The Heart O'North Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership base in northwestern Wisconsin. Founded in 1928, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
1928-1989
The Heart O'North Conference (also known as the Heart o' the North Conference in its early years) was formed in 1928 by ten small- to medium-sized high schools in northwestern Wisconsin: Barron, Bloomer, Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake, Shell Lake and Spooner. One year later, the league added New Auburn and Turtle Lake to its roster, bringing membership up to twelve schools. Football was also added as a sponsored sport, with six schools (Barron, Bloomer, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake and Spooner) comprising the initial roster. In 1934, membership in the Heart O'North was cut in half after the exit of the six non-football members (Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, New Auburn, Shell Lake and Turtle Lake). Five of these schools joined with Clear Lake and Weyerhaeuser to form the Lakeland Conference. The six remaining schools continued for twelve years before Hayward was admitted as the Heart O’North's seventh member in 1946. Chetek's return to the conference from the Lakeland Conference in 1957 increased the membership ledger to eight schools, a level it would remain at for seventeen years. In 1974, Northwestern High School in Maple joined the Heart O'North Conference after their longtime membership in the Michigan-Wisconsin Conference ended the year prior when the organization ceased operations.
1989-present After Northwestern joined the Heart O'North in 1974, the conference continued with a nine-member roster for fifteen years, until Bloomer and Rice Lake left in 1989. Bloomer joined the Middle Border Conference, and Rice Lake became members of the larger Big Rivers Conference as an all-sport member (they had previously been football-only members since 1986). After five years in the Middle Border, Bloomer rejoined the Heart O'North Conference in 1994. That same year, the Heart O'North briefly ended football sponsorship to join the Northwest Football League along with members of the Middle Border and Dunn-St. Croix Conferences. This arrangement would last for two seasons, after which the conference resumed sponsorship of interscholastic football. Membership remained stable until 2010, when Chetek High School merged with Weyerhaeuser High School of the Lakeland Conference to form the new Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School. The new school inherited Chetek's place in the Heart O'North Conference. In 2019, Cameron rejoined the Heart O'North after leaving the conference eighty-five years ago to help form the Lakeland Conference, which they were still members of at the time of their exit. Two years later, the Heart O'North Conference accepted two new members and bid farewell to a longtime member. Bloomer exited the conference for a second time in 2021, this time to join the Cloverbelt Conference. Ashland and St. Croix Falls became Heart O'North members that same year; St. Croix Falls joined from Lakeland Conference and Ashland were previously members of the Minnesota-based Lake Superior Conference. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser left the Heart O'North in 2025 to join the Dunn-St. Croix Conference and were replaced by outgoing Lakeland Conference members Unity.
Football-only alignment In February 2019, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. For the first cycle, Hayward and Ladysmith left the Heart O'North football roster to join the Great Northern Conference and Lakeland Conference, respectively, as associate football-only members. This alignment would remain in place through the 2022-2023 competition cycle. In 2024, Hayward made their return to the Heart O'North's football group, joined by Ashland after their exit from the Great Northern Conference. They replaced outgoing members Cameron and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser after their exit to associate membership in the Lakeland Conference for football. There are no changes planned for the conference's football roster during the 2026-2027 cycle.
