Misplaced Pages

#405594

43-676: 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

86-811: A season , a conference refers to a single tournament. This has since been carried over by other leagues, such as the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which has its own conferences , the Philippine Super Liga , the Premier Volleyball League , the PBA D-League , and formerly the Philippine Basketball League . The term "conference" referring to a single tournament does not apply if there's only one tournament in

129-516: A conference system. From 2011 through to 2015, the competition had one conference based in each of its three founding countries . The winner of each conference received a playoff spot, as did the three next best teams overall. With the addition of Argentina's Jaguares and Japan's Sunwolves for 2016, plus a sixth franchise for South Africa, the competition reorganised into a new four-conference system. In 2016 and 2017, Australia and New Zealand formed separate conferences within an Australasian group;

172-610: A group of teams (generally eight to twelve colleges and/or universities, occasionally as high as sixteen) that regularly play against each other within a national governing body, the most significant of which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Most of these groups (including the "Power Five" conferences that are primary partners in the College Football Playoff ) refer to themselves as conferences, although

215-487: A lesser extent their own conference; NBA and NHL teams play at least two games (one at each home arena ) against every other team in their league in a regular season, MLB teams play at least one 3-game series against every other team (as of the 2023 season ), but the NFL teams do not. In college sports , the terms "league," "conference" and (generally at lower levels) "athletic association" can be used interchangeably to refer to

258-514: A secondary trophy called a "shield" (Irish, Scottish/Italian, South African, Welsh), with the overall league table used to determine playoff participants. The winner of each shield, however, is assured a place in the following year's European Rugby Champions Cup regardless of its overall league position. The now defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association , where teams are represented by companies instead of geographical entities, and there are multiple tournaments held sequentially in

301-511: A total of sixteen teams (eight from each conference) qualify for the league's postseason playoffs. In the NHL , since the 2013–14 season, the top 3 in each division are guaranteed to qualify and division winners are awarded the highest seeds, meaning they will have home-ice advantage in a given round, with the two best remaining teams in each conference receiving wild card spots. In the NBA, starting with

344-567: Is an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association . It is located in Northern Michigan and contains seveenteen teams that encompasses fourteen counties: Antrim , Benzie , Charlevoix , Cheboygan , Chippewa , Crawford , Emmet , Grand Traverse , Iosco , Kalkaska , Leelanau , Mackinac , Ogemaw and Otsego . The League formed from

387-437: Is divided into an American Football Conference (AFC) and a National Football Conference (NFC). Both conferences have 16 teams, and each conference is divided into 4 divisions of 4 teams each. These conferences, for the most part, derive from the fact that they were once separate organizations: the original National Football League and the 1960s American Football League ; the two entities merged in 1970, with each league forming

430-691: Is part of NCAA Division I (specifically the Football Bowl Subdivision ), but is itself also subdivided into an East and West division. In English association football, the top level of non-League football —i.e., the level below the Premier League and the three tiers that make up the English Football League (EFL)—was known as the Football Conference from the 1986–87 season through the end of

473-577: Is the highest level of provincial competition in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the highest domestic level in Japan, and the only professional domestic level in Argentina. From the creation of Super Rugby in 1996 through 2015 , only Australia, New Zealand and South Africa participated; the competition added teams in the latter two countries in 2016 . Since the 2011 season , it has operated on

SECTION 10

#1732794005406

516-872: The FA Cup (open to teams from all levels), the EFL Cup (open only to teams from the Premier League and the English Football League), and the FA Trophy (open only to teams in the broader definition of the National League, plus the two tiers below it). The Kontinental Hockey League has a Western Conference and an Eastern Conference . This is similar to the NHL 's conferences in North America . In rugby union , Super Rugby

559-644: The Horizon League , Ivy League , Patriot League , Pioneer League and Summit League use the word "league" instead, and another conference calls itself the Coastal Athletic Association . The NCAA itself is divided into divisions and subdivisions based on athletic scholarship eligibility, which can lead to redundancy when these conferences also have divisions of their own. For instance, the Southeastern Conference

602-798: The Ski-Valley Conference . Following the 2013 season the LMC and the neighboring Northwest Conference 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

645-534: The 2014–15 season. In turn, from 2004, the Conference was divided into three leagues—Conference Premier, at the fifth tier of the English football pyramid , and Conference North and Conference South, which made up the sixth tier. Starting with the 2015–16 season, the Football Conference and its component leagues were renamed. The Football Conference and Conference Premier were both renamed "National League", and

