Lake Michigan Conference (Michigan)
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The Lake Michigan Conference was an interscholastic
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 ...
affiliated with the
Michigan High School Athletic Association The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is a service organization for high school sports in Michigan and is headquartered in East Lansing, Michigan, East Lansing. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Assoc ...
. It was located in Northern Michigan and contained eight teams that encompasses six counties: Antrim County, Charlevoix County,
Crawford County Crawford County is the name of eleven counties in the United States: * Crawford County, Arkansas * Crawford County, Georgia * Crawford County, Illinois * Crawford County, Indiana * Crawford County, Iowa * Crawford County, Kansas * Crawford County, ...
,
Emmet County Emmet County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Emmet County, Iowa *Emmet County, Michigan Emmet County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...
,
Grand Traverse County Grand Traverse County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,238, making it the largest county in Northern Michigan. Its county seat is Traverse City. The county is part of the Trav ...
, and
Kalkaska County Kalkaska County ( ) is located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, its population was 17,939. The county seat is Kalkaska. Kalkaska County is part of the Traverse City metropolitan area. Although it is located on Michigan's ...
.


History

The Lake Michigan Conference traces it origins to the Great Northern Conference, which began play in 1990. The conference was split into four divisions, by geography and school size. The Lake Michigan Division consisted of Class C schools; East Jordan, Boyne City, Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Mancelona, Traverse City St. Francis and Harbor Springs. Kalkaska played in the Lake Huron Division for football only with: Lincoln-Alcona, Grayling, Whittemore-Prescott, Onaway and Rogers City. In 1993, Mancelona dropped to the smaller Ski-Valley for all sports. The Great Northern Conference dissolved in 1997, with most of the divisions retaining all their league memberships. The Lake Michigan Division, re-branded as the Lake Michigan Conference, with Kalkaska joining for football. The membership stayed the same until 2003, when Grayling, a former Lake Huron Division Rival of Kalkaska, left the Northeast Michigan Conference. This gave the conference the 8 teams that it has today. In 2010, conference athletic directors voted to eliminate St. Francis from participating in football effective in 2012. Elk Rapids and Grayling agreed to continue their series, while St. Francis will play two other LMC teams on a three-year rotation. The LMC also extended an invitation to St. Ignace High School to join. On January 14, 2011, it was announced that St. Ignace would join the Ski-Valley Conference. Following the 2013 season the LMC and the neighboring
Northwest Conference The Northwest Conference (NWC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member teams are located in the states of Oregon and Washington. It was known as the Pacific Northwest Conference from 1926 t ...
merged for football only, creating the Northern Michigan Football League. The league was split into two divisions based on enrollment and competitiveness. The Leader division consisted of the larger and more accomplished programs including, St. Francis, Maple City-Glen Lake, Elk Rapids, Boyne City, Kingsley, Benzie Central and Grayling. The Legacy Division consisted of Frankfort, Charlevoix, Kalkaska, East Jordan, Suttons Bay and Harbor Springs. Mesick, an original member of the Northwest Conference, opted against joining the NMFL and instead joined the five schools of the Mid-State North Conference, creating the Northwestern Six Football League. In 2023, amidst discussion of removing St. Francis from the conference for competitive balancing purposes, or Kalkaska possibly leaving the conference, East Jordan announced it would be joining the Ski-Valley Conference, citing its low enrollment being better suited amongst the smaller schools of the Ski-Valley. In April 2023 the
Northern Shores Conference The Northern Shores Conference (NSC) 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 eigh ...
was announced, with Boyne City, Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Grayling, Harbor Springs, and Kalkaska leaving the Lake Michigan Conference to form this new league with Cheboygan from the Straits Area Conference and Kingsley from the Northwest Conference.


Members

Full member institutions include: Departing Members are highlighted in pink.


Former members


Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1990 till:2025 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:s bar:1 color:yellow from:1990 till:1997 text: Lake Michigan Division bar:1 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: Boyne City Ramblers (1997-present) bar:2 color:yellow from:1990 till:1997 text: Lake Michigan Division bar:2 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: Charlevoix Red Rayders (1997-present) bar:3 color:yellow from:1990 till:1997 text: Lake Michigan Division bar:3 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: East Jordan Red Devils (1997-present) bar:4 color:yellow from:1990 till:1997 text: Lake Michigan Division bar:4 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: Elk Rapids Elks (1997-present) bar:5 color:yellow from:1990 till:1997 text: Lake Michigan Division bar:5 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: Harbor Springs Rams (1997-present) bar:6 color:red from:1990 till:1997 text: Non-Football bar:6 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: Kalkaska Blue Blazers (1997-present) bar:7 color:yellow from:1990 till:1997 text: Lake Michigan Division bar:7 color:powderblue from:1997 till:2024 text: TC St. Francis Gladiators (1997-present) bar:7 color:red from:2012 till:2014 text: Non-Football bar:8 color:powderblue from:2003 till:2024 text: Grayling Vikings (2003-present) bar:9 color:yellow from:1990 till:1993 text: Mancelona ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1990 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(175,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"LMC League Membership History" Lake Michigan stopped sponsoring football in 2014.


