The Olympian Conference is a former high school athletic conference with its members concentrated in east central Wisconsin. Formed in 1970 and dissolved in 2015, all conference members belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
1970–1999
The Olympian Conference was formed in 1970 by eight small- to medium-sized high schools in proximity to the Fox River Valley and Lake Winnebago in east central Wisconsin. Six of the original conference members previously competed in the Little Nine Conference (Brillion, Denmark, Freedom, Hilbert, Reedsville and Wrightstown), while one each came from the Eastern Wisconsin (Valders) and Peninsula (Mishicot) Conferences. The name of the conference was credited to a student at Mishicot High School after each school in the new conference suggested a name. Other finalists considered were the Inter-Lake Conference, Mid-Valley Conference and Packerland Conference (which would itself be used for a new conference that was inaugurated the same year as the Olympian). It was named so because the Olympics are considered the pinnacle of athletic competition. The Olympian Conference's first change in membership occurred in 1979, as Valders left to join a reconstituted Eastern Wisconsin Conference after a successful appeal against joining the Packerland Conference. Their stay in the newly-formed EWC was short-lived as they returned to the Olympian in 1980 to bring the circuit back to eight member schools. For football, Denmark and Mishicot swapped affiliations with Packerland members Gibraltar and Sevastopol, an arrangement that would last until the 1984 football season.
1999–2015
The Olympian Conference's membership roster was remarkably stable for the first three decades of its existence, but major changes came in 1999 during a wave of realignment in east central Wisconsin. Denmark and Freedom, the two largest schools in the conference, left to join the Packerland Conference and Valley 8 Conference, respectively. They were replaced by three schools: Chilton (previously of the Eastern Wisconsin Conference), Manitowoc Lutheran (formerly a member of the Fox Valley Christian Conference) and St. Mary Catholic in Neenah (from the Midwest Classic Conference). Both Manitowoc Lutheran and St. Mary Catholic were new to the WIAA having recently joined as part of the merger with the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association (WISAA). The Olympian Conference would continue in this alignment for eight years before Roncalli in Manitowoc joined from the Eastern Wisconsin Conference in 2007. That same year, the Olympian entered into a football partnership with the Packerland Conference, creating the new seventeen-member Olympian-Packerland Conference. The Olympian Conference would be dissolved in 2015 as its five of its smallest members (Hilbert, Manitowoc Lutheran, Mishicot, Reedsville and St. Mary Catholic) would leave to join nine former Central Lakeshore Conference schools in forming the new Big East Conference. The Eastern Wisconsin Conference took four former Olympian schools into the fold (Brillion, Chilton, Roncalli and Valders), and Wrightstown would join the North Eastern Conference.
Conference membership history
Final members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBrillionBrillion, WIPublicLions 19702015Eastern WisconsinChiltonChilton, WIPublicTigers 19992015Eastern WisconsinHilbertHilbert, WIPublicWolves 19702015Big EastManitowoc LutheranManitowoc, WIPrivate (Lutheran, WELS)Lancers 19992015Big EastMishicotMishicot, WIPublicIndians 19702015Big EastReedsvilleReedsville, WIPublicPanthers 19702015Big EastRoncalliManitowoc, WIPrivate (Catholic)Jets 20072015Eastern WisconsinSt. Mary CatholicNeenah, WIPrivate (Catholic)Zephyrs 19992015Big EastValdersValders, WIPublicVikings 1970, 19801979, 2015Eastern WisconsinEastern WisconsinWrightstownWrightstown, WIPublicTigers 19702015North Eastern
Previous members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceDenmarkDenmark, WIPublicVikings 19701999PackerlandNorth EasternFreedomFreedom, WIPublicIrish 19701999Valley EightNorth Eastern
Football-only members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsSeasonsPrimary ConferenceGibraltarFish Creek, WIPublicVikings 1979-1982PackerlandSevastopolSturgeon Bay, WIPublicPioneers 1979-1983Packerland
Membership timeline
Full members
Football members
List of state champions Fall sports +Boys Cross CountrySchoolYearDivisionValders1988Class BValders1989Class BWrightstown1992Division 3 +FootballSchoolYearDivisionBrillion1984Division 4Hilbert1989Division 5Hilbert1994Division 6Hilbert1996Division 6Wrightstown1998Division 5Brillion2003Division 5Brillion2004Division 5Wrightstown2006Division 4
Winter sports +Boys BasketballSchoolYearDivisionDenmark1985Class BFreedom1990Class BBrillion2012Division 3 +Girls BasketballSchoolYearDivisionSt. Mary Catholic2009Division 4 +Boys WrestlingSchoolYearDivisionFreedom1997Division 2Wrightstown1999Division 3Wrightstown2005Division 3Wrightstown2006Division 3
Spring sports +Boys GolfSchoolYearDivisionWrightstown2002Division 3Roncalli2009Division 3 +Girls SoccerSchoolYearDivisionSt. Mary Catholic2007Division 3 +SoftballSchoolYearDivisionDenmark1982Class BDenmark1983Class BDenmark1991Division 2Denmark1997Division 2 +Girls Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionBrillion1993Division 3Hilbert1995Division 3Wrightstown2011Division 2
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsValders131971, 1973, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 2006, 2010, 2015Brillion101972, 1980, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013Freedom71971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1989, 1990, 1998Manitowoc Lutheran52000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007Roncalli52008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015Wrightstown51979, 1986, 1991, 1992, 2012Denmark41980, 1981, 1985, 1997Reedsville41976, 1977, 1978, 1995Hilbert12004St. Mary Catholic12005Chilton0Mishicot0
Girls Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsHilbert101976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1998, 1999Reedsville61979, 1980, 1995, 1996, 2013, 2014Brillion41984, 2003, 2010, 2012Denmark41978, 1982, 1983, 1997St. Mary Catholic42000, 2001, 2005, 2007Valders41986, 1991, 2002, 2009Mishicot31993, 1994, 2006Manitowoc Lutheran22003, 2004Roncalli22008, 2015Chilton12011Freedom11985Wrightstown11987
Football SchoolQuantityYearsWrightstown111974, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006Hilbert101976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2001, 2003Brillion81971, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995Denmark61970, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1987, 1996Reedsville31992, 1993, 1994Freedom21991, 1997Valders21993, 2002Chilton11999Mishicot11972Gibraltar0Manitowoc Lutheran0Roncalli0Sevastopol0St. Mary Catholic0
References