Lake Athletic Conference

Template:Use mdy dates The Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) was a high school athletic conference serving members of the Indiana High School Athletic Association. The LAC existed in multiple guises from the fall of 1969 through the spring of 2007, at which time it comprised sixteen member high schools. The conference took its name from all its early members being located in Lake County, Indiana, in addition to the predecessing Lake 10 Conference, of which many schools were members before expansion increased the number of schools in the conference.

History

The Lake Athletic Conference began as the Tri-City Conference in 1968, changing its name to the Indiana Lake Shore Conference the next year. The conference was formed by the non-Gary schools in the Northwestern Conference at that point. The eight founding schools were: Clark, Gavit, Hammond, Morton, and Tech from Hammond, Roosevelt and Washington from East Chicago, and Whiting High School. The conference would reach its largest size four years later, as Bishop Noll joined, putting the conference at eight football schools and nine total schools (Whiting would compete as an independent in football until 1993).

The conference would lose schools in the 1980s, eventually ending up with six members (five in football). Hammond Tech would close in 1981, and Roosevelt and Washington would combine to form East Chicago Central in 1986. ECC would leave after that year. These remaining schools would band together with four schools from the Lake Suburban Conference to form the Lake 10 Conference.

The Lake 10 was initially split into two enrollment divisions in football only. However, this would only last for five years before the conference would expand to 13 schools and rebrand itself as the LAC. The league added two schools from the Northwest Hoosier Conference and Andrean, who had been independent since leaving the Northwestern in 1975. Three more schools would join in 2003, giving the LAC 16 teams for its final four seasons.

In 2006 it was announced the LAC would disband following the 2006-'07 school year. The schools would split into three conferences. The Northwest Crossroads Conference comprises Andrean, Griffith, Highland, Hobart, Kankakee Valley, Lowell, and Munster, which were the larger of the schools in the conference in terms of enrollment. The Greater South Shore Conference is home to Bishop Noll, Calumet, Lake Station, Wheeler, and Whiting; joining these schools are Michigan City Marquette Catholic, North Newton, and River Forest; and South Central, a member of the Porter County Conference, joined in football only, as Marquette does not have a football team. The Hammond City Schools - Clark, Gavit, Hammond High, and Morton - formed the Great Lakes Athletic Conference, after failing to find acceptance in another conference. It was reported that Hammond Morton was invited to join the NCC but declined.

Membership

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference	Year Left	Conference Joined
Hammond Clark	Hammond	Pioneers		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	2007	Great Lakes
Hammond Gavit	Hammond	Gladiators		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	2007	Great Lakes
Hammond	Hammond	Wildcats		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	2007	Great Lakes
Hammond Morton	Hammond	Governors		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	2007	Great Lakes
East Chicago Roosevelt	East Chicago	Rough Riders		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	1986	none (consolidated into East Chicago Central)
Hammond Tech	Hammond	Tigers		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	1981	none (school closed)
East Chicago Washington	East Chicago	Senators		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	1986	none (consolidated into East Chicago Central)
Whiting	Whiting	Oilers		45 Lake	1968	Northwestern	2007	Greater South Shore
Hammond Bishop Noll	Hammond	Warriors		45 Lake	1973	Independents	2007	Greater South Shore
East Chicago Central	East Chicago	Cardinals		45 Lake	1986	none (new school)	1987	Independents
Calumet	Calumet Township	Warriors		45 Lake	1993	Lake Suburban	2007	Greater South Shore
Griffith	Griffith	Panthers		45 Lake	1993	Lake Suburban	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Highland	Highland	Trojans		45 Lake	1993	Lake Suburban	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Munster	Munster	Mustangs		45 Lake	1993	Lake Suburban	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Andrean	Merrillville	Fighting '59ers		45 Lake	1998	Independents	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Lake Station Edison	Lake Station	Fighting Eagles		45 Lake	1998	Northwest Hoosier	2007	Greater South Shore
Lowell	Lowell	Red Devils		45 Lake	1998	Northwest Hoosier	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Hobart	Hobart	Brickies		45 Lake	2003	Duneland	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Kankakee Valley	Wheatfield	Kougars		37 Jasper	2003	Independents	2007	Northwest Crossroads
Wheeler	Union Township	Bearcats		64 Porter	2003	Porter County	2007	Greater South Shore

Divisions

1993-98 (fb)		1998-2003		2003-07
Black	Blue	Black	Blue	Black	Blue
Bishop Noll	Calumet	Andrean	Bishop Noll	Andrean	Bishop Noll
Hammond	Clark	Griffith	Calumet	Griffith	Calumet
Highland	Gavit	Hammond	Clark	Hammond	Clark
Morton	Griffith	Highland	Edison	Highland	Edison
Munster	Whiting	Lowell	Gavit	Hobart	Gavit
		Munster	Morton	Lowell	Kankakee Valley
			Whiting	Morton	Wheeler
				Munster	Whiting

State Champions

• Baseball (3): 2002-Munster (4A), 2004-Bishop Noll (2A), 2005-Andrean (3A)
• Football (4): 1989-Bishop Noll (3A), 1997-Griffith (4A), 2004-Andrean (3A), 2005-Lowell (4A)
• Girls Gymnastics (1): 2004-Hobart
• Softball (2): 2006-Whiting (1A), 2007-Andrean (3A)

Related links

• Northern Indiana Football History
• Indiana High School Athletic Association