Bay Conference

Bay Conference (Bay)
Established	1970
Association	WIAA
Members	8
Headquarters	Suamico, Wisconsin
Commissioner	Garry Sievert
Website	http://www.bayconference.org/

The Bay Conference, is a high school athletic conference made up of eight teams in northeastern Wisconsin, centering primarily around the Green Bay / Fox Valley Metropolitan Areas. Conference schools are members of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Conference history

1970-2007

The Bay Conference was established in 1970 by charter members: Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, Clintonville, De Pere, Marinette, Oconto, Oconto Falls, Pulaski, Seymour, and West De Pere. 1979 brought the addition of former East Central Conference member New London and former Wisconsin Valley Conference member Shawano, In exchange for departing Oconto and Oconto Falls. In 1999, Clintonville left the Bay Conference to join the newly formed Valley 8 Conference. Of the ten original members, only Marinette, Seymour, and West De Pere have remained in the conference since its inception. Marinette will leave the Bay in 2015 and join the Eastern Valley Conference

2007-2015

The 2007 WIAA realignment brought major changes to the Bay Conference. Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, De Pere, and Pulaski transferred to the Fox River Classic Conference, where they joined the larger Green Bay, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan area high schools. Hortonville and Oconto Falls transferred from the now defunct Valley 8 Conference, and Denmark and Luxemburg-Casco transferred from the Packerland Conference. Each of these schools had increasing enrollments and had outgrown their previous conferences.

In late 2008, Hortonville High School petitioned the WIAA to move the growing school into the Fox Valley Association in exchange for Menasha High School whose declining enrollment prompted them to look at other alternatives. Hortonville cited travel times and costs as well as the imbalance that existed in the Bay Conference as reasons to leave. Hortonville's enrollment was nearly twice as large as the Bay Conference's smallest school and 200 students more than the second largest school. The issue came to a vote at a Menasha School Board meeting, which resulted in Menasha's decision to remain in the FVA.^[1] In September 2011 at an WIAA area meeting held in Appleton, Green Bay West requested to leave the FRCC to join the Bay Conference, and Green Bay East asked to go if needed.^[2][3] West & East both cited they have not been able to compete in the FRCC. In a September 2012 WIAA area meeting, New London asked to leave the Bay Conference to move to the Eastern Valley Conference, and Denmark has requested to leave. Green Bay East and West are still seeking to move.^[4] At a WIAA Board of Control Meeting in September the board gave first approval to swap Hortonville with FVA member Menasha effective the 2014-15 School year, a final vote was taken after the 40-day appeal window and passed.^[5] In December 2013 the WIAA Board of Control gave first approval for the departure of Denmark, Luxemburg-Casco, Marinette & Oconto Falls to the Eastern Valley in Return for FRCC's Green Bay East & West and EVC Xavier. Waupaca would be in the Bay for Football Only. A Final vote was taken after the 40-day appeal window & successfully passed for implementation for the 2015-2016 school year along with several other are conference realignments.^[6]

Membership

Current members

Cooperative teams and affiliates

In 1982, the WIAA approved cooperative teams, allowing two or more schools to combine to form a team in a sport where neither school had enough athletes to participate in the sport on its own. Several Bay Conference members have cooperative arrangements, primarily in ice hockey.

