The River Valley Conference (RVC) is a high school athletic conference whose members are located in smaller communities in eastern

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. The conference roughly spans from

Johnson County, Iowa Johnson County is located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 152,854, making it the fourth-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa. Johnson County is included ...

to the southwest, to

Dubuque County, Iowa Dubuque County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,266, making it the eighth-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Dubuque. The county is named for Julien Dubuque, the first Eur ...

to the northeast. The RVC was founded in the 2013-2014 school year.

Member Schools

There are 15 full members of the River Valley Conference. Most of those schools are in Class 2A, Iowa's second smallest enrollment class. Maquoketa and Beckman joined the conference in the 2022-2023 school year to bring the total to the current 15 schools.

Sports

The school fields athletic teams in 20 sports, including: * Summer: Baseball and softball. * Fall: Volleyball, boys' and girls' swimming, and boys' and girls' cross country. * Winter: Boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' bowling, and wrestling. * Spring: Boys' and girls' track and field; boys' and girls' tennis, boys' and girls' soccer, and boys' and girls' golf. Although the member schools field freshman — and in some cases, junior varsity — teams in many of the above-mentioned sports, conference championships are determined at varsity levels only. Some schools do not offer all 21 sports. Bowling, Soccer, Swimming and Tennis are the most common exclusions.

History

The River Valley Conference traces its history to 2008, when it was formed as the Cedar Valley Conference. That year, the seven original schools left the former Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference, which was dissolved. Four member schools from the old EIHC — Clear Creek-Amana, Mount Vernon, Solon and Williamsburg — were growing in size and placed in the

WaMaC Conference The WaMaC conference is a high school athletic conference in Eastern Iowa made up of mid-sized schools. The conference is named for the three rivers that drain in the area (Wa for Wapsipinicon, Ma for Maquoketa, and C for Cedar). WaMaC also part ...

. The seven remaining schools joined North Cedar High School, (which had been in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

) in forming the new CVC. Starting with the 2013-2014 school year, former Big East members Bellevue, Camanche and Northeast were placed in the CVC, along with Cascade and Monticello. The events that eventually resulted in the changes began in the early 2010s, when Camanche began petitioning to leave the Big East for the CVC, and CVC member schools denied them admission, citing travel distances. The Iowa Department of Education eventually was asked to help resolve the dilemma. Not all CVC athletic directors and coaches welcomed the Iowa Department of Education's decision, expressing concerns about travel distances, loss of classroom time and gate receipts for some contests. As a result of the changes, the CVC was renamed the River Valley Conference for the 2013-2014 school year. In January 2017, Anamosa, a member of the

, announced it would be joining the RVC, effective in 2018-2019, bringing the league to 14 schools. In the late summer of 2021, it was expected that two more WaMaC members – Maquoketa and Dyersville Beckman Catholic – would join the RVC, after both schools announced their intention to leave their current conference.Coss, Matt, "Maquoketa opts to leave Wamac, applies for RVC membership," ''

Quad-City Times The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area ( Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Isla ...

'', August 11, 2021. Accessed 09-13-2021

/ref> When the move takes place for the 2022-2023 school year, North Cedar also will leave for the Tri-Rivers Conference, bringing the league total to 15 competitors.

References

External links

Official site
{{Iowa High School Athletic Conferences High school sports in Iowa 2006 establishments in Iowa Sports leagues established in 2006