Iowa Alliance Conference

The Iowa Alliance Conference is a high school athletic conference whose members are mostly located in the metropolitan areas of central Iowa, with five of the schools being from the Des Moines Independent Community School District.

Iowa Alliance Conference is located in Iowa
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference
Iowa Alliance Conference Member School Locations in Iowa
Iowa Alliance Conference
ConferenceIHSAA / IGHSAU
Founded2022
Sports fielded
  • 21
No. of teams11
RegionCentral Iowa
Official websitehttps://www.iowaallianceconference.org/

The conference includes 11 schools and is divided into 2 divisions: North and South. 10 of the 11 schools are formerly of the Central Iowa Metro League.

Member schools

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Institution Location Affiliation 2024-2025 BEDS[1] Mascot Colors Former Conference
North Division
Ames Ames Public 1,106 Little Cyclones     CIML
East Waterloo Public 834 Trojans     MVC
Fort Dodge Fort Dodge Public 807 Dodgers     CIML
Marshalltown Marshalltown Public 1,242 Bobcats     CIML
Mason City Mason City Public 809 River Hawks     CIML
South Division
East Des Moines Public 1,480 Scarlets     CIML
Hoover Des Moines Public 660 Huskies     CIML
Lincoln Des Moines Public 1,823 Rail Splitters     CIML
North Des Moines Public 1,078 Polar Bears     CIML
Ottumwa Ottumwa Public 1,101 Bulldogs     CIML
Roosevelt Des Moines Public 1,521 Rough Riders     CIML
Co-ops and Shared Sports
School Sport Shared Co-opting Schools
Ames Boys Tennis Gilbert
DM East Girls Soccer Saydel
DM Hoover Boys Wrestling DM North
DM North Boys Wrestling DM Hoover
Fort Dodge Boys Soccer Southeast Valley, St. Edmond Catholic, Manson-Northwest Webster
Fort Dodge Boys Tennis Southeast Valley
Fort Dodge Girls Soccer Southeast Valley, St. Edmond Catholic, Manson-Northwest Webster
Marshalltown Boys Tennis West Marshall, East Marshall, Nevada, BCLUW
Mason City Baseball, Boys Soccer North Iowa Christian School
Mason City Boys Tennis West Fork
Mason City Girls Soccer Central Springs, Newman Catholic, North Iowa Christian School, Osage, Rockford
Ottumwa Baseball, Boys XC, Football, Boys Tennis Ottumwa Christian
Ottumwa Boys Soccer Davis County
Waterloo East Boys Tennis Waterloo West, Waterloo Christian
Waterloo East Girls Soccer Waterloo West, Waterloo Christian, Dunkerton, Wapsie Valley

History

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On March 1, 2021, ten high schools made the announcement to leave the Central Iowa Metro League (CIML) and form a new conference. These schools include Ames, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Mason City, and Ottumwa, as well as the five public Des Moines schools (East, Hoover, Lincoln, North, and Roosevelt). The schools left the CIML in the spring of 2021 to create a new conference. The withdrawal is due to a low percentage in wins from the non-suburban schools in the conference.[2][3] The new conference was announced on November 19, 2021, and included Waterloo East High School, joining from the Mississippi Valley Conference (Iowa).[4]

Due to the size of the schools and proximity, games will still be routinely scheduled with the members whom remained in the CIML, while allowing scheduling with other schools they did not have space in their schedule for.

Mason City dropped the mascot "Mohawks" in November 2021, citing an effort to rid the district of a symbol that exploited Native American tribal imagery. The Meskwaki and Akwesasne Nations had voiced objections to the mascot.[5] On March 22, 2022, it was revealed the new mascot for Mason City would be the "River Hawks". The name was chosen by vote over "Majors" and "Monarchs", which were narrowed down from over 300 submissions.[6]

Sports

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The conference offers the following sports:

All the member schools field a varsity football team, however it is not sponsored by any conference in Iowa. Football is played in a separate classification system, and competition is organized by districts.

Although the member schools field freshman — and in some cases, junior varsity — teams in many of the above-mentioned sports, conference championships are determined at sophomore and varsity levels only.

References

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  1. ^ "IHSAA: Classifications".
  2. ^ Rohlfing, Noah. "Change on the horizon: Marshalltown, others reveal CIML departure plans". Times Republican. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Understanding the CIML". j-hawks.com. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  4. ^ Mollenbeck, Andrew. "11 schools join new Iowa athletic conference". KCCI. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Mason City School Board approves new mascot: River Hawks". Times-Republican. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  6. ^ Jirgens, Alex. "For Mason City, it's out with the Mohawks and in with the River Hawks". KIMT 3 News. Retrieved 25 July 2022.