• Menasha participates in a combined boys' ice hockey team with Neenah High School. The team competes in the Badgerland Hockey Conference.
• Shawano fields a coed hockey team in conjunction with Bonduel and Clintonville High Schools.
• Seymour and West De Pere participate in a combined girls' ice hockey team with Green Bay East, Green Bay Preble, Green Bay Southwest, Green Bay West, Ashwaubenon, Bayport, De Pere, and Notre Dame High Schools.
• West De Pere participates in a combined boys' ice hockey team with De Pere High School. The team competes in the Badgerland Hockey Conference.
• Seymour participates in a combined boys' ice hockey team with Ashwaubenon High School and Wrightstown High School.
• The Clintonville Truckers and Sturgeon Bay Clippers compete in the Bay Conference in girls' swimming only, as their respective conferences do not carry the sport. Sturgeon Bay fields a girls' swimming team in conjunction with Sevastopol High School. The Shawano girls' swimming team includes members from neighboring Bonduel High School.^[7] Beginning in 2015 Girls Swimming will remain the same as its current set up except with the addition of Wittenberg-Birnamwood which recently competed in the Great Northern Conference for Girls Swimming.
• Beginning in 2015, The Bay will sponsor Girls Tennis again as Bay Members Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Menasha, New London, Shawano, West De Pere, & Xavier will be joined by Fox Valley Lutheran, & Marinette as affiliated members to make up the 9 team conference.
• Waupaca is a football-only member.
• The 2016 Spring season brought back Boys Tennis, Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Shawano, Menasha, West De Pere and Xavier Sponsor this sport while Fox Valley Lutheran is an affiliate member.

Affiliated members

^[7]

Former members

• Oconto Falls left the Bay Conference in 1979 and later rejoined in 2007. They left the conference again in 2015.^[7]

Conference champions

Baseball

Boys' basketball

Girls' basketball

Football

Boys' golf

Girls' golf

Boys' soccer

Boys' Cross Country

Girls' Cross Country

Girls' soccer

Softball

Girls' swimming

Boys' tennis

Girls' tennis

Boys' track and field

Girls' track and field

Volleyball

Wrestling

• Every team that has been a full member in the Bay Conference has won a conference title of some sort, except for Green Bay West.
• Marinette girls' cross country holds the record for consecutive championships, with 15 (1984–1999)
• Ashwaubenon has won the most conference championships with 100.
• Ashwaubenon softball and Marinette girls' cross country hold the most Conference championships by sport, with 20.
• The golf and volleyball conference champion is based on regular season results and results of the conference meet.
• The track and cross country champions are decided by conference meet.
• Basketball, football, softball, baseball, and wrestling championships are decided by conference win-loss record.
• Soccer Champion is decided by regular Season results & a Conference Tournament at the end of the season.

Sources:

• http://www.deperesoftball.com/history.html
• http://www.ashwaubenon.k12.wi.us/highschool/athletics/hs_baseball_t_records.cfm

Rivalries

• Ashwaubenon and De Pere are two neighboring communities with a rivalry in the FRCC.
• De Pere and West De Pere, being separated by a river, meet only in non-conference action.
• Pulaski and Bay Port, still rivals in the FRCC.
• Pulaski and Seymour, a non-conference rival today.
• Seymour and Shawano The Battle of the S'
• Clintonville and New London are only 15 miles apart, and meet annually in non-conference play in some sports.
• Clintonville and Shawano are separated by 15 miles and meet annually in non-conference play.
• New London and Hortonville have one of the biggest rivalries in the area today, with two teams being six miles apart. Now they meet only in non-conference play.
• Hortonville and Seymour are both located in Outagamie County.
• Denmark & Luxemburg-Casco is an old Packerland Conference rivalry that was carried over into the Bay Conference. That rivalry will be carried over after 2015 into the Eastern Valley Conference.
• Seymour and West De Pere have a rivalry in football, baseball, and basketball.
• Oconto Falls Panthers and Oconto Blue Devils meet annually in non-conference play, only being separated by 18 miles of State Highway 22
• Green Bay East and Green Bay West are big rivals and are separated by just more than 2 miles on Walnut Street in Green Bay. This rivalry will continue when both teams join the Bay in 2015.
• West De Pere and Xavier have been rivals since the 2013 playoffs in both football and basketball.

State championships

Asterisk* indicates appearance predated membership in Bay Conference. Division is indicated in parentheses.

• **In 2010 The WIAA added wheelchair events to the track and field competition.

References

External links

• Official website