WVC for all sports but football as Rhinelander's replacement. After two seasons of difficulties scheduling non-conference opponents, the six football-playing members of the Wisconsin Valley Conference joined forces with the ten-member Fox Valley Association to form the Valley Football Association, which began play in 2011. This arrangement lasted until the WIAA's 2024-2025 competition cycle, when the WVC was reinstated for football and entered into a scheduling partnership with the similarly sized Big Rivers Conference. Five full members of the conference were joined by Big Rivers members Eau Claire Memorial and Eau Claire North in a seven-member roster. This arrangement is set to remain in place through at least the 2026-2027 football competition cycle. In 2025, Merrill returned to the Great Northern Conference after fifteen years of Wisconsin Valley membership, leaving the conference with six full member schools.

List of member schools

Current full members

Current associate members

Current co-operative members

Former full members

Membership timeline

Full members


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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1921 till:1955 text:Antigo
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1956 till:2008 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1921 till:1955 text:Marshfield
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1956 till:2030 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1921 till:1955 text:Merrill
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1956 till:2008 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:2010 till:2025 text:
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1921 till:1955 text:Rhinelander
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1956 till:2010 text:
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1921 till:2030 text:Stevens Point
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1921 till:1956 text:Wausau
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1973 till:2030 text:Wausau East
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1921 till:2030 text:Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1922 till:1923 text:Edgar
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1922 till:1928 text:Medford
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1922 till:1950 text:Nekoosa
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1922 till:1955 text:Tomahawk
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1924 till:1926 text:Shawano
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1979 text:
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1924 till:1926 text:Wautoma
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1957 till:2030 text:D.C. Everest
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1973 till:2030 text:Wausau West

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1921

Football members


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1920 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
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id:line value:black
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1920 till:1955 text:Antigo
bar:1 color:lavender from:1956 till:2008 text:
bar:2 color:lavender from:1920 till:1955 text:Marshfield
bar:2 color:lavender from:1956 till:2011 text:
bar:2 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:3 color:lavender from:1920 till:1955 text:Merrill
bar:3 color:lavender from:1956 till:2008 text:
bar:4 color:lavender from:1920 till:1955 text:Rhinelander
bar:4 color:lavender from:1956 till:2009 text:
bar:5 color:lavender from:1920 till:2011 text:Stevens Point
bar:5 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:6 color:lavender from:1920 till:1956 text:Wausau
bar:6 color:lavender from:1973 till:2011 text:Wausau East
bar:7 color:lavender from:1920 till:2011 text:Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln
bar:7 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:8 color:lavender from:1922 till:1946 text:Tomahawk
bar:9 color:lavender from:1924 till:1929 text:Medford
bar:10 color:lavender from:1924 till:1927 text:Shawano
bar:10 color:lavender from:1970 till:1979 text:
bar:11 color:lavender from:1925 till:1948 text:Nekoosa
bar:14 color:lavender from:1957 till:2011 text:D.C. Everest
bar:14 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:15 color:lavender from:1973 till:2011 text:Wausau West
bar:15 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:16 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Eau Claire Memorial
bar:17 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Eau Claire North

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1920

Membership map

Sanctioned sports

List of state champions

Fall sports

SchoolYearDivision
Stevens Point1987Class A
Stevens Point2002Division 1
Stevens Point2003Division 1
Wausau East2009Division 1
Wausau East2010Division 1

SchoolYearDivision
Wisconsin Rapids2000Single Division

SchoolYearDivision
Shawano1973Single Division
Merrill1981Class A

Winter sports

SchoolYearDivision
Stevens Point1980Class A
D.C. Everest1986Class A

SchoolYearDivision
Antigo1993Single Division
Stevens Point2002Single Division
Wausau West2011Single Division

SchoolYearDivision
Rhinelander1963Single Division
Rhinelander1965Single Division
Rhinelander1967Single Division