The North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, or NJIC, is a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

located in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. It is one of the so-called "super conferences" created by the

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

(NJSIAA) as a part of a realignment of high school sports leagues in North and Central New Jersey announced in 2009. The conference is composed of small-enrollment schools. A total of 36 public and private high schools are part of the NJIC. Most of the schools are located in

Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Passaic County (6) and

Hudson County Hudson County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River, the No ...

(3). Butler High School, in Morris County, was added starting in the 2018–19 school year.

Formation

Increasing conflict over competitive imbalance in New Jersey high school sports leagues led to the formation of a committee to study the issue in 2008. The group proposed to disband the 11 athletic conferences in the northern part of the state and create six larger "super conferences". After a lengthy series of meetings and revisions, final implementation of the plan took place with the start of the 2010–11 school year. In the northeast corner of New Jersey, two super conferences emerged: the Big North Conference for larger schools and the NJIC for smaller schools. All NJIC schools were previously associated with four previous conferences: The Bergen County Scholastic League National / Olympic, the Bergen County Scholastic League / American, the Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League, and the North Bergen Interscholastic Athletic League. All of the BCSL National/Olympic and B-PSL members joined the NJIC. Rutherford HS was the only BCSL American Division School to enter the NJIC. Pascack Hills was the only NBIAL school to enter the NJIC. Paterson Catholic High School(a member of the B-PSL) closed in the spring of 2010 and therefore never joined the NJIC. Pascack Hills High School was a member of the BCSL National/Olympic for football only; it was part of the North Bergen Interscholastic Athletic League for all other sports and was the only NBIAL school to join the NJIC. The school petitioned the NJIC to join the Big North for the 2011-12school year, was granted permission by the NJIC, and this conference switch was then approved by the Big North and the NJSIAA. Three other schools—Hawthorne Christian, Mary Help of Christians and Saddle River Day—had been independent prior to the start of the realignment process. Hawthorne Christian and Saddle River Day were placed in the BCSL National/Olympic and Mary Help of Christians Academy was placed in the B-PSL as a transitional step before the NJIC began play. The North Jersey Interscholastic Conference is a registered New Jersey Non-Profit Corporation.

Member schools

Bergen County public schools

Bergen County non-public schools

Hudson County Public Schools

Morris County public schools

Passaic County public schools

Passaic County Non-Public Schools

Sports offered

Fall sports

* Cross Country * Football * Soccer * Tennis (Girls) * Volleyball (Girls)

Winter sports

* Basketball * Bowling * Swimming * Track & Field * Wrestling

Spring sports

* Baseball * Golf * Softball * Tennis (Boys) * Track & Field

Conference Divisions

The NJIC is divided into four divisions, largely along geographic and enrollment lines. Divisional alignments are reviewed every 2-year scheduling cycle by the conference. Because not all conference members participate in bowling, cross-country, football, golf, tennis and wrestling, different divisional alignments exist for those sports. Football and wrestling are sports specific and do not fall into the traditional divisional alignments.

Colonial Division

*Elmwood Park *Garfield *Glen Rock *Lodi *Rutherford *Eastern Christian *Hawthorne *Manchester *Pompton Lakes *Mary Help of Christians

Meadowlands Division

*Becton *Hasbrouck Heights *Immaculate Conception *North Arlington *Saddle Brook *St. Mary *Wallington *Weehawken *Wood-Ridge

Patriot Division

*Bogota *Cresskill *Emerson *Hawthorne Christian *Midland Park *Palisades Park *Park Ridge *Saddle River Day *Waldwick

References

External links

Conference website
NJICathletics.org {{NJSIAA Conferences New Jersey high school athletic conferences