Bluegrass Conference (Iowa)

The Bluegrass Conference is a high school sports league in Iowa. Located in South-central Iowa, the conference is home to some of the smallest schools in the state, including the smallest public schools in Iowa, Diagonal.

Bluegrass Conference

Conference	IHSAA / IGHSAU
Founded	1939
Sports fielded	13
No. of teams	10
Region	South Central Iowa
Official website	https://www.bluegrassconference.org/
Locations
50km 31miles

Members

Institution	Location	Mascot	Colors	Affiliation	2024-2025 BEDS[1]
Ankeny Christian Academy	Ankeny	Eagles		Private	109
Diagonal	Diagonal	Maroons		Public	18
Lamoni	Lamoni	Demons		Public	62
Melcher-Dallas	Melcher-Dallas	Saints		Public	79
Moravia	Moravia	Mohawks		Public	98
Mormon Trail	Garden Grove	Saints		Public	48
Moulton-Udell	Moulton	Eagles		Public	39
Murray	Murray	Mustangs		Public	66
Seymour	Seymour	Warriors		Public	47
Twin Cedars	Bussey	Sabers		Public	81

History

The conference originated before 1960. Some of the members in the early days included Osceola, Bedford, Mount Ayr, Lamoni, Seymour, Corydon, and Leon. Lenox and Mormon Trail of Humeston joined the conference in 1960, as Osceola departed. In 1962, four schools left the conference to join the newly formed Tall Corn Conference. This left the conference with Lamoni, Leon, Mormon Trail, Corydon, Seymour, and Moravia. As the years went by, some schools changed names and Southeast Warren and Melcher-Dallas joined the conference, so that by 1990 the conference looked like this:

• Lamoni
• Melcher-Dallas
• Moravia
• Mormon Trail
• Wayne
• S.E. Warren
• Central Decatur (of Leon)
• Seymour

After losing some of the bigger schools to other conferences, the Bluegrass reached out to many of the smaller schools in the area. These new schools were some of the smallest in the state. The Bluegrass Conference operated with 12 teams for a while, but with three schools having been shut down in recent years, the conference is now left with just nine schools. In 2002, Fox Valley Community School in Milton closed its doors, after the district voted to shut down the school and allow the pupils to open enroll where they wished. The next casualty came in 2008, when Russell became the first public school to be shut down by the state in over a decade. East Monona had been the most recent. Then, in 2010, Lineville-Clio was closed by the state. Currently, the conference hosts four of the six smallest public schools in the state, with Diagonal (26 BEDs), Orient-Macksburg (35), Moulton-Udell (38), and Mormon Trail (45).^[2]

Starting in the 2013–14 academic year, the following schools joined the conference:

• Ankeny Christian Academy (Ankeny)
• Grand View Christian School (Des Moines)
• Iowa Christian Academy (West Des Moines)
• Orient-Macksburg

Despite the enrollment figures, all schools but Diagonal and Orient-Macksburg play football, fielding 8-man teams. Before Russell and Fox Valley shut down, they also played 8-man football. Most of the schools also field teams in baseball, softball, volleyball, basketball, and track and field.

Iowa Christian Academy officials announced on November 28, 2018, that the school would close. Students were encouraged to attend Grandview Christian School.^[3]

On June 11, 2024, Orient-Macksburg School Board voted to dissolve the school district, citing low enrollment, staffing issues, and financial shortfalls.^[4][5] This will effectively remove them from the conference.