River Valley Conference (Iowa)
| Conference | IHSAA / IGHSAU |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Sports fielded |
|
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Region | Eastern Iowa |
| Official website | www |
The River Valley Conference (RVC) is a high school athletic conference whose members are located in smaller communities in eastern Iowa. The conference roughly spans from Johnson County, Iowa to the southwest, to Dubuque County, Iowa to the northeast. The RVC was founded in the 2013-2014 school year.[1]
Member Schools
There are 14 full members of the River Valley Conference. Each of those schools are in Class 2A, Iowa's second smallest enrollment class. Anamosa joined the conference in the 2018-2019 school year to bring the total to the current 14 schools.
| Institution | Location | Mascot | Colors | Affiliation | 2022-2023 BEDS[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anamosa | Anamosa | Blue Raiders | Public | 304 
| |
| Beckman Catholic | Dyersville | Trail Blazers | Private | 196 
| |
| Bellevue | Bellevue | Comets | Public | 157
| |
| Camanche | Camanche | Storm | Public | 237
| |
| Cascade, Western Dubuque | Cascade | Cougars | Public | 187
| |
| Durant | Durant | Wildcats | Public | 171
| |
| Maquoketa | Maquoketa | Cardinals | Public | 401
| |
| Mid-Prairie | Wellman | Golden Hawks | Public | 284
| |
| Monticello | Monticello | Panthers | Public | 269
| |
| North Cedar | Stanwood | Knights | Public | 144
| |
| Northeast | Goose Lake | Rebels | Public | 225
| |
| Regina Catholic | Iowa City | Regals | Private | 156
| |
| Tipton | Tipton | Tigers | Public | 227
| |
| West Branch | West Branch | Bears | Public | 172
| |
| West Liberty | West Liberty | Comets | Public | 271
| |
| Wilton | Wilton | Beavers | Public | 204
|
Sports
The school fields athletic teams in 20 sports, including:[3]
- 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 seven remaining schools joined North Cedar High School, (which had been in the Big East Conference) 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.[4] 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.[5]
As a result of the changes, the CVC was renamed the River Valley Conference for the 2013-2014 school year.[6]
In January 2017, Anamosa, a member of the WaMaC Conference, announced it would be joining the RVC, effective in 2018-2019, bringing the league to 14 schools.[7]
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.[8] When the move takes place for the 2022-2023 school year, it would – in addition to increasing the league to 16 schools – partially re-create the former Big Bend Conference, of which Anamosa, Camanche, Cascade and Monticello were also a part of from 1987-2003.
References
- ^ "River Valley Conference - Iowa High School Sports".
- ^ "IHSAA: Classifications".
- ^ River Valley Conference
- ^ Batterson, Steve (May 30, 2012). "Iowa Ruling Splits Up Big East Conference". Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
- ^ Coss, Matt (May 29, 2012). "Conference affiliation: Cedar Valley Conference to become 13-team league". Muscatine Journal. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
- ^ "River Valley Conference - Iowa High School Sports".
- ^ Linder, Jeff, "Western Dubuque will join Mississippi Valley," Cedar Rapids Gazette, January 10, 2017. Accessed 01-10-2017. [1]
- ^ Coss, Matt, "Maquoketa opts to leave Wamac, applies for RVC membership," Quad-City Times, August 11, 2021. Accessed 09-13-2021. [2]