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