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Midwest Conference

Formerly	Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference (1921–1994) Midwest Athletic Conference for Women (1977–1994)
Association	NCAA
Founded	1921; 105 years ago (1921)
Commissioner	Heather Benning (since 2014)
Sports fielded	20 men's: 10 women's: 10
Division	Division III
No. of teams	9 (10 in 2026)
Headquarters	Grinnell, Iowa
Region	Upper Midwest
Official website	midwestconference.org
Locations

TheMidwest Conference (MWC) is anintercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with theNCAA'sDivision III. Member institutions are located in theMidwestern United States in the states ofIllinois,Iowa, andWisconsin. The Midwest Conference was created in 1994 with the merger of theMidwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, which had been sponsoring men's sports since 1921, and theMidwest Athletic Conference for Women, which was formed in 1977.

Midwest Conference

110km
68miles

Beloit

MSOE

St. Norbert

Chicago

Luther

Cornell College

Illinois College

Lake Forest

Grinnell

Monmouth

Ripon

Lawrence

Knox

   

Location of Midwest members: current, future, affiliate

The organization of theMidwest Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) was conceived at a meeting atCoe College on May 12, 1921. Charter members wereBeloit College,Carleton College,Coe College,Cornell College,Knox College (Illinois) andLawrence University.Hamline University andMillikin University joined the league in December 1921, but both of them later withdrew: Hamline after the 1929–30 academic year, and Millikin after the 1924–25 academic year.

Ripon College joined the conference in 1923, followed byMonmouth College in 1924,Grinnell College in 1940 andLake Forest College in 1974.Illinois College andSt. Norbert College joined in 1982 andCarroll University followed in 1992. Carleton withdrew following the 1982–83 academic year.St. Olaf College also competed in the conference from 1952 to 1974, as did theUniversity of Chicago from 1976 to 1987. Coe and Cornell withdrew following the 1996–97 academic year with Cornell rejoining the league starting in the 2012–13 year.Macalester College joined as a football-only member starting in 2014. TheUniversity of Chicago returned as a football-only member in 2017, and added baseball to its conference membership in the 2019 season (2018–19 school year).

The MWC split into North and South divisions for football, men's and women's tennis, baseball, and softball from 2012 through 2016. Divisional play ended with the departure ofCarroll after the 2015–16 school year,^[1] and resumed for football only with the addition of theUniversity of Chicago as an affiliate member for the 2017–18 season.^[2] St. Norbert left in 2021 for theNorthern Athletics Collegiate Conference.^[3]

On March 11, 2025, theMilwaukee School of Engineering (MSoE) announced that it would join the MWC as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming & diving, beginning the 2025–26 winter season.^[4]

