The modern-era Midwest Conference was created in the spring of 1994 with the merger of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, which had been sponsoring men’s championships since 1921, and the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women, which was formed to conduct women’s championship competition in 1977.
Stated intent of the union was to preserve both groups’ tradition while enhancing administration efficiency and fostering equity between men’s and women’s sports.
The MWC provides championship intercollegiate competition for 10 liberal arts schools located in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Member schools are Beloit, Carroll, Grinnell, Illinois College, Knox, Lake Forest, Lawrence, Monmouth, Ripon and St. Norbert.
Teams play a nine-game, round-robin schedule against all league opponents in football and men’s and women’s soccer. In 2010, they will play a full double round-robin schedule in men’s and women’s basketball. The top four teams advance to a tournament in men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s soccer.
The football championship is determined with-out a playoff. Division play is used in men’s and women’s tennis, volleyball, baseball and softball. Beloit, Carroll, Lawrence, Ripon and St. Norbert compete in the North Division, with Grinnell, Illinois College, Knox, Lake Forest and Monmouth comprising the South Division in the selected sports.
Baseball is the lone divisional exception, where Illinois College, Knox and Monmouth make up a four-team South Division.
Volleyball teams use the division schedule to determine seeding for a 4-team tournament to decide the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament qualifier. In baseball and softball, the top two teams in each division advance to a championship tournament.
Championships in the MWC’s 10 other sports — men’s and women’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track, golf, tennis and swimming — are determined at a conference meet. The league also determines men’s and women’s “All-Sports” team champions based on overall performance throughout the academic year and designates an “Academic All-Conference Team” at the end of each sports season.
The purpose of the conference since its formation has been to “maintain athletic activities on a plane in keeping with the dignity and high purpose of liberal education.” Competitive sports are regarded as a valuable part of the educational experience and are maintained for the benefit of student-athletes.
Organization of the MCAC was conceived at a meeting at Coe College on May 12, 1921. Charter members were Beloit, Carleton, Coe, Cornell, Knox and Lawrence. Competition began that same spring with a track and field meet.
Hamline and Millikin joined the league in December 1921, but later withdrew. Lawrence, Coe and Millikin topped the initial football standings in 1922, and Beloit won the first basketball championship in 1922-23.
Cross country was added in 1929, tennis in 1931, golf in 1934, swimming in 1936, wrestling in 1938, baseball in 1953, soccer in 1971 and indoor track (which previously had an informal champion) in 1977. Championships in volleyball, women’s tennis, women’s swimming, softball and women’s outdoor track were instituted during the 1978-79 academic year. Women’s indoor track was added in 1984 and women’s soccer in 1986. Knox became the first official women’s golf champion in 1996.
Ripon joined the conference in 1923, Monmouth in 1924, Grinnell in 1940 and Lake Forest in 1974. Illinois College and St. Norbert joined in 1982 and Carroll followed in 1992. Carleton withdrew following the 1982-83 academic year. St. Olaf also competed in the conference from 1952-74, as did the University of Chicago from 1976-87. Coe and Cornell withdrew following the 1996-97 academic year.
Conference Commissioner Chris Graham began working for the conference in 1999 and assumed his role as the first full-time league Commissioner in 2003. From 2009-2010, Nnenna Akotaobi was added to the staff as the Assistant to the Commissioner/Director of Championships, through the NCAA’s Division III Ethnic Minority & Women Internship Grant Program. Cory Weibel became the third full-time conference Sports Information Director in April of 2010.