The Ozark Conference was a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

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 ...

represented by 11 schools in the southwest portion of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. As the name implies, all eleven schools are in the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

region of the state and all are among the biggest in the region (only West Plains and Hillcrest are not Class 5 in basketball). The conference offers championships for girls in

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, Cross Country,

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

Track & Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. In boys sports, the conference offers championships in

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, Basketball, Cross Country,

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, Golf, Soccer, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & Field, and Wrestling. The conference features All five of the public schools in Springfield and also the large central public schools in Rolla,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, and West Plains. Camdenton High School is the central school at the

Lake of the Ozarks Lake of the Ozarks is a reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Parts of three smaller tributaries to the Osage are included in the impoundment: the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek ...

while

Waynesville High School Waynesville High School is a public high school in Waynesville, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Wayne Local Schools district. The school colors are orange, black, and white. Athletics Waynesville's athletic program was a charter member ...

is the main high school for the military communities around the large

Fort Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood is a United States Army, U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri The Ozarks, Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of the city of St. Robert, Missouri, St. Robert. The post was created in De ...

army post, including Waynesville and St. Robert. The conference will disband after the 2023-24 school year with Hillcrest, Bolivar, and West Plains joining the Ozark Mountain Conference, Glendale, Kickapoo, Lebanon, and Waynesville joining the COC, Camdenton joining the CMAC, and Rolla, Parkview, and Central going independent.

List of member schools

{, class="wikitable" border="1" , - ! School ! Team Name ! Colors ! Town ! County ! Enrollment (2015-16 & 2016–17) ! Primary MSHSAA class* ! Football class , - , Bolivar High School* , Liberators , , Bolivar ,

Polk DNA polymerase kappa is a DNA polymerase that in humans is encoded by the ''POLK'' gene. It is involved in translesion synthesis DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell (biology), cell identifies and corrects damage to the ...

, 1000 , 4 , 4 , - , Camdenton High School , Lakers , , Camdenton , Camden , 1297 , 5 , 5 , - , Glendale High School , Falcons , , Springfield , Greene , 1561 , 5 , 5 , - , Hillcrest High School , Hornets , , Springfield , Greene , 1016 , 4 , 4 , - , Central High School** , Bulldogs , , Springfield , Greene , 1612 , 5 , 5 , - , Kickapoo High School , Chiefs , , Springfield , Greene , 1800 , 5 , 6 , - , Lebanon High School , Yellowjackets , ,

, Laclede , 1466 , 5 , 5 , - , Parkview High School , Vikings , , Springfield , Greene , 1347 , 5 , 5 , - , Rolla High School , Bulldogs , , Rolla , Phelps , 1273 , 5 , 5 , - ,

, Tigers , , Waynesville , Pulaski , 1627 , 5 , 6 , - , West Plains High School* , Zizzers , {{Color box, white, border=silver , West Plains ,

Howell Howell may refer to: Places In the United States * Howell, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Howell, Evansville, a neighborhood in Indiana * Howell, Michigan, a city in Livingston County * Howell County, Missouri * Howell, Missouri, a ...

, 1092 , 4 , 4 As of the 2017/18 School year Joplin HS has swapped conferences to the COC. Replacing Joplin is former OC member Central. Bolivar High School applied to join the OC after the COC Small Division dissolved–leaving Bolivar as an independent school. November 5, 2019, it was announced that Bolivar's football program would enter the Ozark Conference in 2020, replacing Central. Central will become an independent in football but remain in the OC in other sports. Bolivar will be a "football only" school in the OC and their other sports programs will remain independent. As of March 2020 Bolivar has been approved as a full member of the conference and will compete in all sports. As of the 2024-25 school year, the schools joined the Central Ozark Conference (Central, Glendale, Parkview, Kickapoo, Lebanon, & Waynesville), Ozark Mountain Conference (Hillcrest & West Plains), Central Missouri Athletic Conference (Camdenton), and Rolla remained independent. *As of 10/11/23 they are leaving the Ozark Conference to form new Ozark Mountain Conference. **Central High School (Springfield, Mo) plays football as an Independent as of 2020.

References

High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States Missouri high school athletic conferences