Little Hawkeye Conference
The Little Hawkeye Conference is a high school athletic conference in central Iowa. With Oskaloosa dropping from 4A to 3A for the 2010-11 school year, the conference now has only one 4A school (Newton). The majority of the membership is made up of only 3A schools, the second largest class of schools in Iowa. Although, Norwalk is on the verge of moving up to 4A.
Members
| Institution | Location | Mascot | Colors | Affiliation | 9-12 Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grinnell | Grinnell | Tigers | Public | 575 | |
| Knoxville | Knoxville | Panthers | Public | 625 | |
| Newton | Newton | Cardinals | Public | 911 | |
| Norwalk | Norwalk | Warriors | Public | 729 | |
| Oskaloosa | Oskaloosa | Indians | Public | 728 | |
| Pella | Pella | Dutch | Public | 681 | |
| Pella Christian | Pella | Eagles | Private | 263 |
History
At the turn of the century, the Little Hawkeye Conference was an eight team league consisting of Boone, Grinnell, Knoxville, Norwalk, Oskaloosa, Pella, Pella Christian, and Waukee. For the 2006-07 school year, Waukee, who had recently moved up to 4A status and was one of Iowa's fastest growing school districts, left the league for the Central Iowa Metropolitan League. They were replaced by Newton, whose recently resignation from the CIML had coincidently opened the door for Waukee to join the conference. South Tama, formerly of the WaMaC Conference also joined the league that year and the conference played with nine schools for a couple of years until Boone left in 2009 to join the Raccoon River Conference, a much better geographical fit for the school. South Tama left the conference for the North Iowa Cedar League in 2011.
Future
The league's near future appears to be one of continuing change. Indianola High School explored the option of leaving the CIML to join the league, however in June 2010 the Indianola School Board voted unanimously to stay in the CIML. Indianola is still a 4A school, but is seeing its enrollment figures drop and is now the smallest school in the CIML. The league will for the time being stay with a 7 team league for the 2011-12 school following South Tama's exit. In late 2012, Dallas Center-Grimes was admitted into the league as its eighth member for the 2013-14 school year. However, membership will likely revert to seven for the 2014-15 school year, as Knoxville has plans to move to the South Central Conference. The conference must still vote on whether or not to accept Knoxville as a member.