• 1921 – The Midwest Conference (MWC) was founded as the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC). Charter members includedBeloit College,Carleton College,Coe College,Cornell College,Knox College andLawrence College (now Lawrence University), beginning the 1921–22 academic year.
• 1922 –Hamline University andMillikin College (now Millikin University) joined the MCAC in the 1922–23 academic year.
• 1923 –Ripon College joined the MCAC in the 1923–24 academic year.
• 1924 –Monmouth College joined the MCAC in the 1924–25 academic year.
• 1925 – Millikin left the MCAC after the 1924–25 academic year.
• 1930 – Hamline left the MCAC to fully align with theMinnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) after the 1929–30 academic year.
• 1940 –Grinnell College joined the MCAC in the 1940–41 academic year.
• 1941 – Carleton left the MCAC after the 1940–41 academic year; as the school withdrew from the conference in June 1941.^[5]
• 1945 – Carleton rejoined the MCAC during the 1946 spring season of the 1945–46 academic year; specifically for track & field.^[6]
• 1951 –Beloit College was expelled from the conference after from the faculty of the other members schools. The stated reason was that Beloit had athletic policies that ran "contrary to the spirit and principles of the conference" including the scheduling of large schools and participation in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).^[7]
• 1952 –St. Olaf College joined the MCAC in the 1952–53 academic year.
• 1958 –Beloit College applied to return to the league and was subsequently reinstated as a founding member.^[8]
• 1974:
  • St. Olaf left the MCAC after the 1973–74 academic year.
  • Lake Forest College joined the MCAC in the 1974–75 academic year.
• 1976 – TheUniversity of Chicago joined the MCAC in the 1976–77 academic year.
• 1982 –Illinois College andSt. Norbert College joined the MCAC in the 1982–83 academic year.
• 1983 –Carleton left the MCAC to rejoin the MIAC after the 1982–83 academic year.
• 1987 –University of Chicago left the MCAC to join theUniversity Athletic Association (UAA) after the 1986–87 academic year.
• 1992 –Carroll College (now Carroll University) joined the MCAC in the 1992–93 academic year.
• 1994 – The MCAC has rebranded when the conference merged with the women's-onlyMidwest Athletic Conference for Women (MACW; founded since the 1977–78 school year) to become the Midwest Conference (MWC), effective beginning the 1994–95 academic year.
• 1997 –Coe andCornell left the MWC to join theIowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (now the American Rivers Conference [ARC]) after the 1996–97 academic year.
• 2012 –Cornell rejoined the MWC in the 2012–13 academic year.
• 2014 –Macalester College joined the MWC as an affiliate member for football in the 2014 fall season (2014–15 academic year).
• 2016 –Carroll left the MWC to join theCollege Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) after the 2015–16 academic year.
• 2017 –University of Chicago rejoined the MWC, but as an affiliate member for football in the 2017 season (2017–18 academic year).
• 2018 –University of Chicago added baseball into its MWC affiliate membership in the 2019 season (2018–19 academic year).
• 2021:
  • St. Norbert left the MWC as a full member to join theNorthern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) after the 2020–21 academic year. St. Norbert would remain as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming & diving.
  • Macalester left the MWC as an affiliate member for football after the 2020 fall season (2020–21 academic year).
• 2024 –University of Chicago left the MWC as an affiliate member for baseball after the 2024 season (2023–24 academic year).
• 2025 – TheMilwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) joined the MWC as an affiliate member for men's and women's swimming & diving in the 2025–26 academic year.
• 2026 –Luther College will join the MWC, beginning in the 2026–27 academic year.

Every member in the history of the MWC and its predecessor conferences, whether full, affiliate, current, or former, has been aprivate school.

The MWC currently has nine full members.

Notes

The MWC will have one future member.

Notes

The MWC currently has three affiliate members.

Notes

The MWC had eight former full members.

Notes

The MWC had two former affiliate members.

Notes

 Full member (all sports)  Full member (non-football)  Associate member (football)  Associate member (sport) 

Conference sports

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	Y
Basketball	Y	Y
Cross Country	Y	Y
Football	Y
Soccer	Y	Y
Softball		Y
Swimming &Diving	Y	Y
Tennis	Y	Y
Track & Field (Indoor)	Y	Y
Track & Field (Outdoor)	Y	Y
Volleyball		Y

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Soccer	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Total Midwest Sports
Beloit	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	8
Cornell	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Grinnell	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Illinois College	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y[a]	Y	Y	Y	9
Knox	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	7
Lake Forest	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Lawrence	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Monmouth	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Ripon	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	8	9	9	9+1	9	7+2	7	9	9	76+3
Affiliate Members
Chicago				Y						1
MSOE						Y				1
St. Norbert						Y				1

School	Clay Target	Fencing	Golf	Handball	Ice Hockey	Lacrosse	Volleyball	Wrestling
Beloit					WIAC	NACC
Cornell						NACC		IND
Grinnell			SLIAC
Illinois College	Y[b]		SLIAC
Knox			SLIAC
Lake Forest			SLIAC	Y	NCHA	NACC	2026-27
Lawrence		IND			NCHA	NACC
Monmouth			SLIAC

School	Basketball	Cross Country	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Indoor)	Track & Field (Outdoor)	Volleyball	Total Midwest Sports
Beloit	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	8
Cornell	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Grinnell	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Illinois College	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y[a]	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Knox	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Lake Forest	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Lawrence	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Monmouth	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Ripon	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	9	9	9	9	7+2	7	9	9	9	77+2
Affiliate Members
MSOE					Y					1
St. Norbert					Y					1

School	Clay Target	Fencing	Flag Football	Golf	Handball	Ice Hockey	Lacrosse	Wrestling
Beloit			Y			WIAC	NACC
Cornell							NACC	Y
Grinnell				SLIAC
Illinois College	Y[b]		Y	SLIAC
Knox				SLIAC
Lake Forest				SLIAC	Y	NCHA	NACC
Lawrence		IND				NCHA	NACC
Monmouth				SLIAC
Ripon			2026-27

• Midwest Conference men's basketball tournament

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