The Great Northern Conference is a high school
athletic conference
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
based in north central
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. Founded in 2008, the conference and its member schools belong to the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...
.
History
The Great Northern Conference was formed in 2008 by seven medium-sized high schools in north central Wisconsin. Four of its original members (
Lakeland Union,
Medford,
Northland Pines and
Tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Native Americans in the United States, Indian peoples and nations of North America, traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft.
Etymology
The name comes from Powhatan langu ...
) were previously members of the
Lumberjack Conference, which had disbanded the year prior.
Two schools joined from the
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 Wisconsi ...
(
Antigo and
Merrill Merrill may refer to:
Places in the United States
*Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska
*Merrill, Iowa
*Merrill, Maine
*Merrill, Michigan
*Merrill, Mississippi, an unincorporated community near Lucedale in George County
*Merrill, Oregon
*Merrill, Wisc ...
)
and
Mosinee moved over from the
Cloverbelt Conference.
For Antigo and Merrill, this move grouped them with schools more in line with their enrollment size instead of being two of the smallest schools in their former conference.
Two years after the Great Northern Conference was formed, Merrill swapped affiliations with Wisconsin Valley Conference member
Rhinelander.
They rejoined in 2025 from the Wisconsin Valley Conference, bringing the Great Northern Conference's membership group to eight schools.
List of member schools
Current members
Current associate members
Associate cooperative members
* Colby coops with Abbotsford, and Ladysmith, Bruce and Flambeau co-op for Girls Swimming.
* Mosinee, Wausau West, DC Everest, and Wausau East form the Central Wisconsin Storm in Girls Hockey.
* Rhinelander, Antigo Northland Pines co-op for Girls Hockey.
* Beginning in 2015 Wittenberg-Birnamwood will compete in the
Bay Conference
The Bay Conference is a high school athletics conference made up of eight teams in northeastern Wisconsin, centering primarily around the Green Bay and Fox Valley metropolitan areas. The conference and its member schools are members of the Wisc ...
for Girls Swimming.
Former associate members
Membership timeline
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2008 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
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id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2030 text:Antigo (2008-present)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2030 text:Lakeland Union (2008-present)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2030 text:Medford (2008-present)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2010 text:Merrill (2008-2010)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:2025 till:2030 text:(2025-present)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2030 text:Mosinee (2008-present)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2030 text:Northland Pines (2008-present)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:2008 till:2030 text:Tomahawk (2008-present)
bar:8 color:tan1 from:2010 till:2030 text:Rhinelander (2010-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2008
Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2008 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:2008 till:2030 text:Antigo (2008-present)
bar:2 color:lavender from:2008 till:2030 text:Lakeland Union (2008-present)
bar:3 color:lavender from:2008 till:2030 text:Medford (2008-present)
bar:4 color:lavender from:2008 till:2010 text:Merrill (2008-2009)
bar:4 color:lavender from:2011 till:2030 text:(2011-present)
bar:5 color:lavender from:2008 till:2030 text:Mosinee (2008-present)
bar:6 color:lavender from:2008 till:2010 text:Tomahawk (2008-2009)
bar:6 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:(2024-present)
bar:7 color:lavender from:2010 till:2030 text:Rhinelander (2010-present)
bar:8 color:lavender from:2011 till:2024 text:Ashland (2011-2023)
bar:9 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Hayward (2020-2023)
bar:10 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Wausau East (2024-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2008
Membership map
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
List of conference champions
Source:
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
References
External links
Great Northern Conference (official website)
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
Sports organizations established in 2008
2008 establishments in Wisconsin