WaMaC Conference

The WaMaC conference is a high school athletic conference in Eastern Iowa made up of mid-sized schools. Named for the three rivers that drain in the area (Wa for Wapsipinicon, Ma for Maquoketa, and C for Cedar), the sixteen team league is one of the strongest conferences in Iowa. WaMaC also does concert choir and concert band calling them WaMaC Honor Choir and WaMaC Honor Band. However, instead of competition, the schools play together.

There are 16 full members of the WaMaC Conference. The majority of these schools are in Class 3A, Iowa's second largest enrollment class; Western Dubuque of Epworth, (as of the 2010-2011 school year) is in Class 4A, the state's largest enrollment class, Beckman Catholic of Dyersville is in Class 2A, the state's third largest enrollment class.

The schools are divided into two divisions, the East and the West. Each division has eight schools each, with division assignment determined by geographic location.

The conference traces its history to 1931. This is the year the Tri Valley Conference was formed. Membership in the conference included Independence, Marion, Manchester, and Vinton. Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids Wilson joined later.

In 1940, a new league, the Mid-Six, was formed. This new conference consisted of Anamosa, Maquoketa, Manchester, Marion, Monticello, and Tipton. Independence and Vinton rejoined the league in 1942 and the conference was renamed the Tri-Rivers Conference. After a year of competing under that moniker, the league was renamed the WaMaC Conference to honor the three rivers that run through the region, the Wapsipinicon, the Maquoketa, and the Cedar.

In the 1985-86, Anamosa, Monticello, and Maquoketa left the conference to join a redesigned Big Bend Conference. They were replaced in the league by Benton Community and LaSalle Catholic of the recently disbanded Eastern Iowa Conference, and by LaSalle's crosstown rival, Regis. Tipton also left at this time to join the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference. South Tama would be added soon after. After Regis left to join the larger Mississippi Valley Conference in 1992, Columbus Catholic in Waterloo replaced them. Don Bosco joined the conference in 1998, as Regis closed its doors in order for Cedar Rapids to open a new, larger Catholic High School made up of the former populations of LaSalle and Regis.

The real expansion for the WaMaC began in 2003. Western Dubuque, Central DeWitt, Maquoketa, and Beckman were added to the league this year. After originally being denied membership in the league, this expansion only occurred because the four schools petitioned to the state for inclusion in the WaMaC following the collapse of their former conference, the Big Bend. Three other teams that made up the Big Bend had agreed to leave the conference for the Tri-Rivers Conference, while Camanche (the other remaining team) applied to the Big East Conference. The WaMaC opposed the addition of the teams because there was little tradition with the other league schools and the increased travel distance appeared to threaten South Tama's membership in the league, while the addition of more big schools like Central DeWitt and Western Dubuque threatened the membership of Don Bosco, which was by far the league's smallest school. It turned out that both fears proved valid. Don Bosco left the league for the Iowa Star Conference in 2005 and South Tama joined the Little Hawkeye Conference for 2006. In 2013, Waterloo Columbus left the WaMaC for the NICL Conference with South Tama joining back in the WaMaC at the start of the 2014 season.

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