688-498: The 2015–16 season, the playoff spots go to the eight top teams in each conference by overall record, with home-court advantage in each playoff series based solely on record. Major League Soccer (MLS) also divides itself into an Eastern and Western Conference , though it does not have divisions within them; it too allocates an equal number of teams from each conference to play for its MLS Cup Playoffs (since 2019, this has been seven teams each). The National Football League (NFL)

731-592: The Legend Division. Before the 2015 season, it was announced that the six members of the Ski Valley Conference not dropping to Eight-man Football as well as Cheboygan , Onekema and Traverse City Christian High Schools would join the league during the 2016 season, causing the league to expand to three divisions; the Leaders, Legends, and Legacy divisions. The league is also considering

774-649: The Legends being the largest, Leaders being the middle, and Legacy being the smallest schools. Effective 2021, the NMFL added 2 new schools, Tawas & Oscoda . Tawas was added to the largest division, Legends, while Oscoda was added to the smallest division, Legacy. Former North Star League foes Rogers City & Lincoln-Alcona were both originally set the join the Legacy Division, but opted instead to drop to 8-Man Football . In September 2021, following

817-695: 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

860-525: The South African teams were joined by the Jaguares and Sunwolves in a "South African" group, with that group also being divided into two conferences. The winner of each conference continued to receive a playoff spot, with additional berths going to the next three best Australasian teams and the next best team of the South African group. For 2018, Super Rugby will revert to a 15-team format, following

903-409: The applications of several other schools, and the possibility of further divisions to help with travel costs. On October 6, 2015, Traverse City Christian announced that it would not be joining the NMFL and that Mesick would be replacing them in the conference on a two-year trial basis. For the 2017 season, more changes will be happening, as four schools will be making the move to eight-man football. In

SECTION 20

#1732794005406

946-518: The basis of the NFC and AFC respectively. The NFL allocates seven teams from each conference for the NFL playoffs ; the four division winners (guaranteed one of the top four seeds, based on winning percentage), and the three best-non division winners, also known as wild cards . Major League Baseball (MLB) does not use the word "conference." Instead, it is divided into two separate leagues which are identical to

989-472: The best teams competing at successively higher levels. Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region. The AFL Women's competition used a non-geographic conference system in 2019 and 2020 . The league was divided into two conferences, based on ladder position in the previous season. Not every team could play each other due to the limited number of rounds, so conferences were introduced so that teams were only measured against

1032-528: The competition's rebranding as the United Rugby Championship. For the first season under the URC name in 2021–22, the competition reorganized into four regionally based pools, though no longer using the word "conference". Three of the pools are made up of teams from one country—Ireland, South Africa, and Wales. The fourth features the teams from Italy and Scotland. Each regional pool competes for

1075-602: The conference kept its 3 division format, but saw Tawas moved to the middle Leaders division and Glen Lake moved to the smaller Legacy Division. In September 2022 it was announced that effective Fall 2023, the Big North Conference would add Marquette , Escanaba and NMFL member, Sault Ste. Marie, as football members only. Also in 2023, St. Ignace left the conference and moved to 8-man football, while Kalkaska left as well to become an 11-man football independent. With these changes, Benzie Central and Oscoda moved to

1118-434: 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

1161-749: The conferences listed above in all but name (which, although their operations have been integrated via the Commissioner of Baseball in modern times, were originally separately managed organizations with an intense rivalry). These are the American League (AL) and National League (NL), with 15 teams each. Each league is divided into the Eastern ( AL , NL ), Central ( AL , NL ), and Western ( AL , NL ) divisions, with all six divisions having 5 teams each. Each league produces six teams for postseason play , with each division winner also guaranteed one of

1204-509: The departure of the two Traverse City high schools to the Saginaw Valley League , the four remaining Big North Conference high schools: Alpena , Gaylord , Cadillac , and Petoskey , were denied entry into the league, despite approval of the conferences athletic directors. The eight superintendents of the then Legends Division declined the addition of the four schools, Citing how the league has grown fast and changed so much in

1247-516: The dropping of two teams from South Africa and one from Australia. The new format features three conferences—Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, each with five teams; the Sunwolves will join the Australian conference and the Jaguares will play in the South African conference. The conference winners will continue to receive playoff berths, with additional berths going to the top five teams in

1290-414: The finals (one from each conference/league) and the records of teams outside a conference/league are ignored, which can allow teams with inferior records to make the playoffs while teams in the other conference with better records do not get in. An extreme example of this has occurred three times in the NFL, when the 2010 Seattle Seahawks , 2014 Carolina Panthers , and 2020 Washington Football Team reached

