(5-25-22) Four very successful Indiana high schools are still not a part of an athletic conference. The reason, all four are quite successful and competitive in the majority of sports they sponsor.

Two of the four schools, Homestead and Carroll are in an unique situation. Both compete in three sports as affiliate members in the Summit Athletic Conference (SAC) …in boys and girls basketball and in football. The rest of their sports are not included in the SAC and those sports compete as independents, although they do compete with some SAC members during the regular season.

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The other two schools, Carmel and Center Grove were booted by the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) in mid-December 2021. When that happened they also were not welcome to compete in spring sports. The MIC has not replaced these two and are presently operating as a 6-member conference. The two schools both applied to Hoosier Crossroads Conference and both were rejected.

So an ‘out of the box‘ suggestion would see the four form an (informal) conference. In the future they could even include football, as the SAC has incorporated playing two-non SAC games to start the season. Carmel and Homestead are scheduled to play this year in week 1 thanks to that move.

Is it a perfect solution? No, but it can be a stop-gap until they all find a new home or this becomes a conference with added schools. A conference game during the season brings a lot to any and high school sport, plus honors that student-athletes can gain. The four would be a special group.

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