Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference


The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference that competes in the NCAA's Division III. In women's gymnastics, it competes alongside Division I and II members, as the NCAA sponsors a single championship event open to members of all NCAA divisions. As the name implies, member teams are located in the state of Wisconsin, although there are three associate members from Minnesota and one from Illinois. All full members are part of the University of Wisconsin System.

History

In 1913, representatives from Wisconsin's eight normal schools—Superior Normal School, River Falls State Normal School, Stevens Point Normal School, La Crosse State Normal School, Oshkosh State Normal School, Whitewater Normal School, Milwaukee State Normal School and Platteville Normal School --met in Madison to organize the Inter-Normal Athletic Conference of Wisconsin. The Stout Institute joined in 1914, followed by Eau Claire State Normal School in 1917.
The conference evolved with the growing educational mission of its member schools. It changed its name to the Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference in 1926, and the Wisconsin State College Conference in 1951. Finally, in 1964, it became the Wisconsin State University Conference.
In 1971, the member schools of the WSUC joined with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Parkside and Carthage College to form the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. By 1975, UW–Milwaukee, Carroll College, the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay and Marquette University had also joined. With the dissolution of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women in 1982, the member schools joined their male counterparts in either the NCAA or NAIA. By 1993, the non-NCAA Division III members had all dropped out, resulting in the WWIAC having the same membership as the WSUC. Under the circumstances, a merger was inevitable. In 1996, Gary Karner was named commissioner of both the WSUC and the WWIAC. The two conferences formally merged in 1997 to form the current WIAC.
Effective with the 2001–02 academic year, Lawrence University joined the conference in the sport of wrestling. Three Minnesota schools, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamline University and Winona State University, became members of the conference in the sport of women's gymnastics during the 2004–05 academic year. In 2009–10, the conference added men’s soccer as a sponsored sport with the announcement of Michigan school Finlandia University as an affiliate member. Lawrence discontinued its affiliation with the WIAC in wrestling.
The conference remained unusually stable over the years; the only changes in full membership being the departures of UW–Milwaukee in 1964 and UW–Superior in 2015.

Centennial celebration

The ninth-oldest conference in the nation, the WIAC celebrated its centennial year during the 2012–13 academic year. Additionally, the WIAC is the most successful NCAA Division III conference in history, boasting NCAA National Championships in 15 different sports. At the beginning of the 2011–12 academic year, the conference had claimed a nation-leading 92 NCAA National Championships.
To celebrate its centennial, the conference named All-Time Teams in each sport that is currently or was previously recognized as a "championship" sport within the conference. Furthermore, the WIAC commissioned a commemorative work of art, created by Tim Cortes, and has also created a two-year calendar in celebration of its centennial.
The celebration was headlined by its Centennial Banquet held on August 4, 2012, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Among the honorees at the event were the All-Time Team members and the inaugural class to the WIAC Hall of Fame.

Member schools

Current members

UW–Superior left the WIAC as a full member on July 1, 2015. They remain affiliate members for men's and women's ice hockey.

Affiliate members

Former members

Former affiliate members

Membership timeline


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ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
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Colors =
id:barcolor value:rgb

id:line value:black

id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1913 till:end text:Wisconsin–La Crosse
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:1 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:1 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:2 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–Milwaukee
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:2 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:2 color:Full from:1946 till:1964
bar:3 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–Oshkosh
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:3 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:3 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:4 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–Platteville
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:4 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:4 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:5 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–River Falls
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:5 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:5 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:6 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–Stevens Point
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:6 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:6 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:7 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–Superior
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:7 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:7 color:Full from:1946 till:1993
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1993 till:2015
bar:7 color:AssocOS from:2015 till:end
bar:8 color:Full from:1913 till:1918 text:Wisconsin–Whitewater
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:8 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:8 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1914 till:1915 text:Wisconsin–Stout
bar:9 color:Full from:1915 till:1918
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:9 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:9 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:10 color:Full from:1917 till:end text:Wisconsin–Eau Claire
bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1918 till:1919
bar:10 color:Full from:1919 till:1943
bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1943 till:1946
bar:10 color:Full from:1946 till:end
bar:11 color:AssocOS from:2001 till:2009 text:Lawrence
bar:12 shift: color:AssocOS from:2004 till:end text:Gustavus Adolphus
bar:13 shift: color:AssocOS from:2004 till:end text:Hamline
bar:14 shift: color:AssocOS from:2004 till:end text:Winona State
bar:15 shift: color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2014 text:Finlandia
bar:15 color:AssocOS from:2018 till:end
bar:16 shift: color:AssocOS from:2017 till:2018 text:Illinois Tech
bar:17 shift: color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text:Northland
bar:N color:blue from:1913 till:1926 text:WSNC
bar:N color:powderblue from:1926 till:1951 text:WSTCC
bar:N color:blue from:1951 till:1964 text:WSCC
bar:N color:powderblue from:1964 till:1997 text:WSUAC
bar:N color:blue from:1997 till:end text:WIAC
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1915

Sports

Member institutions field men's and women's teams in cross country, basketball, ice hockey, track and field, and swimming and diving. Men's teams are fielded for baseball, football, and wrestling. Women's teams are fielded for golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball. The WIAC is the only NCAA Division III all-sports conference that does not sponsor men's soccer.

National championship teams

UW-Oshkosh: 1985, 1994

UW-Whitewater: 2005, 2014
UW-Whitewater: 1984, 1989, 2012, 2014

UW-Platteville: 1991, 1995, 1998, 1999

UW-Stevens Point: 2004, 2005, 2010, 2015

UW-Oshkosh: 2019
UW-Stevens Point: 1987, 2002

UW-Oshkosh: 1996
UW-Oshkosh: 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002

UW-La Crosse: 1996, 2001, 2005

UW-Eau Claire: 2015
UW-La Crosse: 1983

UW-Oshkosh: 1987, 1988, 1991, 1996

UW-Eau Claire: 2009
UW-La Crosse: 1992, 1995

UW-Whitewater: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014
UW-Eau Claire: 2001
UW-River Falls: 1988, 1994

UW-Stevens Point: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2016, 2019

UW-Superior: 2002

UW-Eau Claire: 2013
UW-Stevens Point: 1998

UW-Eau Claire: 2008
UW-La Crosse: 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017

UW-Oshkosh: 2009

UW-Eau Claire: 2015, 2016
UW-La Crosse: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017

UW-Oshkosh: 2009
UW-Oshkosh: 1994-96, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2014

UW-La Crosse: 2015
UW-La Crosse: 1983, 1984, 2015

UW-Oshkosh: 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011

UW-River Falls: 2008
UW-Whitewater: 2002, 2005

Conference facilities