Northern Lakes Conference of Indiana

The Northern Lakes Conference within Indiana

An IHSAA-sanctioned conference located within Elkhart, Kosciusko, and Marshall Counties.

History

With schools across Northern Indiana reorganizing and consolidating in the 1960’s, the need to develop friendly interscholastic competition initiated early conversations concerning forming a new athletic conference. The organizational meeting for the formation of the Northern Lakes Conference was held on February 3, 1963. Charter members of the NLC were the high schools of Bremen, Manchester, Nappanee, Plymouth, Rochester and Warsaw. The conference began competition in 1964-65 in the sports of Boys’ Baseball, Football, Basketball and Track. In 1965, Boys’ Tennis and Golf were added; in 1966 Cross-Country; and Wrestling became a conference sport in 1968. The conference was “intended to provide good, clean competition and fellowship for the boys, the coaches, and the school bodies of the Northern Lakes region.”

The late 60’s saw new memberships in the NLC with Concord High School joining in 1967 and Wawasee High School in 1968. By 1970, all school participated in all eight boys’ sports. Nappanee became NorthWood High School in 1969.

The decade of the 1970’s saw girls’ sports come of age in the NLC. Conference competition began in 1976-77 in Basketball, Tennis, Track and Volleyball. In 1980 Swimming was added; 1986 Cross-Country; 1987 Softball; 1994 Golf; and 1997 Soccer.

Additional sports added to NLC Boys’ competition included Swimming in 1980 and Soccer in 1994.

Membership in the Northern Lakes Conference has fluctuated between six and eight schools throughout conference history. In 1976, Manchester changed conferences. 1987 and 1989, Rochester and Bremen withdrew memberships to begin competition with school of lesser size and less travel than those of the NLC membership. Additions to the Northern Lakes Conference were Goshen in 1976, and Northridge in 1987. Elkhart Memorial begins competition in winter sports in 2000 and all other sports in 2001-02.

Today, the Northern Lakes Conference is recognized as one of the athletic conferences in the state of Indiana. Competitions at the state level include NLC student athletes in most every sport.^{[clarification needed]} Leading the state by example, the NLC initiated offering a formal coaching education course in 1991. Today, NLC principals and athletic directors are regularly seated in governing bodies for athletic administration at the state level.^{[citation needed]}

Membership

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Size	IHSAA Class	County	Year Joined
Concord	Elkhart, IN	Minutemen		1,473	AAAA	20 Elkhart	1967
Elkhart Memorial	Elkhart, IN	Crimson Chargers		2,000	AAAA	20 Elkhart	2001
Goshen	Goshen, IN	Redskins		1,740	AAAAA	20 Elkhart	1976
Northridge	Middlebury, IN	Raiders		1,282	AAAA	20 Elkhart	1987
NorthWood	Nappanee, IN	Panthers		919	AAA	20 Elkhart	1969
Plymouth	Plymouth, IN	Rockies / Pilgrims		1,100	AAAA	50 Marshall	1963
Warsaw Community	Warsaw, IN	Tigers		2,100	AAAA	43 Kosciusko	1963
Wawasee	Syracuse, IN	Warriors		1,031	AAAA	43 Kosciusko	1968

Former Members

School	Mascot	Location	Years In Conference	Reason for Leaving
Bremen	Lions	Bremen, IN	1963 - 1989	Left to join Northern State Conference
Manchester	Spartans	North Manchester, IN	1963 - 1976	Left to Join Three Rivers Conference
Nappanee	Bulldogs	Nappanee, IN	1963 - 1968	Merged with Wakarusa High School to form NorthWood High School
Rochester	Zebras	Rochester, IN	1963 - 1987	Left to Join Three Rivers Conference

Resources

• NLC Website
• IHSAA Conferences
• IHSAA Directory