Heart O'North Conference

The Heart O'North Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership base in northwestern Wisconsin. Founded in 1928, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1928-1989

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Location of Original Heart O'North Conference Members

The Heart O'North Conference (also known as the Heart o' the North Conference in its early years) was formed in 1928 by ten small- to medium-sized high schools in northwestern Wisconsin: Barron, Bloomer, Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake, Shell Lake and Spooner.^[1] One year later, the league added New Auburn and Turtle Lake to its roster, bringing membership up to twelve schools.^[2] Football was also added as a sponsored sport,^[3] with six schools (Barron, Bloomer, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake and Spooner) comprising the initial roster. In 1934, membership in the Heart O'North was cut in half after the exit of the six non-football members (Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, New Auburn, Shell Lake and Turtle Lake). Five of these schools joined with Clear Lake and Weyerhaeuser to form the Lakeland Conference.^[4] The six remaining schools continued for twelve years before Hayward was admitted as the Heart O’North’s seventh member in 1946.^[5] Chetek's return to the conference from the Lakeland Conference in 1957 increased the membership ledger to eight schools, a level it would remain at for seventeen years.^[6] In 1974, Northwestern High School in Maple joined the Heart O'North Conference after their longtime membership in the Michigan-Wisconsin Conference ended the year prior when the organization ceased operations.^[7]

1989-present

After Northwestern joined the Heart O'North in 1974, the conference continued with a nine-member roster for fifteen years, until Bloomer and Rice Lake left in 1989. Bloomer joined the Middle Border Conference,^[8] and Rice Lake became members of the larger Big Rivers Conference as an all-sport member^[9] (they had previously been football-only members since 1986).^[10] After five years in the Middle Border, Bloomer rejoined the Heart O'North Conference in 1994.^[11] That same year, the Heart O'North briefly ended football sponsorship to join the Northwest Football League along with members of the Middle Border and Dunn-St. Croix Conferences.^[12] This arrangement would last for two seasons, after which the conference resumed sponsorship of interscholastic football.^[13] Membership remained stable until 2010, when Chetek High School merged with Weyerhaeuser High School of the Lakeland Conference to form the new Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School.^[14] The new school inherited Chetek's place in the Heart O'North Conference.^[15] In 2019, Cameron rejoined the Heart O'North after leaving the conference eighty-five years ago to help form the Lakeland Conference, which they were still members of at the time of their exit.^[16] Two years later, the Heart O'North Conference accepted two new members and bid farewell to a longtime member. Bloomer exited the conference for a second time in 2021, this time to join the Cloverbelt Conference.^[17] Ashland and St. Croix Falls became Heart O'North members that same year; St. Croix Falls joined from Lakeland Conference^[18] and Ashland were previously members of the Minnesota-based Lake Superior Conference.^[19] Chetek-Weyerhaeuser left the Heart O'North in 2025 to join the Dunn-St. Croix Conference and were replaced by outgoing Lakeland Conference members Unity.^[20]

Football-only alignment

In February 2019, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle.^[21] For the first cycle, Hayward and Ladysmith left the Heart O'North football roster to join the Great Northern Conference and Lakeland Conference, respectively, as associate football-only members.^[22] This alignment would remain in place through the 2022-2023 competition cycle.^[23] In 2024, Hayward made their return to the Heart O'North's football group, joined by Ashland after their exit from the Great Northern Conference. They replaced outgoing members Cameron and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser after their exit to associate membership in the Lakeland Conference for football.^[24] There are no changes planned for the conference's football roster during the 2026-2027 cycle.^[25]

List of member schools

Current members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined
Ashland	Ashland, WI	Public	635	Oredockers		2021[19]
Barron	Barron, WI	Public	331	Golden Bears		1928[1]
Cameron	Cameron, WI	Public	284	Comets		1928,[1] 2019[16]
Cumberland	Cumberland, WI	Public	300	Beavers		1928[1]
Hayward	Hayward, WI	Public	604	Hurricanes		1946[5]
Ladysmith	Ladysmith, WI	Public	246	Lumberjacks		1928[1]
Northwestern	Maple, WI	Public	400	Tigers		1974[7]
Spooner	Spooner, WI	Public	365	Rails		1928[1]
St. Croix Falls	St. Croix Falls, WI	Public	345	Saints		2021[18]
Unity	Balsam Lake, WI	Public	295	Eagles		2025[20]

Current football-only members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Primary Conference
Bloomer	Bloomer, WI	Public	429	Blackhawks		2021	Cloverbelt

