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19-784: The League formed from 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

38-636: Is a high school athletic conference in Michigan . The conference is affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). The conference contains nine of the largest high schools across Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula . Among these schools, four are full-time members, two are non-football members, and three are football-only members. The conference was created in 1997 after

57-513: 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 the middle Leaders division from the larger Legends and smaller Legacy divisions respectively, while Mancelona moved from

76-798: 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

95-418: 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, 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,

114-627: 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

133-705: The Leaders division to the Legacy division Legends Leaders Legacy Lake Michigan Conference (Michigan) The Lake Michigan Conference was an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association . It was located in Northern Michigan and contained eight teams that encompasses six counties: Antrim County , Charlevoix County , Crawford County , Emmet County , Grand Traverse County , and Kalkaska County . The Lake Michigan Conference traces it origins to

152-581: 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 the applications of several other schools, and

171-584: 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 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

190-624: 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

209-434: 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

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228-705: The departure of Traverse City Central and Traverse City West high schools' football programs, and those schools becoming associate members of the Saginaw Valley League . However, other sports offered by those schools will continue to participate in the Big North Conference. In 2023, it was announced that three high schools, Escanaba, Marquette, and Sault Area, would be joining the BNC as football-only members.   Non-football members   Football-only members From 1997 to 1999

247-479: 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, 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

266-502: 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 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

285-461: 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 the last few months of 2016, Central Lake, Mesick, Onekama, and Suttons Bay all announced moves to

304-583: 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

323-2119: 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 Big North Conference (Michigan) The Big North Conference ( BNC )

342-413: The split of Traverse City Senior High School into Central and West high schools. It combined the eight largest schools in Northern Michigan. In 2004, due to decreasing enrollment, Cheboygan and Sault Area left the conference. West Branch Ogemaw Heights joined the conference in 2011, but they left the conference after the 2015-16 school year due to decreasing enrollment as well. In 2021, the league announced

361-514: 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 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

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