The Mississippi Valley Conference (MVC) is a high school athletic conference in southwest

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. All MVC schools are members of the

Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...

(WIAA), and are located in the

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

History

The MVC was formed in 1989. To accommodate for the growing attendance in schools in traditional

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

-based conferences, and to accommodate for travel purposes, the MVC was formed originally by taking teams from three established conferences. Holmen and Onalaska were taken from the Coulee Conference, Tomah and Sparta from the South Central Conference, and

La Crosse Central High School La Crosse Central High School is a public high school in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Administered by the School District of La Crosse, it is located on the south side of the city. The school was established in 1907. History La Crosse Central is the ...

and Logan High School from the Big Rivers Conference. Shortly after, in 1997, Aquinas High School joined from the Central Wisconsin Catholic Conference of the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association, a private school athletic league, to become the seventh member. In 2014, West Salem began competition in the Mississippi Valley Conference for football only. They remain in the Coulee Conference for all other sports. Due to their weak football program, Aquinas' football team will compete in the Coulee Conference beginning 2020, though its other teams will remain in the MVC.

Sports

The MVC sponsors 19 varsity sports. They are: * Fall:

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, boys'

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, girls'

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, boys' cross country, girls' cross country and girls'

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

* Winter: Boys'

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, girls' basketball,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

boys' hockey. * Spring: Boys'

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

, girls' track, boys' golf, boys' tennis, girls' soccer,

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

Schools

, - ,

Reedsburg Area School District Reedsburg may refer to the following place in the United States: * Reedsburg Dam, a dam in the state of Michigan * Reedsburg, Ohio, historic unincorporated community in Ohio * Reedsburg, Wisconsin Reedsburg is a city in Sauk County, Wisconsin ...

, Reedsburg, WI , 2022 , Public , , Beavers , Navy Blue and White

Affiliated Members

All Sports

Nineteen varsity sports count towards the Mississippi Valley Conference "All Sports Award." Points are awarded based on a team's finish in a given sport (seven for the conference championship, six for second place and so on to one point for the seventh-place finisher). At the completion of each sport season (fall, winter and spring), updated standings are posted on the league's Web site, and at the end of the school year, the school with the most points is declared the winner of the "All Sports Award."

Rivalries

The Mississippi Valley Conference has a number of intense rivalries, both based on proximity, and performance.

City

* Central Vs. Logan - The two La Crosse public schools intense rivalry is well publicized by local media, and is highlighted by football's Battle for the Ark of Victory. * Central Vs. Aquinas - A heated battle for city supremacy, and the overall city championship. * Logan Vs. Aquinas - A heated battle for city supremacy, and the overall city championship.

Other Main Rivalries

* Holmen Vs. Onalaska - Proximity spices up this rivalry, as the two school districts overlap city boundaries. Both schools also came over from the Coulee Conference together. * Tomah Vs. Sparta - Both came over from the South Central Conference, and are separated by 17 miles of Interstate 90. The closest conference foe for both teams. * Reedsburg Vs. Baraboo - Both moved to the MVC from the badger conference have one of the longest rivalries in the state. Additionally to these main rivalries, many other rivalries have developed based on different sports and success. In the early 2000s, Holmen and Aquinas had fierce competitions in boys basketball in which tickets were sold out days after going on sale. Additionally, in the early 1990s, Onalaska Vs. Central was a heated matchup in Boys Basketball. That rivalry was rekindled in the 2010s as both teams regularly competed for state bids. In wrestling, Holmen Vs. Sparta and Holmen Vs. Tomah have come and gone. In Ice Hockey, Onalaska and Aquinas/Holmen/G-E-T/C-FC hold a battle for the Omni Center rivalry, as both teams play in the same venue. Many non-conference rivalries are also in the MVC. Onalaska Vs. West Salem, Logan and Central Vs. Eau Claire Memorial and North, Tomah Vs. Black River Falls, and Holmen Vs. G-E-T are all annual football games. Aquinas maintains matchups with old conference members from their WISAA days.

Rivalry Week

In many different sports, particularly but not limited to football, basketball, and wrestling, the three big rivalries will frequently be played on the same days, coining the phrase Rivalry Week in football and Rivalry Night in other sports. These rivalries are Central Vs. Logan, Holmen Vs. Onalaska, and Sparta Vs. Tomah. Occasionally, Aquinas will be inserted into a city match up or against Holmen or Onalaska on a Rivalry Night.

References

External links

MVC website
{{Mississippi Valley Conference (Wisconsin) Wisconsin high school sports conferences High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States Supraorganizations