Former members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Bloomer	Bloomer, WI	Public	429	Blackhawks		1928,[1] 1994[11]	1989,[8] 2021[17]	Middle Border, Cloverbelt	Cloverbelt
Chetek	Chetek, WI	Public	N/A	Bulldogs		1928,[1] 1957[6]	1934,[4] 2010[14]	Lakeland	Closed (merged into Chetek-Weyerhaeuser)
Clayton	Clayton, WI	Public	93	Bears		1928[1]	1934[4]	Upper St. Croix Valley	Lakeland
Rice Lake	Rice Lake, WI	Public	714	Warriors		1928[1]	1989[9]	Big Rivers
Shell Lake	Shell Lake, WI	Public	204	Lakers		1928[1]	1934[4]	Lakeland
New Auburn	New Auburn, WI	Public	95	Trojans		1929[2]	1934[4]	Lakeland
Turtle Lake	Turtle Lake, WI	Public	129	Lakers		1929[2]	1934[4]	Lakeland
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser	Chetek, WI	Public	247	Bulldogs		2010[14]	2025[20]	Dunn-St. Croix

Membership timeline

Full members

Football members

Membership map

Heart O'North Conference

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10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

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Location of Heart O'North Conference full members:

1

Ashland

2

Barron

3

Cameron

4

Cumberland

5

Hayward

6

Ladysmith

7

Northwestern

8

Spooner

9

St. Croix Falls

10

Unity

List of state champions

Fall sports

Boys Cross Country

School	Year	Division
Chetek	1982	Class C
Chetek	1983	Class C

Football

School	Year	Division
Rice Lake	1979	Division 3
Hayward	1987	Division 3
Northwestern	1988	Division 3

Girls Volleyball

School	Year	Division
Barron	1982	Class B
St. Croix Falls	2023	Division 3
Barron	2024	Division 3

Winter sports

Boys Basketball

School	Year	Division
Ladysmith	2003	Division 3

Girls Basketball

School	Year	Division
Hayward	2016	Division 3

Spring sports

Baseball

School	Year	Division
Barron	1979	Class B
St. Croix Falls	2023	Division 3

Softball

School	Year	Division
Northwestern	1981	Class B

Boys Track & Field

School	Year	Division
Chetek	1984	Class C
Chetek	1985	Class C
Spooner	1991	Division 2

Girls Track & Field

School	Year	Division
Hayward	2014	Division 3

List of conference champions

Source:^[26]

Boys Basketball

School	Quantity	Years
Ladysmith	18	1933, 1942, 1951, 1953, 1958, 1959, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2011
Bloomer	15	1937, 1939, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1969, 1989, 1996, 2012, 2017, 2018
Rice Lake	15	1934, 1939, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1988
Barron	14	1932, 1943, 1945, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1978, 1987, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2013, 2014
Spooner	14	1930, 1935, 1936, 1944, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2008
Cumberland	12	1931, 1932, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1956, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1972, 2025
Northwestern	9	1984, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
Hayward	7	1951, 1952, 1959, 2006, 2015, 2017, 2025
Chetek	6	1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2001
Cameron	2	2020, 2024
Ashland	0
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser	0
Clayton	0
New Auburn	0
Shell Lake	0
St. Croix Falls	0
Turtle Lake	0
Unity	0

Girls Basketball

School	Quantity	Years
Hayward	19	1980, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2025
Bloomer	16	1975, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2018, 2019
Ladysmith	11	1977, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2022
Barron	7	1975, 1982, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008
Northwestern	2	1999, 2020
St. Croix Falls	2	2023, 2024
Cameron	1	2025
Chetek	1	1990
Rice Lake	1	1989
Ashland	0
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser	0
Cumberland	0
Spooner	0
Unity	0

Football

School	Quantity	Years
Bloomer	28	1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1944, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1963, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1987, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017
Rice Lake	22	1930, 1932, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1957, 1959, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985
Northwestern	16	1987, 1988, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
Ladysmith	11	1929, 1932, 1940, 1948, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 2001, 2003, 2006
Spooner	9	1931, 1935, 1941, 1945, 1970, 1973, 1991, 1992, 1996
Cumberland	6	1945, 1958, 1978, 1998, 2012, 2020
Hayward	5	1974, 1987, 2008, 2015, 2016
Barron	4	1965, 1971, 1989, 1990
Cameron	1	2023
Chetek	1	2007
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser	1	2016
St. Croix Falls	1	2024
Ashland	0