Football

Conference champions *State champion


Teams in the final regular-season rankings


Conference records


State championship results

Results by team


All-time playoff appearances

Traverse City St. Francis:(36) 1983, 85-87, 1990-2011, 2013-23 Boyne City:(22) 1993–94, 96, 2001–09, 2012-17, 2020-23 Grayling:(17) 1990, 92, 2003–05, 2007, 2009-13, 2015-17, 2020-22 Charlevoix:(13) 1992, 2000, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2014,16, 2019-23 Elk Rapids:(10) 2006–10, 2013-14, 2017-18, 2020, 2022 East Jordan:(9) 1993–94, 1999-2000, 2003, 2020-23 Harbor Springs: (8) 1986, 1999-2000, 2015-16, 2018-20 Kalkaska:(5) 2002, 2012-13, 2016, 2020


Girls volleyball

Conference champions


State championship appearances


Boys cross country

Conference champions


State-final finishes


Individual state champions


Girls cross country

Conference champions


State-final finishes


Individual state champion


Boys soccer

Conference champions * St. Francis has a Co-Op program with Traverse City Christian, who is the host program, and Grand Traverse Academy.


State championship appearances


Girls golf

Conference champions


State-final finishes


Individual state champion


Boys tennis

Conference champions


Individual state champion


Girls tennis

Conference champions


Individual state champions


Boys basketball

Conference champions Conference Records Through 2023-24


State championship appearances


Girls basketball

Conference champions Conference Records 1997–98 to 2023-2024


State championship appearances


Wrestling

Conference champions


Individual state champions


Boys skiing

Conference champions *St. Francis and Elk Rapids were a co-op for their 2014,2016 & 2017 championships. Great North Alpine was a co-op between St. Francis, Elk Rapids, Central Lake and Grand Traverse Academy.


Girls skiing

Conference champions


Baseball

Conference champions


State Finals Appearances


Softball

Conference champions


State Finals Appearances


Boys track

Conference champions Individual state champions


Girls track

Conference champions Individual state champions Bold= MHSAA girls track & field final meet records


Boys golf

Conference champions State Final Finishes 1997- none 1998- none 1999- none 2000- Charlevoix 3rd D3, St. Francis 8th D4, Harbor Springs 9th D4 2001- Elk Rapids 12th D3, Harbor Springs 2nd D4, St. Francis 3rd D4 2002- Charlexoix 15th D3, Harbor Springs 3rd D4, St. Francis 4th D4 2003- Grayling 3rd D3, Charlevoix 15th D3, St. Francis 3rd* D4, Harbor Springs 12th D4 2004- Grayling 2nd D3, St. Francis 1st D4 2005- St. Francis 2nd D4 2006- Elk Rapids 15th D3, St. Francis 2nd D4, Harbor Springs 4th D4 2007- none 2008- St. Francis 1st D4, Harbor Springs 10th D4 2009- Charlevoix 12th D3, St. Francis 3rd D4, Habor Springs 6th D4 2010- Charlevoix 8th D3 2011- Charlevoix 7th D3, St. Francis 11th D4 2012- none 2013- Charlevoix 13th D3, Harbor Springs 12th D4 2014- Kalkaska 3rd D3, Charlevoix 2nd D4, St. Francis 6th D4 2015- St. Francis 11th D4 2016- Harbor Springs 8th D4 2017- Charlevoix 8th D3, Harbor Springs 9th D4 2018- Charlevoix 10th D3, Elk Rapids 13th D3 2019- Elk Rapids 6th D3 2021- Elk Rapids 9th D3, Boyne City 10th D3, Charlevoix 4th D4, Harbor Springs 15th D4 2022- St. Francis 4th D3, Boyne City 12th D3, Charlevoix 5th D4 2023- St. Francis 14th D3, Charlevoix 4th D4 * St. Francis was in a three-way tie for 1st place. Due to tiebreakers they finished 3rd. Individual Champion


Girls soccer

Conference champions * St. Francis was the host of a Co-Op program with Traverse City Christian and Grand Traverse Academy until the 2024 school year. State championship Appearances


State champions by school

Boyne City: boys track and field, 1957, 1958; girls skiing, 2007 (3) Charlevoix: boys cross country 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 (7) East Jordan: boys tennis 1955; boys cross country, 1998, 2000 (3) Elk Rapids: boys soccer, 1997–98; girls skiing, 2016; boys skiing, 2019 (4) Grayling: boys basketball, 1917 (1) Harbor Springs: boys basketball, 1929; boys cross country, 2002, 2003, 2004; girls cross country, 2008, 2009; boys skiing, 1996, 2003, 2005–06,2010; girls skiing, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,2012; girls track 2015; girls golf 2017,2018 (22) Kalkaska: Boys Basketball, 1916 (1) Traverse City St. Francis: baseball, 1990; boys bowling, 2004; girls cross country, 2003,2015,2016,2022; football, 1992, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009; boys golf, 2004, 2008; girls skiing, 2005, 2016; boys skiing, 2019; girls track and field 2013, boys tennis 2021 (19)


Athletes who participated In NCAA Division I athletics


Other notable athletes

Robert Boss, Charlevoix - former American football coach and player.
Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi (born February 15, 1995) is an American football wide receiver and kick returner for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football at Phoenix College. Early life After growing up ...
, St. Francis — professional football player with the
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...
Angus MacLellan, St. Francis — professional rugby player with the
United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States in men's international rugby union competitions. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, a ...


References

{{Reflist


External links


Boyne City Public SchoolsCharlevoix Public SchoolsEast Jordan Public SchoolsElk Rapids Public SchoolsGrayling Public SchoolsHarbor Springs Public SchoolsKalkaska Public SchoolsGrand Traverse Catholic Schools
Michigan high school sports conferences High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States Northern Michigan