1333-408: The last few months of 2016, Central Lake, Mesick, Onekama, and Suttons Bay all announced moves to the eight-man game. However, for the 2018 season, Newberry, from the former Mid Eastern Football Conference, was brought into the league. This did not last long, however, as for the 2019 season, Newberry, along with Gaylord St. Mary announced their own move to the 8 man game as well. Starting in 2020,

Lake Michigan Conference - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-486: The last six years it might be best to slow down before overhauling the league. The addition of the four schools would have seen the creation of a new 4th division, the Liberty Division and would have included the 6 biggest schools, Alpena, Petoskey, Gaylord, Cadillac, Sault Ste. Marie, and Cheboygan. The following 18 teams would have been divided into 3 equal divisions of 6 teams based on size and success. Instead,

1419-419: The league season, the teams that top each conference table received berths in the semifinals, with the next two teams in each conference playing off for semifinal berths. After the 2020–21 season, South Africa fully aligned its club rugby structure with that of Europe. The then-existing Pro14 franchises from South Africa were replaced by the country's four Super Rugby franchises, which moved into Pro14 and led to

1462-548: The league will welcome Sault Ste. Marie and West Branch-Ogemaw Heights , who both previously were independent. In corresponding moved Kalkaska and Boyne city will move from the Legends Division to the Leaders Division, and Frankfort will move from the Leaders Division to the Legacy Division. This aligns the league, with the exception of Traverse City St. Francis, to divisions based on enrollment sizes, with

1505-557: The merger of the Lake Michigan Conference and the Northwest Conference , for football only. The schools were then split up based on enrollment and competitiveness, with the larger schools forming the Legends Division, and the smaller ones forming the Legacy Division. Mesick , who was a member of the Northwest Conference, declined to join the league, leaving the Legacy Division with one school less than

1548-475: The middle Leaders division from the larger Legends and smaller Legacy divisions respectively, while Mancelona moved from the Leaders division to the Legacy division Legends Leaders Legacy 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 divisions , with

1591-506: The overall competition table that were not already qualified. In the same sport, Pro14, now known as the United Rugby Championship , adopted a conference system effective in 2017–18 , following the addition of the two South African teams dropped from Super Rugby. The competition split into two conferences, each featuring two teams from Ireland and Wales, plus single teams from Italy, Scotland and South Africa. Following

1634-558: The playoffs by winning their respective divisions despite losing records (7–9 for the Seahawks and Washington, 7–8–1 for the Panthers). These are the only teams ever to qualify for the playoffs with losing records in seasons that were not shortened by strikes (as in 1982 , which was shortened from 16 to 9 games). In addition, a team's regular season schedule is weighted towards more games against other teams within their own division and to

1677-582: 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

1720-2122: The smaller schools of the Ski-Valley. In April 2023 the Northern Shores Conference 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. Full member institutions include: Departing Members are highlighted in pink. Lake Michigan stopped sponsoring football in 2014. Conference champions *State champion Results by team Traverse City St. Francis:(36) 1983,85-87,1990-2011,13-23 Boyne City:(22) 1993–94,96,2001–09,12-17,20-23 Grayling:(17) 1990,92,2003–05,07,09-13,15-17,20-22 Charlevoix:(13) 1992,2000,05-06,08-09,14,16,19-23 Elk Rapids:(10) 2006–10,13-14,17-18,20,22 East Jordan:(9) 1993–94,1999-2000,03,20-23 Harbor Springs: (8) 1986,1999-2000,15-16,18-20 Kalkaska:(5) 2002,12-13,16,20 Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference Records Through 2023-24 Conference champions Conference Records 1997–98 to 2023-2024 Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Conference champions Individual state champions Conference champions Individual state champions Bold = MHSAA girls track & field final meet records 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 Northern Michigan Football League The Northern Michigan Football League

1763-713: The teams they played. The system was controversial because it allowed some weak teams to make finals, and strong teams from the other conference missed out on finals. It was because of this that the conference system was removed for the 2021 season . In the United States and Canada , the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) are divided into Eastern ( NHL , NBA ) and Western ( NHL , NBA ) Conferences, with multiple divisions within each conference (two in each NHL conference, three in each NBA conference). In both leagues,

Lake Michigan Conference - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-484: The top three seeds, even if their record is lower than the league's top wild card teams . In all five sports, the champion of one conference (or league in MLB's case) plays the champion of the other conference for the final round championship, this is guaranteed to occur because the rules for the playoffs require play to be exclusively within the conference/league in all rounds before the final round, leaving only two teams for

1849-407: The two regional leagues were renamed National League North and National League South . This does not strictly meet the definition indicated in the previous sections of this article, as each individual league mentioned in this section is a separate competition. The only times that teams from different leagues compete against one another in meaningful matches are in knockout cup competitions, such as

#405594