Members
History
The current West Central Conference was formed in 1981 with eight members: Van Meter, Guthrie Center, Panora-Linden, Earlham, Martensdale-St. Mary's, Stuart-Menlo, Adair–Casey and Dexfield (Redfield). Prior to this time a different league known as the West Central Conference existed, but none of its members were founders of the new West Central Conference. Throughout the 1980s, the league added Coon Rapids–Bayard and Nodaway Valley, and Panora-Linden began sharing with Y-J-B under the name Panorama. Dexfield and Stuart-Menlo also consolidated and left the league. In 1996, the league split in half as the four southernmost schools-along or south of Interstate 80-departed to conferences south and west: Martensdale-St. Mary's and Nodaway Valley to the Pride of Iowa and Earlham and Adair–Casey to the Rolling Hills Conference. The four remaining members brought in four new schools further north as replacements: Glidden–Ralston in Carroll County; East Greene (Grand Junction) and Paton-Churdan in Greene County; and Des Moines Christian in Urbandale in Polk County. In an interesting twist, two of the newcomers (East Greene and Paton-Churdan) and a forerunner school to Panorama (YJB) were members of the original West Central. In 2000, West Central Valley (the consolidated district of former members Dexfield and Stuart-Menlo) joined the league from the Raccoon River Conference, a conference with much larger schools. In 2004, Earlham rejoined the league as its tenth team. By 2007, many of the schools in the conference were starting to grow close to 2A in size, leading to Paton-Churdan leaving the conference for the smaller Rolling Hills Conference.References
{{reflist High school sports in Iowa Sports leagues established in 1981 1981 establishments in Iowa Websit