List of member schools
Current full members SchoolLocationAffiliationEnrollmentMascotColorsJoinedAshlandAshland, WIPublic589Oredockers 2021BarronBarron, WIPublic302Golden Bears 1928CameronCameron, WIPublic301Comets 1928, 2019CumberlandCumberland, WIPublic276Beavers 1928HaywardHayward, WIPublic570Hurricanes 1946LadysmithLadysmith, WIPublic247Lumberjacks 1928NorthwesternMaple, WIPublic386Tigers 1974SpoonerSpooner, WIPublic334Rails 1928St. Croix FallsSt. Croix Falls, WIPublic328Saints 2021UnityBalsam Lake, WIPublic269Eagles 2025
Current associate members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsPrimary ConferenceSport(s)BloomerBloomer, WIPublicBlackhawks CloverbeltFootballChetek-WeyerhaeuserChetek, WIPublicBulldogs Dunn-St. CroixGirls GolfFlambeauTony, WIPublicBears LakelandGirls GolfGrantsburgGrantsburg, WIPublicPirates LakelandGirls GolfSuperiorSuperior, WIPublicSpartans Lake Superior (MSHSL)Girls GolfWashburnWashburn, WIPublicCastle Guards Northern LightsBoys Soccer, Girls Soccer
Notes
Former members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBloomerBloomer, WIPublicBlackhawks 1928, 19941989, 2021Middle Border, CloverbeltCloverbeltChetekChetek, WIPublicBulldogs 1928, 19571934, 2010LakelandClosed (merged into Chetek-Weyerhaeuser)Chetek-WeyerhaeuserChetek, WIPublicBulldogs 20102025Dunn-St. CroixClaytonClayton, WIPublicBears 19281934Upper St. Croix ValleyLakelandNew AuburnNew Auburn, WIPublicTrojans 19291934LakelandRice LakeRice Lake, WIPublicWarriors 19281989Big RiversShell LakeShell Lake, WIPublicLakers 19281934LakelandTurtle LakeTurtle Lake, WIPublicLakers 19291934Lakeland
Membership timeline
Full members
Football members
Membership map
Sponsored sports +Ashland●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Barron●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Cameron●●●●●●●●●●●●●Cumberland●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Hayward●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Ladysmith●●●●●●●●●●●●Northwestern●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Spooner●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●St. Croix Falls●●●●●●●●●●●●●●Unity●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
Notes
List of state champions
Fall sports +Boys Cross CountrySchoolYearDivisionChetek1982Class CChetek1983Class C +FootballSchoolYearDivisionRice Lake1979Division 3Hayward1987Division 3Northwestern1988Division 3 +Girls VolleyballSchoolYearDivisionBarron1982Class BSt. Croix Falls2023Division 3Barron2024Division 3
Winter sports +Boys BasketballSchoolYearDivisionLadysmith2003Division 3 +Girls BasketballSchoolYearDivisionHayward2016Division 3
Spring sports +BaseballSchoolYearDivisionBarron1979Class BSt. Croix Falls2023Division 3 +SoftballSchoolYearDivisionNorthwestern1981Class B +Boys Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionChetek1984Class CChetek1985Class CSpooner1991Division 2 +Girls Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionHayward2014Division 3Ladysmith2026Division 3
List of conference champions Source:
Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsLadysmith181933, 1942, 1951, 1953, 1958, 1959, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2011Bloomer151937, 1939, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1969, 1989, 1996, 2012, 2017, 2018Rice Lake151934, 1939, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1988 Barron141932, 1943, 1945, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1978, 1987, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2013, 2014Spooner141930, 1935, 1936, 1944, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2008Cumberland121931, 1932, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1956, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1972, 2025Northwestern101984, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2026Hayward71951, 1952, 1959, 2006, 2015, 2017, 2025Chetek61970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2001Cameron22020, 2024St. Croix Falls12026Ashland0Chetek-Weyerhaeuser0Clayton0New Auburn0Shell Lake0Turtle Lake0Unity0
Girls Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsHayward201980, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2025,2026Bloomer161975, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2018, 2019Ladysmith111977, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2022Barron71975, 1982, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008Cameron22025, 2026Northwestern21999, 2020St. Croix Falls22023, 2024Chetek11990Rice Lake11989Ashland0Chetek-Weyerhaeuser0Cumberland0Spooner0Unity0
Football SchoolQuantityYearsBloomer281933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1944, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1963, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1987, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017Rice Lake221930, 1932, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1957, 1959, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985Northwestern171987, 1988, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025Ladysmith111929, 1932, 1940, 1948, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 2001, 2003, 2006Spooner91931, 1935, 1941, 1945, 1970, 1973, 1991, 1992, 1996Cumberland61945, 1958, 1978, 1998, 2012, 2020Hayward51974, 1987, 2008, 2015, 2016Barron41965, 1971, 1989, 1990Cameron12023Chetek12007Chetek-Weyerhaeuser12016St. Croix Falls12024Ashland0
References
External links Heart O'North Conference (official website)